One Reason CGGC Change has Never Worked

Friends, 

I have blogged only twice so far in this calendar year. There are a number of reasons for that. I've continued to sense prophetic insight but haven't always felt as keenly connected with the Spirit as I've wanted to be.

My most consistent harangue is that a faith in Jesus that is true produces fruit. It produces a way of living that draws the attention of the people around you. It causes them think about Jesus. 

Paul reminded the Ephesians that we are saved by grace through faith to be God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. (2:8-10).

I've been in the midst of an extended moment when, doctrinally, my faith has been consistent but my walk has been too tepid, less than radical. 

I've felt unable to write to you with a clear conscience, "We must repent."

Yet, the truth remains. We must repent. 

What follows is a conviction that I feel strongly about. This is, as far as I know, the first time I have constructed the message in this way. 

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I entered the East Pennsylvania Conference of the Churches of God in 1976.

By then, the Conference ministry had already been in numerical decline for two decades. As I understand the history, that numerical decline was fruit of spiritual decline that had been under way for much longer than that. 

The men entrusted with Conference leadership 45 years ago were sincere and devoted churchmen. They knew that Conference ministry was in trouble and, as someone new to the Conference, I sensed concern if not panic...and a touch of the frantic. 

Even then, there was talk that recognized that if this continues for another ten years or even twenty years,...

And, that was 45 years ago.

Even in the 1970s, our leaders were struggling to bring about change. Back then, the three year cycle, the "Triennium," was a big deal in the East Pennsylvania Conference. With the beginning of each three year cycle, the men in positions of institutional leadership presented a new plan to change the Conference, to reverse the trend toward decline and to produce growth. 

These three year programs were surprisingly sophisticated. There was a program name, a slogan, even a logo. These programs were rolled out during Conference sessions. And, the first time or two, as a young "pastor," I was motivated and excited. After then, I realized that there never was a plan of implementation...at least one that rolled far enough down the mountain to reach the pastor of a small church or churches. 

As history makes plain 45 years later, there was no change, and certainly, no reversal of decline and absolutely no growth. 

In these 45 years, we have always been working to change. Yet, we continue to decline and, in terms of what we actually do, we have not changed.

I have had one thought about that for a long time, based on what I find in the teachings of Jesus.  

For all the programs we have devised, for all the strategies we have attempted, there is one crucial spiritual act that we have never practiced. 

Jesus used the word "church" in only one of the four Gospels. So, from the Gospels, it's virtually impossible to learn about the church from Jesus.

However, in the Book of Revelation, before John, the author, describes the vision Jesus gave him, John directs letters, dictated directly by Jesus, to seven churches. 

Two of the seven churches receive nothing but praise from Jesus. 

The other five churches, according to Jesus, needed change. They all received strong warnings including, to one of the five, the threat that Jesus would actually fight against them. (Rev. 2:17)

In each of those five letters, Jesus issues the same command as a first act in change: Repent. 

For example:

"If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place." (Rev. 2:5)

So, since my first days in the Conference, we have always sensed the threat of our decline and we have constantly adopted new plans to change.

I'm certain that these were our plans, not the Lord's, for two reasons:

1. They all failed. 

2. None of them were built on the act of repentance which is commanded by Jesus. 

For a few years,...a few years ago,...I'd read in CGGC Newsletters, ABOUT repenting, but I never once read or heard a genuine call for repentance. 

Honestly, my belief is that few, if any among us, know what to call for as repentance in this time and place.

Still today, we are as ernest as ever to end what's now generations of decline, and to share in expanding the Kingdom. 

I'm convinced that it is time to return to the way of Jesus. 

The Gospels and those seven letters in Revelation are heavily peppered with calls from Jesus to repent.

Here's one thing we no longer understand:

Getting to the moment of repentance is emotional... it is painful. Paul told the Corinthians that godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation. 

Jesus said that it is the "poor in spirit" and "those who mourn" who are blessed. It's brokenness of heart that leads to that sort of repentance that produces Spirit-empowered change. 

