Wrongful death suit filed against Joyce Meyer Ministries

A wrongful death suit has been filed  against Joyce Meyer Ministries on behalf of the family of slain mother Sheri Coleman and her two young sons who were also killed, claiming that the organization did not do enough to prevent their deaths which were allegedly done at the hands of Christopher Coleman, Sheri Coleman’s husband.  Death threats were made against Christopher Coleman and his family to JMM starting in 2008 when he was employed by JMM.  The lawsuit claims that if the ministry would have done a thorough investigation and followed their own electronic communication policy, they would have discovered, as law enforcement authorities did, that the email threats originated from Christopher Coleman’s workplace computer.

According to papers filed in court, JMM has an electronic communication policy clearly stating that distributing inappropriate messages is prohibited and that the organization will exercise the right to monitor the electronic communications of all of its employees.  Attorneys for Sheri Coleman’s family claim that if JMM had all the tools at its disposal to uncover Christopher Coleman’s plot and could have alerted the authorities to prevent the death of Sheri Coleman and her sons.  The attorneys also claim that JMM knew about Christopher Coleman’s affair, which is believed to be his motive for allegedly killing his family.

Attorneys for JMM deny the allegations, stating that Coleman’s extramarital affair was unknown to them.  They further state that when they received the death threats, they reported them to local authorities in Missouri and have cooperated fully with the authorities’ investigation into the crimes.  Additionally, JMM’s attorneys say it is not reasonable to assume that an employer should be held responsible for crimes that an employee commits while away from work.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

Source: Charismamag.com

Stumping on Sunday: politicians in the pulpit

During election years, it has been the common practice of candidates running for office to show up in churches on Sunday to do a little stumping from the pulpit.  It’s a very cunning strategy since politicians can address a large crowd that already has plans to gather and saves their campaign organizers from spending the time and energy of organizing more rallies.  And if the church happens to have a radio or television broadcast, the candidate might be able to get some free air time.

Joel Osteen was recently mentioned in an article stating that when politicians show up to his church, he doesn’t allow them any time in the pulpit, although he acknowledges their presence before his sermon.  For once, I think he might be correct about something.  When I used to attend Baptist churches, one of my pet peeves was when politicians would show up to make their speeches on Sunday morning and that was about the only time you would see them.  Any other time they were too busy to stop by.  But more importantly I have always been of the opinion that the main purpose for believers to get together on Sunday is to worship the Lord, not to glorify a man or woman running for a public office.  It especially did not sit well with me when they would boast about their credentials and what they would change if elected, then when elected their promises were shoved aside for what they really wanted to accomplish.  And some of what they wanted to accomplish was contrary to God’s word.

Before they address the congregations on Sunday, many times they meet or talk secretly with the pastor of the church some time during the week to get permission to speak and to listen to what the pastor’s concerns may be for his congregation or to get a few suggestions from the pastor on how to conduct their campaign.  Then when they arrive on Sunday, they are given a prominent place to sit in the sanctuary until it is their time to speak.  When I think about how politicians are and how they are treated when they visit most churches, I’m reminded of a couple of places in the scriptures–one of them in the Old Testament and one of them in the New Testament. 

An Indictment Against Politicians

The first scripture brought to my mind addresses the intentions of politicians–

“Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?  Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; …

“Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.” (Ezekiel 14:1-4, 6)

The elders were the civic leaders of Ezekiel’s time.  They came to him pretending that they wanted to hear a word from the Lord and a blessing when they knew that had no intention of being obedient to what God had to say.  They knew Ezekiel as a legitimate prophet and wanted to be associated with him to maintain the respect of the common Israelite who placed them in their office.  But God’s reaction was one of disdain towards them.  He knew that in their hearts they followed false religions and loved all kinds of sin, so the only message he had for them was to repent of their wickedness.  Until they repented, God had nothing else to say to them.

So it is with politicians of our day.  They come to church hanging on to their sins and to associate with the man or woman of God to make themselves look pure to the common folk and to receive an election blessing.  Maybe the best advice they should be given from church leaders is to repent of their wickedness.

