Empathy: Asleep In The Light

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part VIII

At a Jesus Rally in Mount Union, Pennsylvania in the s’70’s, I heard Keith Green prophetically sing his epic song Asleep In The Light before a silent, stunned audience. Upon completion a woman screamed, “Listen to him”. She wanted the audience to take his message seriously. The lyrics are:

Do you see? Do you see? All the people sinking down?
Don’t you care? Don’t you care? Are you gonna let them drown?
How can you be so numb? Not to care if they come.
You close your eyes, and pretend the job is done.

“Oh, bless me Lord! Bless me, Lord!” You know, its all I eve hear!
No one aches, no one hurts, not one even sheds one tear
But, he cries, He weeps, He bleeds, And he cares or your needs.
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in.

Oh, can’t you see such sin?
Cause he brings people to your door, and you turn them away
As you smile and say, “God bless you! Be at Peace!” And all heaven just weeps
‘Cause Jesus came to your door, and you left him out on the streets.

Open up! Open up! And give yourself away.
You see the need. You hear the cries, so how can you delay?
God is calling, and you are the one but like Johan, you run.
He told you to speak, but you keep holding it in.

Oh, can’t you see such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark that the Church just can’t fight
‘Cause it’s asleep in the light!

How can you be so dead? When you have been so well fed?
Jesus rose from the grave, And you! You can’t even get out of bed!
Oh, Jesus rose rom the dead! Come on, get out of your bed!
How can you be so numb? Not to care if they come?

You close your eyes, and pretend the job is done!
You close your eyes, and pretend the job is done!
Don’t close your eyes, don’t pretend the job is done!

Come away! Come Away! Come away with me my love!
Come away from this mess. Come away with me my love
Come away, Come away with me my love!

Songwriters: Keith Gordon Green
Asleep In The Light lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol Christian Music Group

The message is as relevant five decades later. In all the protests after George Floyd’ death I hear the cry, “Do you see? Do you see? All the people sinking down? Don’t you care? Don’t you care? Are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb? Not to care if they come? Don’t close your eyes, don’t pretend the job is done.” After decades and centuries of racial bias and prejudice, we need to heed the words sung by Keith Green.

“Open up! Open up! And give yourself away. You see the need. You hear the cries, so how can you delay?” Many responded with empathy to those who were hurting and angry. In order for the Covid-19 church to not be asleep in the light, it has to arise and show empathy, compassion, none judgment, while advocating justice for all. My next blog will discuss how that is to be done.

Empathy: The Hurt Is Real

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part VII

“Bring your tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine case her fruit before the time in the field. All the nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightful land, said the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10-12)

“For there was not a needy person among them, or all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:34-35)

Lord, open our eyes. People are hurting, but society hides them well. Faced with unemployment numbers that surpass those of the Great Depression, Congress passed Covid-19 Assistance Legislations to prevent the soup kitchens of the last century from resurrecting. We, Americans, have to come to expect our government to bail us out. They bailed our big banks and corporations in 2008. Capitalistic greed got us into this mess; big government bailed us out. No “fat cat” C.E.O. ever ended up in jail. As the stock market again soared, C.E.O. wages and bonuses skyrocketed, stock buy backs became the norm, but the general public, the common hourly worker, saw his wages stagnate while having to now finance his own watered down healthcare plan. With the installment of the Covid-19 Stay-At-Home edict, the hourly wage earner was hurt again. That hurt now aches badly!

Families who lived paycheck to paycheck on minimum wage, working several jobs, found themselves unemployed, evicted, unable to pay rent, and now homeless, living out of their cars. Jobs for unskilled labor totally vanished. American seemed not to care as they failed to recognize their plight. The unskilled, untrained, uneducated segment of our population is drowning, hopelessly wondering who is willing to bail them out, give them hope, or direct their path towards future employment. They’re lost, confused, and hurting.

The institutional church finds itself swimming in the same Covid-19 crisis pool. With closed church buildings, church offices closed, also working under Stay-At-Home restriction, many church staffs also faced being furloughed. Without in house Sunday Services, church’s finances dwindled. Financial input could no longer sustain institutional needs.