In Acts 2, after Peter spoke, the text says that people in the crowd were "cut to the heart." As Jesus might have said it, they had become, poor in Spirit," they became people who mourned. They were experiencing the "godly grief" Paul described to the disciples in Corinth. 

In my 45 years in the Churches of God, we always been worried about decline. But, emotionally, we've been steady, even happy go lucky. We do not mourn, or grieve.

In the early days days of our movement, we were an emotional people. The places where we gathered had what was called a "mouners' bench." 

In those days, we  understood the Sermon  on the Mount teaching of Jesus that, to walk in the Spirit, people have to hit rock bottom, to be poor in Spirit and to mourn. 

In recent decades, we've been too, what?, suave, too sophisticated to be poor in Spirit and to wallow in godly grief. 

Our yearning to change has not been blessed by the Lord. We continue to decline. 

We do not need to plan. We need to find something inside us that will crush our hearts and bring us to our knees. From that brokenness can come a repentance that leads to salvation. 

I'll repeat the ancient words of Jesus, dictated through John to the church in Ephesus. "If you do not repent..."

We must repent. 

He has Risen. INDEED! And, the Institutionalized American Church is Dying.

Gallup has released its latest poll on Church Membership, revealing that the number of Americans who hold a church membership is tanking rapidly, plummeting, and has now dipped below 50%... to 47%, actually. 

One message of this blog in the past few years has been that the Lord of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing is not blessing...not blessing the organized and institutionalized church. 

This is the day your church calendar people call Easter. It's your day that celebrates the power of Jesus over death itself. 

And, with the release of the Gallup poll, in 2021, it's a time to face the reality that institutionalized religion in America is entirely disconnected from the grace and mercy and power and blessing of God.

As I've written this type of post over the years, I've wanted to scream, I TOLD YOU SO!, and, I don't think that I ever have done that. 

To say that would be to gloat. It would be the fruit of some sort of happiness, perhaps even perverse happiness. 

I'm tempted to scream at you institutionalists, but, in truth, it's not happiness, even perverse happiness that I feel. I'm profoundly sad.

My training is in the history of the Kingdom, specifically what is often called the History of Revivalism. My focus is on those times when the God of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing, blessed.

The truth of this day that is special in the institutionalized church only because the creators of the unbiblical church calendar say it's special is that, while the order of the day is the celebration of Christ's power, honesty demands that today be a day to repent in the acknowledgement that you have divorced yourself from His power. 

This is a day when...

...THE GOD OF ALL AUTHORITY  AND POWER AND GRACE  AND MERCY AND BLESSING IS NOT BLESSING. 

He has not lost His power. He has not stopped loving His John 3:16 love. 

He has not turned from you. You have created your own traditions and have devoted yourselves to them rather than to Him.

YOU have turned. From HIM!

The time has long since passed for you to repent and turn back to Him.

He is, truly, the God of all authority and power and grace and mercy and blessing. 

Die to your empty and dead traditions. 

Repent. Confess your sin to Him to each other, and trust Him to show mercy and to pour out His power on you, as He has done in the past.

He has risen. You are dying.

Repent. Turn. 

My Silence

For a long time, I have put nothing of consequence on the blog and very little that is mundane and trivial. 

Just a quick note of explanation. 

I'm not at the top of my game spiritually right now. I'm not confessing a mountain of secret sins, but I'm not happy about where I am.

I'm a little too close to being lukewarm as Jesus warned the Laodiceans in Revelation 3.

I noted a while back, in a private email, that, in the past, I have had a radical message and that that message has been supported by a corresponding radical life of grace and mercy. For years, that radical life was, itself, supported by my supermarket job, living as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God. That job provided continuous contact with people in need of acts of God's love. 

Currently, I'm prohibited from working. The result is that opportunities to be a person of radical grace and mercy are not as apparent. 

One of my constant messages to the people of the institutional church is the need to repent of their Talk-ism...a particular sin of the CGGC. 

I still see that need. The thing is, if I called for that form of repentance, I feel a tad hypocritical. 

So, I'm stymied. 

Rest assured my heart breaks over the failure of the institutionalized church to turn from old and fallen ways through the pandemic but I'm having trouble calling for repentance in others when I need to repent myself. 

