Never take worship for granted

 I am currently reading The Worship Architect by Constance M. Cherry. When our region was offering Church Alive to our churches as a process to help them grow and become healthier, Dr. Cherry was one of our presenters. She is professor emeritus of worship and pastoral ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University and an authority on Christian worship. She shares an incredible story in the book which I want to share with you. It is a story of a house church in China. She writes

Because of the necessity of worshiping in secret, the pastor left his home at 11:00 p.m. on the nights the church held worship services and walked a few hours by the light of the moon up to the mountains, where the villagers would gather in a cave with only a dim candle. They would "lip-synch" hymns that they knew from memory without uttering a sound for fear the Chinese government might discover them. After worshiping together, they would go back to their village to reach their homes before 5:00 a.m., when they would go to the field to start another day of work.

Several years ago I was part of a group of American Baptist men who went on a mission trip to Haiti. On Sunday we attended one of the Haitian churches for worship. The service began at 7:00 AM. People were asked to move from the front row so we could have their seats. The building was full with people actually sitting on the pulpit platform and others sitting in the rafters above us. About 9:00 the service ended, and as we were leaving, people were already coming in for the 10:00 service, many carrying their own chairs.

I have often thought about the difference in the approach many American Christians have towards worship and what I experienced in Haiti. As I read the account of the house church in China and how they had to worship due to fear they would be found out, it again reminded me of how nonchalantly many American Christians approach worship.

Our Constitution gives us the freedom to worship, a freedom many throughout the world do not have. This is not a freedom from worship, but a freedom to worship. According to Dr. Cherry's book, there is evidence that the early church gathered every day to worship. Some today feel they are doing God a favor if they attend church once a month. Those Christians in China literally risk their lives by gathering for worship; some of us have to decide each week if we are going to attend church services or if there is something else we want to do.

This is not intended to be a rant. I simply want us to examine our hearts. We should never take worship for granted. People risk their lives to worship God in other parts of the world. Our attitude every Sunday should be "I get to go to church and worship God today," not "I've got to go to church today and then we can do the other things we want to do."  

I want to encourage you make worship a priority in your life. This not only means attending church services each week, but also to worship God in your personal life as well. Spend time in prayer and in reading the Bible. Many of us are reading through the Bible this year as an act of worship and discipleship. I invite you to join us on this journey.

Veteran's Day salute

 From 1967-1971 I served in the US Navy. For three of those years I was aboard the USS Enterprise, at the time the largest warship in the world. We made two tours to Vietnam during my duty on board the ship. My wife and I were married when I enlisted, and our first child was born while I was on the ship. I never saw her until she was two months old, and after a two-week leave I didn't see her again until she was ten months old.

Duty, honor, respect, responsibility, pride are just some of the things that were instilled in me during those four years. When I watch the rioters, the looters, the punks screaming in the faces of our police, the college students who need a safe space to hide out in when someone says something that offends them I wish we had a mandatory military service requirement similar to Israel's. Maybe it would help some people grow up. Of course, their helicopter parents would probably call the Pentagon complaining that their baby had to do push-ups when he was tired and that someone had said something mean to him.

A lot of the young men and women my age served in the military. Many spent time in Vietnam and too many never returned. Since then we've had more wars that have resulted in young people losing their lives. War is never a good thing, but sometimes it is necessary to preserve a way of life worth preserving.

The freedoms we enjoy today were won through the sacrifices of those who fought the British to gain independence for our nation. Those freedoms have continued because men and women have been willing to fight and die to preserve those freedoms. These individuals deserve our respect and appreciation.

It's also important to remember that these same freedoms will only be ours if we are willing to hold on to them. We now live in a time when the state believes it has the power to grant or withhold our freedoms. That has never been the case. The Founding Fathers insisted the freedoms we were given were given to us by God, not by the state, and could not be taken away by the state. Unfortunately, we are in danger of allowing the state to take away our rights and freedoms.

I want to take this opportunity to thank every veteran and current military person who reads this blog. Your service is appreciated. The sacrifices you made for your country are also noted and appreciated. God bless every one of you. 