An Indictment Against the Church

The second scripture addresses how people may treat the common man versus how they treat prominent members of the community–

“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.  For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

“But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?  Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?” (James 2:1-7)

In many churches there are designated seats reserved for church leaders and special visitors, which in most cases includes visiting dignitaries.  If you’re just the regular church member or regular visitor, don’t even think about sitting there!  Traditional churches have this reserved seating in the pulpit facing the congregation.  Wealthy politicians who are doing all kinds of dirt in their private lives are welcomed to ascend the “holy” pulpit area, but the common saint who’s living right and may not have as much as the politician is told that the pulpit area is off limits to them.  James calls this sort of favoritism a sin.

We’re so concerned about what wealthy people with connections will think about us that we lean towards favoring them over the poor sometimes.  And the wealthy politician is often the one using God’s name in vain in private.  If you rub him or her the wrong way, they might be the very ones to make it difficult for you to get certain things accomplished in the community.

The Acceptable Purposes for Church on Sunday

When we saints get together, there is very important business to tend to and giving politicians time to stump takes away from the important business.  That important business includes:

• Prayer and supplication (Acts 1:14)
• Ministering to the Lord (Acts 13:1-3)  You will notice that in these first two scriptures, God led the believers in the midst of their praying to choose people among them who had a special calling from God.  If they had unnecessary distractions, important decisions would have been needlessly delayed.
• Ministering to the daily needs of the saints (Acts 6:1-6)
• Collecting resources for poor saints (1 Corinthians 16:1-3)
• Edifying the congregation with psalms, doctrines, and the exercising of various spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:26-31)
• Partaking of the Lord’s supper (1 Corinthians 11:20-34)

All of these functions exalt the Lord and edify the church.  That’s what we should be about.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

Pulpit manipulations and pulpit marketing

I took some time last Friday night, October 12, 2007, to watch T. D. Jakes being hosted by John Hagee at Cornerstone Church.  While introducing the well-known preacher, Hagee went to great lengths to boast about how Jakes was the author of several books and had recently signed a moviemaking deal with Sony Pictures.  Upon stating these facts, I thought to myself, “is all of this really important?  So what? He got a movie contract.  Big deal!”  Why waste time on earthly stuff that doesn’t matter when all we need to know is whether or not he preaches the gospel and what church he is from?

Then when Jakes took the podium to speak, he opened up with how blessed the people would be if they bought his latest book on sale in the church lobby.  He went on to explain that they really needed to get his life-changing book before leaving the church that night.  I thought to myself “Why does he think he should promote himself or his book when his focus should be on his message?”  A lot of us church folk have libraries full of the latest Christian titles and our lives are still messed up because we read everything except God’s word.  If we get around to reading God’s word, sometimes our hearts are so hardened that we fail to put it into practice.  “…of making many books there is no end;” (Ecclesiastes 12:12)

He finally got around to his sermon, which had a very good message.  Titled “Peter’s last night on the boat,” Jakes’ message basically dealt with how when hard times and setbacks come into our lives in the midst of our ministry, we have a tendency to revert back to habits that are familiar and comfortable to us.  Peter went back to fishing after Christ was crucified.  Instead of going back to what we used to do we should wait for God’s direction and continue moving forward.  Jakes gave some real world examples making his sermon all the more relevant.

At the end came the altar call.  Of course, by this time emotions were high.  The underlying statement for the altar call was “You need to get up to this altar right now so God can change your life!”  Last time I checked, God can work on a person’s heart no matter where their body is.  The Lord is not confined to the altar since he’s omnipresent and omnipotent.  He can change a person right in their seat if they cry out to him.  “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Isaiah 65:24) 

Not only that, but anyone who is right with God can pray with a person who needs it.  They don’t necessarily need the person standing at the altar to do it.  An usher standing nearby can do it!  As if emotions weren’t high enough, he manipulated them even more after people flooded to the front.  Jakes said something like “If you still haven’t come and God is telling you to come down, you have 60 seconds to get out of your seat and come down this aisle!”  Then he proceeded to count down the seconds as if God’s mercy and grace were going to run out if they didn’t hightail it down the aisle in time.