While dedicated tithers kept the church institutions afloat, they discovered that churches were unwilling to try new wineskins for their finances. For example, they are not willing to embrace “storehouse tithing” perfected by Joseph who saved Egypt from an economic collapse after a 7 year famine, but eventually bought everyone out and set the foundation or hundreds of years of Israel being slaves. Malachi 3:9 commands to “Bring your tithes into the storehouse.” What storehouse? Our church’s storehouses have been exposed during this Covid-19 period, like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboards, as being bare! The 1st century church boasted, “For there was not a needy person among them,” yet the Covid-19 church has been laid bare! The church needs to embrace new financial mindsets and wineskins to be as effective as the 1st century church.

How does the institutional church plan to meet the financial needs of its members when they are unemployed, without health coverage, on the brink of homelessness, and desperate? How will the Covid-19 church be judged? Hopefully not this way: “He will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me….. To the extend that you did not do it to one of the least o these, you did not do it to me.”  (Matthew 25: 41-46)

Where is the benevolence, the sympathy, the empathy, the showing of grace, mercy, and love of the Lord? The hurting is real.

One Simple Word: Empathy

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era Par VI

We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our eweaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)

The year of 2020, the Covid-19 year, will go down in history as the year of economic collapse and social and political unrest, when people cried out to the Church to respond with empathy and understanding. Isolation had devastating effects. Most isolated patients who died from Covid-19, died alone, away from their family. Many Americans lost their jobs when they did nothing to deserve that. Others empathized with minorities, protesting in the streets against mistreatment of minorities by law enforcement. All wanted their voices to be heard by empathetic ears. All want to be understood. In the midst of this turmoil, many looked to the church for empathy.

I was initially proud of Americans and the church for their willingness to obey “Stay-At-Home” edicts and close their doors to protect the elderly and medically venerable from Covid-19. They showed respect for their elders and being “Pro-Life” were practicing what they preached, but a few short months later, they became bored, antsy, and most churches scurried back to their church buildings even though the pandemic was still on the rise in many parts of the United States. It did not take much time to erode their patience. They soon were willing to abandon their short-lived sacrifices for their weekly “Groundhog Day” worship services and the ability to go “out to eat” after church in order to support their local economies in place of protecting the elderly, the poor, and the vulnerable.

George Floyd’s lost life opened the door for massive demonstrations in spite of Covid-19. Their cry was for empathy, wanting to be heard and understood. As the nation gingerly responded empathetically, President Trump’s photo op of holding up a Bible in front of a boarded up church building exposed a deeply divided Church rationally. Black churches sought social justice; White churches supported a “Law and Order” President whose moral standards are beyond unacceptable.

Jesus empathized with mankind. Knowing the weakness of each of his 12 disciples, he still opted to chose, nurture, develop, and release them to become apostles in spite of their faults. Empathizing with them, he invested in them, changed, and developed their lives.

People in this Covid-19 era are looking or a Church for empathy. How will it respond?

Beyond Isolation: A Child’s Perspective

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part V

“Some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

“Mom, she’s touching me! Mom, she’s looking at me! Mom…” Mom threatens, “If you two don’t social distance, I will have to pull this car over and deal with the both of you!” Good luck! First the Stay-At-Home Order doesn’t allow you to be in the car, and, second, the kids are already strapped in their car seats! Trust me, children have no concept of social distancing. They love hugging one another, dancing with each other, playing and socializing with one another, and even giving kisses when feeling loved. They thrive being in groups.

“Mom, I miss my friends (at day care, kindergartens, or school),” they bemoan because they do not understand “Stay-At-Home” edicts. “Go to your room for time out!” Mom demands when disciplining, but isolation becomes a tedious daily process that is wearing all of us down. What have we done wrong that is causing this “time out”?

Apparently God’s children, Christians, aren’t much better at understanding this pandemic. They want to congregate, cram in pews, shake hands, and hug, Social distancing is challenging.  No longer wanting to stay at home, they claim going to church a Constitutional right, a freedom of religion issue, a right to assemble, separation of church and state, etc., etc., etc. Like an impatient child in a car seat, most Christians are antsy. Actually, they have no idea how to do church when away from church.