I must repent. 

A Preemptive Biden Vacation...Curbside Service

We're careful about the pandemic. We live in a Retirement Community that has very strict rules and we rarely leave under normal circumstances. We always wear a mask, even to go for a walk outside. 

We buy groceries. We pick up prescriptions and that's it...

...under normal circumstances. 

But, we're antipating that when the new presidential administration ascends, more stringent regulations will be created. My sense is that Joe Biden wants to do more to curtail normal behavior among citizens than he has authority to do. 

So, anticipating Big Brother's interference, we took a vacation over Thanksgiving. 

Evie found a nice deal at a resort on the boardwalk in Virginia Beach, with beautiful views of the ocean and the shore.

So, we traveled down the Delmarva peninsula, checked in and quarantined ourselves, looking out at the beautiful views. The unit had a nice kitchen. We ate in, food Evie prepared beforehand and froze. On warmer days, we sat on our balcony, sniffing the sea air. A few of the days we walked on the boardwalk. It was nice. Safe.

Then we stopped off at Colonial Williamsburg on the way back and walked through the tourist area, which was mostly deserted. 

It was a good time and a much needed change of scenery. 

When we returned, we self-quarantined for ten days according our governor's regulations. Thankfully, we're still getting along well. The quarantine was not very stressful. The trip was very worth it. 

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Today, I need to fill a prescription. And, we need groceries. 

I called the (Walmart) pharmacy. They suggested their version of curbside pickup. So, I set that up.

When we pick up prescriptions, we usually buy some groceries at Walmart. 

So, Evie checked out curbside for groceries. We were stunned that Walmart was able to tell us what groceries we normally buy. It was convenient. But, for geezers, that's scary. We don't know how they were able to track us.

Anyway, we're doing curbside for groceries, too...

...life in the twenty first century, in a pandemic, for grazers. 

Atlas Shrugged

Gang,

It's been a looooooong time since I actually sent something that I've written. 

The emotional and spiritual aspect of the China Plague have taken their toll on me. We're tightly locked down in our retirement community, though Evie and I take as much liberty as any. Still, we're, by far, the youngest here and, I think, need to fly the coop.

I've written some things but, for whatever reason, haven't felt passionate enough about them to send them out.

So, here's a request for feedback on a nonchurch or Kingdom related issue. 

My local library has, in its audiobook collection, available online, Ayn Rand's classic Atlas Shrugged.

I became aware of the book when I was in college. For a brief time, I had an Economics minor. To this day, I love economics. I had a prof who was the token conservative on the Econ faculty. Incidentally, he was also a believer (in Jesus), but he was mesmerized by Ayn Rand. I doubt that there was a class session that he didn't bring up her name. So, I've been sort of fascinated by her since the mid 70s.

The book, as I said, is available to me in an audio format. It's more than 60 hours long. So far, the longest book I've ever tackled was 36 hours long. It was a good book, but the 36 hours was a challenge. 

I suspect that some of you may be familiar with Rand and, perhaps even have read this book. So, do any of you have a thought about whether or not I should tackle it. 

I checked it out the other day but I was so daunted that I returned it before I started it.

As always, on the blog or off will be fine.

Thanks. 

Luther's 95 Theses

When I was in grad school, I really wrecked my eyes from all of the required reading. So, I made an agreement with myself: I will only read serious stuff. Anything that I "read" for relaxation or enjoyment I'll consume in an audio format. 

I watch almost no TV. We don't have cable or satellite. We haven't been to a movie for years. In fact, I can't remember the last movie we've been to.

For relaxation, I consume a ton of popular fiction. I love Michael Connelly. Sadly, he only comes out with about a book a year. David Baldacci is okay and he's very prolific. I like some of Harlan Coben's stuff. I love Robert B. Parker, but he's been dead for ten years. Parker's family hired people to continue the Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sonny Randal series and some of those books are okay. Occasionally, I'll enjoy Lisa Scottoline, mostly because the novels are nearly always set in Philadelphia or eastern Pennsylvania. There was a time I nearly lived off of John Grisham novels, but for about the last 15 years, most of his stuff has essentially been sermons you'd expect to hear in a mainline liberal Protestant church, and, so, he irritates me more often than not. 