Such manipulations are completely unnecessary.  The Holy Spirit can do what he needs to do without anyone trying to control another person’s emotions.  I guess I’m somewhat jaded because I’ve fallen prey to these types of routines so many times in the past.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord– 

Harry Potter & the Apostate Youth Workers

According to the Telegraph in England, the Church of England is encouraging its youth workers to use the Harry Potter books to promote the gospel.  They have published a guide giving their youth leaders ideas on how to use the underlying themes of the Potter books of good vs. evil to relate them to the Christian message.

Anglican religious leaders are now describing J. K. Rowling’s books and movies as “great fun” and the author as a “great storyteller.”  These leaders are now claiming that Rowling is no different than Jesus telling parables to get his audience to think about their choices in life.  In their opinion, the witchcraft and magic in the Harry Potter series is harmless and is no different than what we see in C. S. Lewis’ books.  Owen Smith, who wrote the guide, denies that these books and movies steer kids towards the occult.

It’s rather obvious that like so many church leaders today, the Anglican leaders have either not read the Bible or they have a blatant disregard for what it says.  How can they not see that the Potter books do, in fact, promote witchcraft by making it look innocent?  Even Wiccans think they use their powers for good.  I believe that like so many religious leaders, they are more concerned about getting a larger following at any cost.  Jesus told parables to get his followers to think about the kingdom of heaven and submitting to God’s commandments which are a result of God’s love.  The intent was to glorify God.  Rowling’s series is about using powers that originate from ungodly beings to manipulate other beings to one’s advantage, be it good or evil, to glorify people.

Many of the practices by Harry Potter and his friends or classmates, like casting spells and using chemicals to help or hurt people, are not fiction but happens everyday in the real world of those who actually practice witchcraft.  Rowling probably had to have done research on witchcraft (or practices it herself) to have gotten some of the rituals in her book so accurate.  Yes, a lot of it is fiction, but there is enough truth about witchcraft that would make a vulnerable child want to seek out more information on how to exercise the powers that Potter and his friends display.

The Bible is the most powerful book in the universe.  God’s word has been changing people’s lives for thousands of years and offers what no other religion can–eternal life in the presence of God.  But I guess that’s not good enough for religious churchgoers who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.  Witchcraft, whether it’s portrayed as good or evil, is one of the things that paves the road to hell (Galatians 5:19-21). 

“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept [doctrine] of men:” Isaiah 29:13

“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.” Deuteronomy 18:10

“Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen…” Jeremiah 10:2

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

  

Should there be reorganization or repentance?

“United Methodists to vote on reorganization

By Ken Kusmer

Associated Press

United Methodist Church leaders in Indiana will vote this week and next on whether to create a single new conference for the state’s largest Protestant denomination that would change the way it’s governed and possibly reverse years of declining numbers.

A reorganization plan that delegates will vote on would unite the North Indiana and South Indiana conferences …

The Rev. Adolf Hansen of McCordsville, co-chairman of a joint planning team, said the plan … would instead create an entirely new organization in which local congregations discern their ministries and form clusters with other congregations that then would connect with one another regionally.

‘We don’t want it to be business as unusual, only on a larger scale. We think the creation of something new is far more energizing,’ Hansen, vice president emeritus of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ill., said Tuesday.

The Rev. Cynthia Reynolds, the church’s Warsaw District superintendent and co-chair of the planning team, is confident delegates will vote to unify.

‘I think it will be supported. I really feel people are open to discern what God is leading us to do,’ Reynolds said. …

[Indiana Bishop Michael J.] Coyner, who presides over both conferences, also predicted a unification vote. Doing so would streamline the church’s bureaucracy and free resources to focus on growing a combined membership that has been in steady decline, now numbering 208,700, down 7 percent from where it was five years ago.”

Excerpted as reported in The Indianapolis Star.

The United Methodists have for several years preached a different gospel than the one preached in the Bible.  Their version of the gospel does not encourage people caught up in sin (like sodomites) to repent.  It also allows people of different religions to share their false doctrines in their churches.  Is it any wonder their numbers have declined?  I suspect that those who left were tired of sticking around with the hopes that the churches would change for the better.