How do you greet one another when self-quarantined? My 4 year-old grand daughter loves to do crafts, baptizing herself in glitter and glue! Everyone she knows has “refrigerator art” because she has made multiple dozens of “cards” while going through a roll of stamps in no time. Today she has a bedroom full of cards and letters from all the people who have written back to her. She, alone, has saved the U.S. Postal Service, alias “snail mail”, during these harsh, economic times.

If the definition of worship is the “giving back to the Lord what he has already given you,” then card giving is an act of worship. She gave her God-given artistic talent back to the Lord by making and giving cards to others. They in turn, now feeling blessed, and sent cards back to her. God bless her giving, worshiping soul, “for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Being stewards, worship is giving what you have away. At death we all possess the same size piece of real estate, a 4x6x6 gravesite. Nothing materially goes with us to heaven or hell. Another way we can serve one another during a pandemic is through service. My daughter, a single mother, had been furloughed during the pandemic. Being at home 24/7, alone with her 4 year-old daughter totally drained her. Her physical and emotional cupboards were bare. She poured her frustrations out on social networks. A delivery of multiple bags of groceries came to her door sent by a high school friend she barely knew who saw her need and gave. It brought tears of gratitude to my daughter. That is worship! Simple acts of giving and receiving have impacted my daughter while the conventional church structure is still trying to figure out how to do church during the Covid-19 pandemic! That is how God’s love can be expressed.

Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

The Holy Spirit Still Teaches

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part IV

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (John 14:26-28)

In the midst of a Covid-19 pandemic is not the time to “let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Faith conquers fear. If God is our Provider and Protector who takes care of the sparrows, will he not take care of you? John 14:17-19 states, “The world cannot receive Him (the Spirit of Truth), because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

When Jesus ascends to His Father’s side to intercede for the saints, He sends the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter. The Holy Spirit is still teaching today what he taught the 1st century Church. Times have changed, but not His message. For example: A building is often associated with an institution. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, we went to a “school” building to academically learn. The Church, a body of believers, attends “church” activities in a “church” building. Covid-19 forced institutions to abandon their buildings. They, too, streamed online to be viewed at “home”, while their buildings lay vacated.

*****

“Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? You have been bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.” (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

Anchored in the 1st century’s Apostles’ teaching was the principle that Christianity did not need a physical building to be its temple. Christianity would not be tied down to real estate. They needed to be flexible due to persecution. Judaism had real estate, a Temple, but when destroyed, their faith became decentralized. Ironically, Christianity, which started without any facilities, would build massive cathedrals and mega-churches. Covid-19 has reminded the church it does not need its buildings. Its people, the dwelling places of the Holy Spirit, is what is important, not its facilities.

*****

“For there was not a needy person among them, or all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they would be distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:34-35)

The shocking truth is when a church building is empty, God’s Presence is no longer there. His Presence is in His people. Even when empty, the institutional church continued to practice its religion on line. In Jesus’ time, a Pharisaical religious system practiced its religion even though the Holy of Holies was missing the Ark of the Covent, the very Presence of God. Jesus still screams, “Woe, you Pharisees…”

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we should ask how we should handle high unemployment and an unstable economy? How do we undo the financial albatross of burdensome mortgage, increasing staffing salaries, budgetary needs to maintain programs, etc.? How is the church to meet the needs of it hurting saints? There are no local apostles, as there were in the 1st century, where one could lay their financial gifts at their feet to be distributed to the needy during this pandemic. Will there be a day when the 21st century Church can boast, “there was not a needy person among us”?  How can the Church meet these needs? We will explore that topic in future blog entries.

The Problem of Wineskins - Bob Dylan

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part III

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”  (Mark 2:21-22)

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"The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan

Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam
And admit that the water around you have grown
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start wimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'

Come senators, congressmen please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside and it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'

The line it is drawn the curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'

Peter, Paul & Mary sang Bob Dylan’s song to Baby Boomers in their youth. 50 years later, their children and grandchildren are about to sing it back to them. “If you haven’t learned from history, you are bound to repeat it” is a reality. The young, hippie, anti-Vietnam, women’s lib, drug exploring White youth of the ‘60’s is now an old White person wearing a MAGA red hat wanting America to become Great Again when they rebelled against the America in their youth.

