Apathy Costs

There is none so gullible as the pew*,
Our apathy aided in our demise;
How silent we were while the carpers few
Wrested control; our work is paralyzed!
We raised no outcry as heroes went down,
And none when treasured beliefs were belied;
We yawned as false rumors were passed around:
"He doesn't believe the Bible!" was cried!
The rebels knew well how Baptists to gull---
That charge was enough; no proof was supplied;
Chosen voters were told which ones to cull;
Legalists won, the Convention to guide!
Southern Baptists were split, our input void,
When dissidents our unity destroyed!

Until 1979 the Southern Baptist Convention contained the largest number of Protestant Christians in America. In that year at the annual meeting in Houston the "fundamentalists" succeeded in electing their chosen candidate President. They had been working to overcome the traditional process of governance, which, in their opinion, had become too "liberal". The attack began in 1965, and the battle raged on until 1995, when the "moderates" (a code word for liberal) gave up. By then many individual members had sought and joined other denominational or independent Bible churches or quit churches, disgusted at the way fundamentalists controlled the mission boards, seminary trustees, college boards and other institutions. They adopted creeds and required missionaries and faculty members to solemnly swear to follow them, fired many dedicated administrators and faculty on trumped charges, and brought ridicule upon the Convention for boycotting DisneyWorld and declaring women subservient to men.

The reason they targeted the Presidency was because it was his privilege to nominate members to all boards and committees. When they succeeded in gaining the office, they began appointing like-minded members to those positions. It wasn't long until they had overhauled all boards. They caused the Women's Missionary Union to sever relations with the Convention. They established policies forbidding women and homosexual pastors in member churches, frowned upon the doctrine of the priesthood of every believer, supporting instead pastor-run churches. Any denominational employee who believed that the earth was older than 7,000 years, or that entertained the idea that evolution may have been God's way of creating man was in danger of being accused of unbelief in the Bible.

The method they used to gain supremacy was simple. Convention rules permits each church 10 "messengers" as voting delegates to each annual meeting. Most have difficulty in finding enough messengers to attend, for laypersons pay their own expenses; volunteers have to be solicited. The rebels canvassed church memberships and asked (by telephone) those willing to vote for the fundamentalist candidate to get their names on their church delegations. By 1979 they succeeded in getting the majority of delegates and were victorious.

Jesus' First Miracle?

There was no good, or eternal, reason
For Jesus to turn water into wine;
His doing of miracles was out of season,
And perhaps a mis-use of pow'r divine!
Protesting, "My time has not yet come",
He acceded to His mother Mary's behest---
E'en though His ministry had not begun---
As any good son would, for "Mom knows best"!
His aiding the wedding hosts in this way
Might have been amiss, as one seeking praise;
If so, the guilt is hers; what son says "Nay"
When mom puts him on stage and curtains raise?
But He only acted as we must do:
Showing love to others, and we should, too!

"When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, 'They have no more wine." 'Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. 'My time has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.' Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, 'Fill the jars with water'; so they filled them with water. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.' They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. ... the master said, 'You have saved the best till now.'" (John 2:3-10)

John writes that this was Jesus' first miracle. I cannot help from wondering about the unknown details of the Savior's upbringing---the childhood and years from 12 to 30. He had younger brothers and sisters, and there must have been others His age in the village of Nazareth; what did they do in times when away from adult supervision? Was Jesus ever tempted to use His supernatural power to astound His peers? The Qur'an, holy book of Islam, contains a story about Jesus as a youngster carving a wooden bird and giving it life; several watched it fly away. Knowing my own childhood experiences, I know that if I had been the Son of God with the powers Jesus possessed, I could not have ignored the many tenptations to astound my chums; I don't believe, however, that Jesus carved a bird and made it live; or that He did any other petty carnival magic acts. Even this miracle of turning water into wine borders on incredibility, for what does it add to His eternal purpose for incarnating Himself?

As for Mary, I don't find it impossible to believe that she was not much more
perfect than other human mothers that she could resist showing off her son's incredible powers. The miraculous turning of 150 gallons of water into wine at a huge wedding banquet in Cana would spread all over Galilee, and she could bask in the reflected glory of her son's feat for life. After all, the text of the total scripture passage indicates that the wedding guests had drunk all the wine furnished, and were on the verge of intoxication already; the additional wine could only put them further into drunkeness. This may have been the custom in those days, but it is certain that this miracle doesn't rise to the level of healing the 10 lepers or restoring sight to the blind.

The Apostles' Callng

How little they knew, when He made the call,
The price they would pay, or where He would lead;
But they followed Him, to stand or to fall,
Through both storm and peace, with much and with need@
Did the twelve walk away from kith* and kin,
Wives and offspring abandoned on their own?
Were others called that Jesus did not win,
For refusing to leave loved ones alone?
When His own tried to curtail His gospel spread,
He revealed for us how we should respond;
Let nothing delay the lost being fed;
Keep your eyes fixed on the life beyond!
Eleven were faithful until the end;
Only one failed his calling to attend!