One of the leaders in this article claimed that creating “something new” would energize their churches.  The only thing that can really energize a church is the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) who comes when the genuine word of God is preached, but it’s obvious from his statement that people getting genuinely saved is not their concern.  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) and this is the newness these spiritually dead churches need.  They appear to be more interested in religious fads. 

Another thing that disturbs me is how the leaders in this article have religious titles before their names like “the Rev.” this or that.  Talk about vain pride and self-exaltation!  Jesus was against using religious titles (Matthew 23:8-10).  There is only one person in the universe that should be called reverend and that’s God (Psalm 111:9).  Like it says in Proverbs, “Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall,” and that’s another contributing factor to their declining numbers.

Another church leader states that the people in their churches have God’s discernment to do what they should, but if that were the case why are they promoting things that are contrary to God’s word in their congregations?  “…[T]hey have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean…” (Ezekiel 22:26).  “They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16)

These churches not only need reorganization, they need repentance.  Maybe they should repent first and then reorganize.

–posted by Harry A. Gaylord–

The pot calls the kettle black, or, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones

The Associated Press reported a few days ago that Catholic leaders denounced New York City’s campaign of distributing free condoms.  Part of their official statement states, “Our political leaders fail to protect the moral tone of our community when they encourage inappropriate sexual activity by blanketing our neighborhoods with condoms.”  They then called Mayor Bloomberg’s administration hypocritical for acknowledging abstinence as 100% fool-proof against sexually transmitted diseases yet at the same time giving out prophylactics.

I think it’s ironically amusing and at the same time sad that a religious organization that for decades has kept secret the sexual sins of priests who have trysts with each other and as many altar boys as they can get their hands on, would then turn around and call Bloomberg’s administration hypocritical.

“And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

“Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.”  (Luke 6:41-42)

I’ll see you in court, my fellow Christian!

I just read the controversial Christianity Today article entitled “Day of Reckoning” about Calvary Chapel today.  When I read the part about the lawsuit and countersuit over assets for the Calvary Satellite Network, it brought two scriptures to mind:

“And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.  And he [Jesus] said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?  And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”  (Luke 12:13-15)

“Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?  If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.  I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?  But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.  Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?  Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.”  (1 Corinthians 6:1-8)

Once again, Christians are making themselves look bad to the unbelievers with their covetous attitudes.  Haven’t these guys read their Bibles recently?  After all, they are running ministries.  Instead of suing each other they should have handled the situation according to what the scripture says regarding church discipline.  But I guess they thought a lawsuit in front of secular authorities would work better than God’s word.  Yes, brothers and sisters, corruption and covetousness are thriving very well in today’s congregations.  Satan must be so happy!

–Harry A. Gaylord–

Some reasons why churches want your tithe

In his book, The Second Coming of the Church, Christian sociologist George Barna discovered five basic ways that church leaders in America judge the success of their ministry. They are as follows: congregational size, size of church facilities, scope of the ministry, budget size, and pastoral credibility. Out of these five, pastoral credibility is the most valid concern they care about.*

Most Christians are under the false impression that the more members we have in church, the stronger our ministry will be. Although it is good to try to reach as many people as possible with the gospel, focusing on numbers brings about pitfalls. One such pitfall is compromising certain Christian doctrines in order to make the gospel more palatable to those who will not accept unadulterated truth. For instance, most churches have a bent toward ecumenism, which is the belief that doctrines don’t matter as long as someone says they believe in Jesus.  As a result, many Christians accept Catholicism as being Christian when it’s doctrines are clearly antichrist (i.e. worshipping and praying to Mary as co-redeemer with Christ, Mary’s immaculate conception, transsubstantiation of wine and bread during eucharist, the pope as vicar of Christ, etc.). Such beliefs as those the Catholics hold to should be rejected as a false gospel, according to Galatians 1:6-9. Nevertheless, it is rare to find a preacher/pastor who will speak out against it out of fear of driving people away.  If Jesus was so concerned about the number of followers he had, why didn’t he try to persuade many of his disciples to stay who deserted his ministry in John 6:60-66?