The 21st century church in the public square

Few books have impacted me more than Os Guinness' book The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity Despite the first amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing religious liberty, we are seeing an unprecedented assault on that liberty. As more and more special interests have rights given to them through laws and court decisions, it is the rights of Christians that are often cast aside. As Guinness writes, "Whenever there is a clash of rights today, it is routinely said that freedom of religion and belief should be the right that must give way, and that no conscience exemptions are to be granted."

Elsewhere in the book he writes, "In what is becoming an open affront to all human rights, civil liberty is increasingly preferred to freedom of religion and belief, and when the two clash, freedom of religion and belief has even been dismissed as an obstruction - as if it were not a right at all."

We see this played out in many places in our society today. Universities are removing Christian organizations, such as InterVarsity, from their campuses because their bylaws require that their officers are Christians. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission ordered a Christian baker to provide a cake for a same-sex wedding which he claimed violated his Christian beliefs. After years in court, the Supreme Court finally ruled in his favor, but he is now being sued for a third time for a similar reason. A Marine was court-martialed for removing a Bible verse in her work area. She was reduced in rank and given a bad conduct discharge which prevents her from receiving any veteran's benefits. Her supervisor said he didn't like the tone of the verse which is why he ordered it removed. Communities are banning home Bible studies, in some cases threatening fines of $500 per day if people violate the ban. An Atlanta fire chief was fired for self-publishing a book he wrote for his church's men's Bible study group. The mayor found it offensive. It is interesting that a city councilman supported the decision to fire the chief stating that it sent a strong message to employees about how much we value diversity. They certainly did not value diversity in the fire chief's beliefs.

Seemingly, every day we read stories similar to these, and we can expect that this will not improve. As we continue to grant rights to more and more groups it is inevitable at some point these rights will conflict with the ones granted to others. As Guinness points out, those rights historically and Constitutionally recognized are the ones that will be ignored when that happens.

We have made a shift in this country from religious freedom to religious tolerance. The problem with religious tolerance is that it can become religious intolerance with the stroke of a pen. That's why our Founding Fathers were careful to note that our rights as Americans were not granted by the state but were given to us by our Creator.

What can we do? The first thing is to pray. We need to pray for a revival to once again sweep through this nation. God said He would heal the land when His people humbled themselves, confessed their sins and sought Him in prayer. Our nation needs the church today to pray that God might pour out His blessing on us.

Secondly, we need to support those persons who will work to ensure that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are not cast aside. For many years, Christians avoided the political arena, and that has proven to be costly.  Christians must be engaged in the political process electing those men and women who most share our values and beliefs. More Christians need to run for office to uphold the values that are taught in the Scriptures.

Thirdly, we need to educate people about the need for a more civil public square. That education must begin in the church because we are not exempt from incivility ourselves. Christians can say some harmful, hurtful things to other people that does not reflect well on the God we serve. We need to help people understand that when we treat all people with respect and dignity we all gain. Yes, we have different beliefs about issues, and we can discuss those, but we can do so while honoring and respecting those with whom we differ.

The first amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion. It is the first amendment because our Founding Fathers recognized it as the foundation for all the other rights that would follow. They understood if that right was violated, all the other rights were in jeopardy as well. It is worth protecting for the good of all people.

Our worst enemy

I am currently enjoying reading Os Guinness' book The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity  This book is about religious freedom and how it is being challenged throughout the Western world. We've heard of the atrocities that occur in other places of the world where religious minorities have suffered much from religious majorities and atheistic governments, and while the attacks in America on religious freedoms pale in comparison to what others experience, it is real nonetheless. In fact, Guinness quotes a Pew Forum study that found that in 2010 "the United States moved into the top sixteen countries of the world where there was a rise in both government restrictions and social hostility toward religion."

Normally, I do not write about books I'm reading until I am finished with the book, but in this post I am making an exception. This book is not a quick read! It is filled with a lot of information that causes one to think. In a section I read earlier today he writes about some of the voices that attempt to drive religion from the public square, and one of those voices is "the rising disgust at the crude unwisdom of religious voices in public life."

A few years ago a pastor in Florida advocated the burning of the Quran sparking widespread protests. Ministers on TV promise miracle healings if you send them money for specially anointed cloths while others promote a "health and wealth" message to all who follow their teachings. Another church often protests at funerals of US service people and others claiming that these deaths are God's judgment on America for its acceptance of homosexuality. White evangelical and fundamentalist leaders were noticeably absent in the early days of the Civil Rights movement, and in some cases joined the efforts to promote segregation. The list of unwise and unnecessary voices goes on.