*kith = friends

"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately rhey left their boat and their father and followed him." (Mattew 4:18-22)

"When Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told Jesus, 'Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.' He replied to him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' Pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, is my brother and sister and mother.'" (Matthew 12:46-50)

It seems a little amazing that these four men (in the first scripture above) answered the call of Jesus at once, not pausing to make arrangements for the care of there possessions or families. So it was to be for the other eight apostles. Nothing is said in the Bible about any of them leaving His side for the next 3 years, except that they all were in Peter's home for teaching at times. And Peter did have a wife, for his mother-in-law was healed by Jesus. After Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and arose to heaven, 11 of the 12 went into full-time missionary service to various places in the Roman Empire and beyond; all 11 died as martyrs. What was the attraction of this unknown Jesus that motivated these men to respond to the call of the Savior? Perhaps the Holy Spirit was already at work before He called them.

Jesus' mother Mary and His half-brothers were concerned that He was a bit "off His rocker" and would be killed by the Pharisees or be harmed by His living in the open country; at any rate they made a trip to intervene while He was preaching, probably hoping to talk some "sense" into Him and bring Him back home. When informed that they were outside and wanted to talk with Him, while He was addressing a crowded housefull, Jesus "snubbed" them by declaring that His believers' "feeding" or teaching was more important. Isn't that what we are commanded to do? In Matthew 22:34-40, He declared that the most important thing for us is to put our love of God above everyone and everything else, even our own families! He demonstrated that we must not let anything in this world interfere or curtail our mission of service to God. We must adopt a "next-world" view toward everything we do in this present world.

The triune God: The Son XI

Of all events ever, none counted more
Than the trial that night of the Son of God;
Never was justice misapplied so sore,
Nor false evidence from witnesses prod!
Had the world known, it would have paused tp pray,
When the high priest asked, "Are you Yahweh's son?"
Bold came Christ's answer, "It is as you say."
With those words His farce of a trial was done!
Now was salvation offered free to all,
The old covenant supplanted by new;
Accepting Christ Lord atones for man's fall
And redeems both the Gentile and the Jew!
Jesus died that day, as He came to do;
When He returns, He will convert the Jew*!

*As used here, "Jew" means descendants of Jacob.

"The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus, so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, 'This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, 'Are you going to answer? What is the testimony that these men are bringing against you?' But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, 'I charge you under oath to the living God: Tell me if you are the Christ [Messiah], the son of God.' 'Yes, it is as you say.' Jesus replied. 'But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.' Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, 'He has spoken blasphemy." (Matthew 26:59-65) [ Brackets added]

On the Thursday night that Jesus was arrested, He was convicted of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin, the religious/political group that supervised Israel under the Roman occupiers. Conviction of blasphemy incurred the penalty of death in the Mosaic Law. He was found guilty falsely, because the two witnesses twisted His words; He was speaking of His body as the temple of God, telling His followers that if He was slain, He would be resurrected within three days; and He was.

The significant point of the trial came when the high priest asked Him point blank if He was the Son of God. Jesus answered in the affirmative, boldly asserting that He was. It was not blasphemy, because He was telling the truth; these leaders of Israel were spiritually dulled to the truth (See Isaiah 6:9-10). Their Bible, the Old Testment, contained 340 prophecies about the coming Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled every one of them. They had no excuse for failing to recognize Him. Jesus called Himself the "Son of Man" deliberately, because in Daniel 7:33 that title was used for the Messiah.

This trial and its verdict signify the cancellation of the old covenant between God and Israel and the installation of the new covenant between God and all people. Salvation is offered free to all the world, including Israel, by belief in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus promised the Jews that when He returns to earth, He will remove the dulled insight, and it is prophesied that the remnant of Jews left at that time will be converted to Him.

Discord Within The Church

Though all believe it, error is ne'er truth,
Nor is the unknown any the less hid;
The Lord makes not a mansion of a booth,
If many men desire, and so Him bid!
We can see through the glass but darkly yet;
Our faith, though great, can't the unseen reveal;
A misplaced belief sorrow can beget,
As much as that fueled by too little zeal!
The tent of faith is large enough for all;
None is called his pet creed impose throughout;
Satan lurks within, his lies to install;
Wars in churches repel lost souls without!
Let new converts mature in faith and grace,
Before intrachurch feuds they have to face!

"'Do not judhe or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge, others, you will be judged, and with the same measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?'" (Matthew 7:1-3)

The scripture passage above quotes Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in just one command, but there are many more that He gives throughout the gospels; other commands for Christians are contained in the Bible, and we need to study and practice them to remain in the love of God. The reason is that Christians are directed to "crucify" or banish the human nature traits with which we are born, putting in their places the "fruit of the Spirit" listed by Paul in Galations 5. This "born again" or "new life" nature must be developed by each new Christian; it is not magically installed when first we accept Christ and become a church member. At that point we are entering a fellowship of believers, none of which has reached perfection; in fact, many have made no progress at all in eliminating their pride, jealousy, selfish ambition for power, and other worldly tendencies they possessed before accepting Jesus. Is it any wonder there are so many squabbles, disagreements, power-seekers, cliques, etc., in every church? These are congregations made up of the same people we encounter on the highways, in workplaces, and society in general; they have not succeeded in eliminating the unChristlike traits, but they should be working on eliminating them.