As far as church facilities are concerned, just having a place to worship is not good enough anymore.  “Successful” churches need a campus for constant expansion of the ministry. This explains why the book The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkerson (“Lord, increase my territory”) was so popular years ago. The sanctuary has to be huge just in case God sends an “overflow of souls.” Of course, all of these “needs” incur more expenses, so the church leaders have no choice but to misquote scripture in order to persuade us to give more and more.

The scope of the ministry must broaden (or so we think) to cater to every individual’s particular need, no matter how rare. So we have to have a singles ministry, marriage ministry, old folks ministry, young folks ministry, etc., etc. Instead of us all fellowshipping together regularly to try to understand each other, we divide into our ministry cliques. I don’t ever recall Christ telling Peter to head a marriage ministry since he was married or John to head a singles ministry because he was single. Furthermore, Paul commanded Titus to encourage older men and women to teach the younger men and women how to conduct themselves, which required the different generations to mingle (Titus 2:1-8).

A church’s budget size, according to modern day believers, means God is or is not blessing us. The larger the budget, the greater God’s blessing. To us, more dollars means the ministry has a greater impact. We think it shows spiritual commitment, vision, and sacrifice. If that’s true, does that mean God has blessed the Mormons, Watch Tower Society, and Islam? They have lots of money which they use to spread their ungodly messages.

What do all of these measurements of success have to do with tithing? These are some of the reasons why religious leaders are so bent on trying to get people to cough up tithes and offerings. Most of the funds are used for facilities and programs as opposed to taking care of the fatherless, the poor, missionaries, and the widows like they did in the first century church (Acts 6:1; 4:34,35: 11:28-30; Philippians 4:15,16). Jesus clearly stated to the Samaritan woman in John 4 that worshipping God is not centered on any particular place but on worshipping Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:19-24). The most High does not dwell in temples (church buildings) made with hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24). So huge, extravagant buildings are luxuries, not necessities. We, the believers, are the only temples the Lord desires. It’s not wrong for us to want to have a building in which to worship, but our desire should be to keep things simple so the bulk of the funds can go directly to minister to people’s everyday needs.

It is no secret that Christians in America live in a covetous society. Unfortunately, this covetousness influences the church’s mentality. We would do well to “[t]ake heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15) Neither does a church’s survival. Many pastors and their congregations are caught up in making a name for themselves as if to impress God. Tithing is the tool they use to get money needed to pay for that recognition so they can obtain the previously mentioned measurements of success. However, I also acknowledge that there are pastors giving the tithe speech because they don’t know any better. After all, they were taught that it’s the proper and godly thing to do, so they went along with it.

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*George Barna, The Second Coming of the Church, (Nashville, TN: Word, 1998), pp. 45-46.

 (©2007, Harry A. Gaylord)

House of God or house of gods?

“And there was a man of mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.  And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son.  And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the LORD from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.  Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.  And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.  In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-judah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. … And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. … And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.  Then said Micah, Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to (be) my priest.”  (Judges 17:1-7, 10, 12-13)

This story about Micah is a sad revelation on how much Israel had turned from God during this period.  If you noticed in the scripture, Micah’s mother wanted to dedicate the silver to Jehovah by making an idol for Micah to add to his collection of household gods.  Then Micah hired a Levite to be his personal priest, thinking this would be his good luck charm to receive Jehovah’s blessings.  This man was a reflection of his times, doing what was right in his own eyes and not recognizing his practices were idolatrous and hateful to God.  He made a feeble attempt at mixing the worship of the true and living God with pagan practices.

When I read this scripture, it reminded me of the majority of today’s churches.  Like Micah, many who call themselves Christians have mixed pagan practices into worship services and their personal lives.  Go to just about any Pentecostal or charismatic church and you will witness what they call laying on of hands where hands are placed on the head, forehead, chest area, or abdomen so the person can be “slain in the spirit.”  These are practices taken from the Hindu teachings of Kundalini yoga where it is believed that there are certain points on the body (such as the top of the head, forehead, chest, abdomen) that when touched by an “ascended master” (guru or swami) awaken the dormant “serpent power” of the individual.  The fact that it’s called “serpent power” should automatically raise a red flag in one’s mind.  The individual will then feel warm or electric sensations throughout their body or will go completely stiff.  All of this is a cheap imitation of the genuine laying on of the hands, but forget about trying to get these churches to turn away from these pagan practices because they will bend over backwards to defend them.