With the widespread use of social media these types of views and statements can go viral in a matter of days. Today when everyone has a camera and recording device unwise comments can live on forever. Many a politician wishes they had not spoken the words they did or took the stand they did to appease their current audience. It often comes back to haunt them when they are in front of a different audience. Religious leaders need to exercise caution as well.

In the past presidential election I was deeply troubled by some of the unwise things religious leaders were saying about the candidates running for office in both the primary and in the general election. Some of the things that were being said went far beyond the pale of supporting a particular candidate. I'm referring to hateful and virulent comments that people of faith were making about candidates and those who voiced support of them. In a few cases I simply unfriended them so I would not be subjected to any more of their hateful thoughts. In other cases, I cautioned people to consider how their comments were being received by others, especially those outside the faith.

Since the election we've seen the rhetoric continue between the political parties, the media and among individuals. While this is all troublesome and not healthy for our nation, it is especially sad when Christians question the faith of other Christians because of the political views they hold.

The church has a mandate to be salt and light to the world. We must speak out on the moral issues of the day, but we must do so with grace and compassion, not with malice and hatred. Our nation faces many challenging issues, and it must not exclude the voice of the church in its efforts to address these issues. Government can pass laws, but only the church has a message that can change hearts. But, if the church wants to be included in the public square it must learn to speak with wisdom. It must be committed to lifting up Jesus Christ, not its denomination or individual church or personal preferences.

Continued attack on religion in America

If anyone wonders if there is an attack on religion in America one only has to look at questionnaires sent to federal judicial nominee, Brian Buescher. Democratic senators Kamala Harris (CA) and Mazie Hirono (HI), both who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, included questions sent to the nominee about his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic charity organization. They claimed the organization, established in 1882, holds a number of extreme positions that may make it impossible for the nominee, if confirmed, to be able to judge fairly and impartially some cases that might be brought to his court. These "extreme" positions included its opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, positions held by the Catholic church.

A spokeswoman for the K of C blasted the questions as a throw-back to the anti-Catholic rhetoric heard in this country in its past. She added that "We were extremely disappointed to see that one's commitment to Catholic principles through membership in the Knights of Columbus - a charitable organization that adheres to and promotes Catholic teachings - would be viewed as a disqualifier from public service in this day and age."

While persons of faith might be disappointed, none of us should be surprised. Such attacks on those who hold to Christian teaching have been increasing over the years. Beliefs that have been held by the majority of persons for thousands of years are now considered extreme by those who seek to promote an ungodly agenda on America. Anyone holding traditional beliefs are attacked and vilified by those who want to remove all vestiges of religion from America. It is only by removing the moral teachings found in Scripture can those who want to promote their radical agenda hope to succeed.

The criteria used by these two Senators would exclude the majority of Americans from public service. There are over 70 million registered Catholics in America. Evangelical Protestants count for approximately 25.4 percent of Americans. Add to these numbers other conservative Christians and it adds up to a lot of people who do not believe that opposing abortion and same-sex marriage is extreme.

The church must find its voice and speak out against the attacks on traditional values that are becoming more and more common. We must educate people on the moral principles found in Scripture so that we can defend them against such attacks. Further, we need to help people develop a worldview that is based upon Scripture and not the philosophies of man. Finally, we need to challenge Christian people to run for political office to defeat those who want to change this nation into something it was never intended to be.

Religious liberty and the media

As I was trying to write an article on the current state of religious liberty and the media I came across this one. It was much better than what I had written so I thought I would share it instead of mine. Click on the link to read the article.

http://erlc.com/resource-library/articles/religious-liberty-needs-a-fixer-upper

Freedom of the pulpit under attack

We live in a time when religious freedoms are under growing attack in the United States. This is especially the case for those who hold to conservative Christian values. Ten years ago few would have thought that SCOTUS would determine that same-sex marriage was a Constitutional-given right. Even fewer would have guessed that states, courts, and school districts would demand that people be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice. Virtually no one would have believed that government agencies would monitor the sermons preached from the pulpits of this nation and fire those whose messages did not meet their political correct litmus test. That kind of thing only happens in Communist and Socialist countries, doesn't it? Not any longer.