I have learned that there is no perfect church by working as staff member and just belonging to many as a member. A lot of us, including staff, are shocked by the pettiness of many members in offending others or in being offended, so that many drop out of church, either to look for one more suited to their expectations, or to quit going to church completely. I hope, by writing this type of blog, to prepare someone to expect less perfection from other Christians. It is not that God is pleased at imperfection; He certainly is not; He knows that not one of us is ever going to reach His standard of protection. That is why we say that salvation is not something that anyone can ever deserve through his own efforts: It is given by God's grace. In heaven, we will be perfect, because God will put the finishing touches to our characters for us. That is what grace is: God's undeserved gift.

Every Pastor's Prayer

Dear Lord: Protect her from scoffers without,
Who seek to divide the church and her Groom;
Warm the cold hearts of her members who doubt
The road her leaders choose to heav'n's room!
Let carpers know how Satan does employ
Members to worm rotten with inner strife;
Show them the carnage their whispers convoy,
Slashing unknowing with the devil's knife!
More grace is wasted fighting fires in church
Than in harvesting fields white with the lost;
Many are left when the Christians besmirch
By dissension 'neath the sign of the cross!
May the world see love between Christ's own sheep,
Not the infighting they so often keeo!

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ... My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." (John 15:9-12)

And so at last I am telling you how to remain in the love of Jesus. To do so, we must keep His commands. What are His commands? My poems and comments, 384 of them so far, in every word give His commands to us who are Christian; this was His last command to the apostles, and maybe the most important. It is, to love each other. Newcomers into memberships of many churches walk into the middle of intrachurch squabbles between older members who have not yet learned what it means to 'love each other'. In my own denomination, Southern Baptists, we have just emerged from a 30-year battle between so-called 'fundamentalists' and 'moderates'. The fundamentalists won, but at what cost? How many non-believers are still lost because we were too engaged in warfare among ourselves to show love for each other? How many Baptists are now not going to any church? And how many have changed to other Christian groups? To make the problem worst for Christ, the battle was led by Baptist preachers, and it was a power-grab. Most of those in the pews never understood what their pastors were fighting about. The methods used by the winners were carbon copies of the methods used in politics hatched in 'smoke-filled rooms'; they set a terrible example for Christians everywhere.

Christianity has received persecution from world society since Jesus came. However, the church as a whole has not only survived, but it has grown to number 2.5 billion members today. The persecution in the first 3 centuries came mostly from the governments of the Roman Empire and the Judaists from which Jesus emerged. Despite the persecution, Christianity not only survived; by 325 A. D., it had become the official religion of the Empire. As for the Judaists, they still exist, but to be saved, each one must accept Jesus as Lord. Evidence from those earliest centuries highlights the fact that everywhere Christianity spread because non-believers saw how much they loved one another. Our problem today is that intrachurch power wars are so visible to the outside world, and it repels people rather than attracting them. We need to love each other and keep His other commands as well.

The Triune God: The Son X

Israel disobeted God so very much,
He dulled the leaders' spiritual insight;
They took God for their own, a private crutch,
Got puffed up on their standing in His sight!
He didn't want them to accept His Son,
For Jesus would be claimed completely theirs,
Gentiles unwelcomed, lest extra rites done;
Non-Jews, if saved at all, second-class heirs!
So God broke His covenant with the Jew;
Jesus died for all races on the cross;
Israel, to be saved, must accept Him, too,
The blood of the Son was the final cost!
Some Jews were saved by God's election;
Now, they must believe, without exception!

"He said, 'Go and tell this people; Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.'" (Isaiah 6:8-10)

Isaiah was a Jewish prophet who lived 700 years before the birth of Jesus, the promised Messiah. God sent him to Israel with the message above, because He had been disobeyed too much by them. Of course, God had known since before man was created that the nation He chose to be one of priests who would become a blessing to the whole world by producing its Savior would fail to keep their end of the covenant. He also knew that this could be expected from all men; he was a weak vessel and could not live a pure, sinless life; it was going to be required for God Himself to come to earth in the flesh, taking upon Himself the sins of mankind, shedding His blood to pay the wages of men's sins. Israel had become puffed up, considering God to be for them alone, and looking down upon all Gentiles. (Gentiles means all races other than Jewish.) God withdrew from His covenant with Israel and made a new covenant that provides salvation for anyone living in the world, upon the condition of sincere belief in Jesus as the Son of God. Because the hearts of most Jews were dulled by the judgment of God, when the Messiah came )Jesus), they rejected Him and had Him crucified.

The new covenant opened the doors of heaven to every human being. Jesus established Christianity, which spreads churches over the whole world. This means that salvation is for the Jewish people also, but to receive it, they must accept Jesus as the Messiah. When Jesus returns to earth the second time, He will remove the spiritual dullness that has lasted 2700 years, and the people of Israel will respond with a great awakening (See Zechariah 13:1).