There are also congregations across America who hold yoga classes.  Then, of course, we have so-called “Christians” who think it’s perfectly fine to pray to dead people who they call saints when God clearly condemns necromancy in the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).  How many of us set aside time during the week to see the TV shows Medium and The Ghost Whisperer?   We also have individuals in our midst who have to read their horoscopes every day instead of asking God what his will is for them and trusting him to reveal it.  Have I omitted any other pagan practices that take place in “Christian” churches?  If so, let me know.

I guess the point I’m getting at is that we are in the midst of great apostasy where churches have fallen away from the faith.  Can they really be considered Christian?  As far as Roman Catholicism and its origin, that’s a definite no since Constantine pretended to be converted and gave his Roman gods Christian names to try to unify pagans and Christians so there would be peace in the Roman empire.  But what about the Protestants? 

Personally, I don’t consider myself Protestant since the word implies someone who has left Roman Catholicism in protest.  When I got saved, I was born into Christ, who established his church way before the Roman Catholic heresy was established.   As a matter of fact, I was chosen by God’s grace (like all of my spiritual brothers and sisters) before the foundation of the world.

My prayer for the church is that we will not be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is and will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them instead.

–Harry A. Gaylord–

Let no man glory in men

“For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? …

For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. …

Therefore, let no man glory in men.  For all things are yours;” (1 Cor. 1:11-13; 3:3-7, 21)

We see here that Paul is addressing an issue that has plagued the body of Christ for centuries–the carnality of believers as reflected in their placing religious leaders on pedestals.  The mentality behind believers bragging about their spiritual leader is basically ungodly pride in the back of our minds which says “I’m more spiritual than that person or group because I follow this or that preacher who is superior to their favorite preacher.”

Since this is happening in just about every church, it reflects how spiritually immature modern churches really are.  It does nothing but promote envy, strife, divisions, and contentions as stated by Paul.  Although we should give honor to those who rule well in ministry, they are not be worshipped as we so often do.  Church leaders are merely examples to the flock, not lords over it (1 Pet. 5:2-3).

There is only one head of the church–Jesus Christ.  He is the only one who bought and paid for it with his redeeming blood as a sinless sacrifice.  If someone else is the head of your church, your church is not Christ’s church.  All true believers have a direct line to God through our only mediator, Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5).  As Paul states, ministry leaders are nothing; it’s God that is our everything since he supplies the increase in genuine ministries.

An associate of mine once asked one of his “Christian” classmates what his beliefs were.  The classmate responded, “I don’t know.  I’ll have to ask my pastor.”  This is the spiritual state of many church folks today.  Instead of reading the Bible for ourselves to find out what God has said, we’d rather let our leaders tell us what we should think.  So we check our brains at the door as we enter the sanctuary.

As a result, we create leaders who resist the ideas of people who genuinely want to share their spiritual gifts with the body of Christ.  Unfortunately, those leaders like Diotrephes in 3 John want the preeminence since so many praises have been heaped on them.  They feel threatened (like the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day) because someone else’s ministry in their congregation may overshadow their own ministry.  “[T]he eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee.” (1 Cor. 12:21)

In essence, this doctrine became known as Nicolaitanism–a doctrine that Christ hates.  See my post Revelations on the Book of Revelation for more about this hurtful doctrine.

Every true believer is royalty and part of the priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9).  This is why Paul told the Corinthian church in 1 Cor. 6:4 that even the least esteemed in the church should judge disputes between brothers instead of going to secular courts.

The Lord does not want us to glory in men, but to glory in the fact we know and understand him (Jer. 9:24).  Jesus commanded us in Matthew 23:8-9 not to assign lofty titles to our peers in the church.  Even Elihu, the only one to speak wisely to Job and his three friends, knew the importance of this principle when he stated:

Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person [by showing favoritism based on status], neither let me give flattering titles unto man.  For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.  Job 32:21-22

–Harry A. Gaylord–