The Georgia Department of Public Health fired Dr. Eric Walsh from his position as a district health director due to sermons he preached as a lay minister with the Seventh Day Adventist church. Shortly after his hiring in 2014 a team from the Department began investigating his sermons. A few days later the Department announced it was rescinding the job offer which Dr. Walsh had already accepted.  You can read more about this here.

This situation should give pause to every bivocational pastor. If you take a biblical stand that does not meet with the worldview of your employer your job may be in jeopardy. Dr. Walsh has sued the Georgia Department of Public Healthy, but there is no way in today's political climate to guess how this will end. If he loses, evangelical bivocational pastors may face increased scrutiny in the future.

Of course, every pastor and every Christian should be alarmed at this assault on religious freedom. We have gone from being a nation who holds to religious freedom to one that practices religious tolerance, and anything the government merely tolerates one day can be challenged the next.

This should serve as a wake-up call to American Christians, but I am not hopeful. We have been asleep for the past 50 years and generally apathetic as our nation has become more and more secular. The majority of us do not vote in elections. We do not hold our elected representatives accountable. They are much more afraid of offending large corporations and losing their financial support than they are of losing the votes of conservative Christians.

Even worse, we have not seen a religious revival in this nation in many years due to the apathy of Christians and their leaders. We have become content to gather in our "sanctuaries" and play church games. Maybe our "sanctuaries" are not so safe after all. 2 Chr. 7:14 still says that God will heal the nation when His people humble themselves, confess their sins, and pray.

Evangelical Christians must do two things if we have any hope of restoring this nation to its Christian foundations. We must become informed voters who vote our values, not our financial interests. Many of us need to run for public office and be willing to stand up to the special interest groups who want to shape our nation according to their worldviews. We need to hold our elected officials accountable and vote them back out if they refuse to listen to us.

More importantly, we have to pray for a spiritual revival in this land. Ultimately, a nation's salvation does not come from the White House, the State House, or the Courthouse. It comes from God. God is no longer willing to wink at our apathy. In the Old Testament when He judged a nation he sent warning after warning, each a little stronger, trying to turn that nation back to Him. Eventually the warnings stopped and judgment fell. We are experiencing such warnings in America now, each one a little stronger than previous ones. If the church and this nation do not heed those warnings we can expect God's judgment to fall upon us as well.

Why do atheists try so hard to disprove God?

A thought that often occurs to me when I hear an atheist speak or read something they have written is why are they so insistent that God does not exist? I don't believe in Santa Claus or the Easter bunny, but I don't spend time writing volumes trying to prove my point nor do I engage in endless debates with those who do believe in either of those childhood stories. Whether others believe in Santa Claus or the Easter bunny really doesn't impact my life so I spend no time in trying to prove my worldview that they don't exist.

If an atheist doesn't believe in God, other's belief in God doesn't impact that atheist's life. He or she is free to live their lives as they please. So why do some of the new atheists work so hard to convince others that God doesn't exist?

For some I'm sure it's financial. Some well-known atheists have written best sellers and get invited to share their beliefs in the media and on college campuses. Their unbelief in God can be very lucrative. Perhaps that drives some of their obsession with trying to convince people there is no God, but I doubt that is the primary reason they are so insistent that God does not exist.

Perhaps the real reason is that if God does exist that means they are not God. Dallas Willard has written, "God being God offends human pride. If God is running the universe and has first claim on our lives, guess who isn't running the universe and does not get to have things as they please. (Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ)"

It is only when people can convince themselves that God does not exist that they then can become God. They can choose their own moral principles and live the lives they wish to have. The real reason people reject belief in God is not intellectual, it is moral. They understand that if God does exist they either have to conform their life choices to his teachings or live lives of disobedience and will one day face his judgment for their disobedience.

Every attempt to remove God from the public square is to be able to make the state God. As God, the state can then enact laws that reflect its own views of right and wrong. Behavior that God calls sin becomes legitimatized through the passing of laws and rulings of the courts. At that point a society begins to call good evil and evil good and in danger of God's judgment (Is. 5:20) so it becomes even more important to eliminate belief in God.

We are often told that we are in the midst of a culture war, but it goes much deeper than that. We are in a spiritual war with the very soul of the nation at stake. Too often, the church has been sitting on the sidelines letting others determine when it's proper for us to engage. It's time to get off the sidelines and enter into the battle.