I've very rarely broken my rule not to actually read fiction. 

And, until now, I've never, ever broken my rule about reading serious stuff. 

However, I saw that my local library has Eric Metaxas' biography of Martin Luther on audio. So, I put it on hold in May. It just became available. It's 21 hours on audio, read by the author, which, usually, is a disaster, but Metasas reads well.

I didn't know how listening to something as serious as a book like this would go. The book is deep. I've, of course, been required to read a lot of books like this over my many years...and Metaxas is very deep. 

I'm about five or six hours into the book and he's already used a handful of words I don't know the meaning of.  But, it's an awesome book. Metaxas is an excellent historian. He concerns himself with things Evangelicals care about.

Anyway, to the point...

He, of course, addresses the 95 Theses and I've learned some things I didn't know. 

One is that by posting the document on the door of the church in Wittenberg, he was doing what scholars did to invite interested people to join in a debate. Nothing new there. 

What didn't I know? 

Not one person showed up for that debate.

If Luther had not sent a letter to his (corrupt?) archbishop, the 95 Theses would have gone nowhere. 

I learned one other significant fact from the book, and I learned it because this is an audio book. 

I've had the assignment of reading the 95 Theses in several courses I've taken. They're tedious. Every time I read them, I'd get to number 15 or 20 or so, and my mind would begin to drift. But, having to listen to them, one after another, made it much easier for me to pay attention and absorb their significance to the end of the list. 

One myth that some people accept is that the 95 Theses detail Luther's conviction that salvation is by faith, or that they have to do with Luther's foundational theological notions, sola scriptura, sola fidei and sola gratia. They don't. 

All of these things actually came later for Luther.

The 95 Theses are entirely about Luther's opposition to the sale of indulgences. 

What I learned, though, because I was listening an audio book, is how the ideas of grace and faith, especially, were becoming convictions for Luther. Several of his 95 arguments against the sale of indulgences were connected, particularly to the importance of faith. Interestingly, I recall only one Scripture reference in the text of the 95 Theses as Metaxas read them.

It was through the process of defending the 95 Theses that all of the theological principles which launched the Reformation emerged in his thinking. Within four years, Luther was proclaiming salvation by faith, grace, the authority of Scripture and, interestingly also, the bondage of the will.

I've obviously got a long way to go in the book. But, I know this one thing, and it's very much in my mind.

On the day that the Church of God formed in 1830, our founders called for "another great Reformation."

It was when that when we pursued something beyond what Luther started that we were being blessed. 

As a person of the Church of God, who yearns for our body to return to the faith and passions of our founders, this study of the beginnings of the Reformation includes reflection on how the Reformation failed.

Oh, that we could be like the people of the Church of God who walked in the blessing of the Spirit, even to the degree that we could live in pursuit of "another great Reformation!"

The Dopey Prophet

Yes, that's me. The way I figure, I might as well laugh about it, or, at least, make light of it. 

My back pain is, maybe, 80%? gone. The 20% that remains is more than enough. I may never entirely recover this time. 

I think I noted, in the last post, that my doctor gave me refills on my cyclobenzaprine prescription. He did. And, it helps.

But, the side effect of drowsiness dulls my brain waaay too much.

There's lots going on these days that I feel prophety about but I'm just not able to connect to the words to express it.

The best I can do right now, as followers of Jesus encounter the unique challenges of our time, is to say that we have an opportunity to repent of, and turn from, the fallen ways that are driving our spiritual decay and numerical decline. 

Behave as if the Middle Ages never happened. Think in terms of the New Testament plan. 

Be extreme in embracing the Word as your only rule of faith and practice. We have not done that since our Church of God days.

Be courageous and brutal in turning from institutional traditions. If you do that, shepherd sensitivities will be assaulted and there will be many crushed hearts. 

So, above all, practice the New Command of Jesus: "Love one another as I have loved you."

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Now, I'm going to proof read this three times. Hopefully, it will be sensical.