It's past time that we proclaim the word of God without apology. Just as the Old Testament prophets stood up to the false gods of their day, the church today must stand up to the false gods of our day. Billy Graham and other preachers of his generation spoke with authority to the masses because they depended not upon their own personal wisdom or philosophy but stood upon the authority of the Scriptures they proclaimed. We can do no less today if we want to see God move once again in the lives of men, women, and young people.

Let the nation rage and people plot a vain thing against God (Ps. 2:1). They will not prevail against God nor against a church that proclaims the Word of God.

Onward Christian Soldiers

"Onward Christian Soldiers" is a song I seldom hear sung in the church these days.  When I was growing up it was a song that we sang often, but today it's not even found in many of the modern hymnals.  Some believe it is not a politically correct song or that it presents the church as a military organization.  I don't know how many Christians read the news these days, but if they don't know it we are in a battle to preserve our beliefs and our nation, and it is past time that we begin to stand up for what we believe and stop wanting to hold hands around a campfire singing Kumbaya.

For the record, I am not advocating that we form a Christian paramilitary organization or a terrorist group.  What I am challenging Christians to do is to become informed about what is happening and be willing to stand for what we profess to believe.  Just this week I've read that one organization is challenging a high school sports team's right to wear T-shirts they have bought with their own money that has a Bible verse printed on it.  This morning the news contained a story of a school teacher who took a Bible away from a second grader who was reading it during personal reading time.  The teacher claimed it was not appropriate reading material even though the school has Bibles in its library.  Every year at this time various schools will forbid their student valedictorians from mentioning their faith.  Communities are restricting the right of homeowners to use their homes for small group Bible studies through zoning laws and restricting the rights of churches to build new facilities.  This week I read another story of an atheist group challenging the use of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance repeated in one school's classrooms.  The list goes on and on, and the really interesting thing is that we never read of any other religious faiths having their practices or beliefs attacked.  It is only the Christians who are having their religious freedoms taken away.

I believe there are two reasons for this.  The first is spiritual in nature.  The devil knows that there is no other religious belief system that can do him and his work any harm but Christianity.  For centuries he managed to keep the Bible out of the hands of the people, but once Christian people were able to read it for themselves he found his kingdom weakened greatly.  He then began to challenge the integrity of the Bible, and people became convinced that is was nothing more than fables and myths rather than the Word of God.  Even in the Garden of Eden he revealed this strategy by asking Eve, "Has God said...?" causing her to doubt the things God had clearly revealed to her and Adam.  It is a strategy that has remained effective even today.  Today he has managed to convince many people that there is no such thing as absolute truth, so nothing the Bible says or the Christian church teaches has any validity.  People are free to believe it or not, but we are not free to try to pass our beliefs on to others as true.  In many countries of the world if Christians attempt to convert someone to the Christian faith they are at risk of severe punishment and even death.  Could such laws be enacted here?  While many are convinced that could never happen, I am no longer so sure given the direction our nation has been going.

The second reason we are losing our religious freedoms is because we refuse to fight for those freedoms.  Very few Christians voted in the last election, and it is the politicians who have made it possible for our freedoms to come under attack.  If you did not vote for persons who hold to the Christian beliefs you claim to believe in, then you are allowing others to determine who will rule over you in the political arena.  If you will not remove School board members who buckle under to every threat that comes from atheist groups then you deserve schools that take Bibles away from second graders.  If you are not willing to publicly support decency and Christian values in your community then you deserve to live in a community in which those values are slowly being taken from you.

Those opposed to the Christian faith want it removed from the public square, and we must demand our right to be there.  It is time that Christians be recognized as people who are informed voters, that we will not sell our vote for free cell phones, and that we will not accept people to serve in public office who will oppose our values and our beliefs.  But, even more important than this, we must become people who are on our knees praying for revival for our nation.  2 Chronicles 7: 14 is still true.  If God's people will humble themselves and pray and seek God, He will hear those prayers and come and heal our land.  Voting addresses the political aspect of the battle we are in, and prayer addresses the spiritual battle.  Both are critical to the future direction of our nation.  I believe our nation is worth preserving for all the future generations who will come after us.  "Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war...."  We are in a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of our nation.  God has given us the weapons to win this battle, but we must choose to do so.  Rise up church!