50 years later, Covid-19 has turned their world upside down. What is challenging Americans and the Christian Church’s mindsets? Is it a new movement, or a reset of old ones? The ‘60’ experienced the Jesus and Charismatic Movements. Are we on the edge of revival today? If so, let’s see how!

Worship in a Covid-19 Wineskin? Inconceivable!

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part II

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”  (Mark 2:21-23 NASB)

Can “new wine” be put into a 2,000-year-old wineskin? Historically Christian revivals have tried but have been unsuccessful. What are we to do with new Covid-19 era structures that demand “new wine”? The Covid-19 pandemic has taken away many of our old wineskins. Church buildings were rendered useless by a “Stay-At-Home” order. Typical Sunday School classes, children’s churches, youth rallies, and nurseries have vanished. Church picnics, Bingo night, bazaar, senior centers, and going out after church to eat disintegrated.  All evaporated when isolation, being self-quarantined, and stay-at-home orders were in place. How is the church to cope when so many of their old wineskins have been taken away?

The church is attempting to place old wine into new wineskins by immediately streaming (new wineskin) “online” Sunday (old wine) Services. Parishioners still sit on their derrieres on couches to watch a “worship block”, receive a financial giving pitch, and listen to a professional sermon. This old “order of worship” continues to add old wine “passivity” into the mix. Old wine will continue to produce the same results: a typical Sunday morning “Groundhog Day” experience. Passive parishioner will race back to their previous complacent old structures or old wineskins in which they are comfortable as soon as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.

Relying on new wineskin technology, Zoom, the church immediately turned it into old wine experiences: Bible Study, prayer, or Discuss-the-Sunday-Sermon groups administrated by the local church staff who hoped not to be furloughed. Unfortunately when new wine is poured into old wineskins, both the wine and the wineskin get destroyed which produces hurt, pain, sectarianism, and division.

Jesus’ first miracle was changing simple water into phenomenal wine! If we supply new wineskins, He will supply the new wine, the better wine, supernaturally. What kind of new wineskins might we produce? How about a fresh, new way of looking at worship? Worship can be simple if it is defined as “giving back to the Lord what He has already give you.” We are only His stewards. Do you have children? Give them back to the Lord as Hanna did with little Samuel who became a mighty prophet. Got a job? Give it back to the Lord. How about your house, car, heirloom, your stuff?  Give it all back! God will either consume it, regenerate it, rebirth it, discard it, or give it back to you totally renewed.

Worship is a continual ebb-and-flow, give-and –take experience. The Lord gives something to us; we give it back to Him. He returns it in a new form; we return to Him, etc., etc. Back-and-forth worship can be the “heartbeat” of God! Corporate worship is when everyone can contribute their story, share a scripture, evangelize, comfort one another, nurture and care for each other, give a prophetic word, or network people with different giftings. The new wine could be the Holy Spirit releasing the five-fold grace gifts of Ephesians 4 to equip the saints for works of service. This new form of revival, this new wine, old wineskins have never experienced nor can understand because they want control.

If this Covid-19 generation embraces new structures, new wineskins, and allow the Holy Spirit to fill them with new wine, they will experience revival! In upcoming blogs, we will examine some possible new wineskins that want to be filled with new wine. As the great doubter Vizinni of Princes Bride fame cries out, “Inconceivable,” but with Jesus “all things are possible.”

The Covid-19 Exposes The Church

Insights Into The Covid-19 Church Era – Part I

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (I Peter 2:9-10)

It took a pandemic to turn our world upside down. We were enjoying our complacency and prosperity until Covid-19 rocked our world and caused us to reexamine the meaning of sacrifice. This pandemic has forced us to change how we do work, school and church. The next several blogs will be about how the Covid-19 has affected our lives and changed our world.

Resisting change, institutions fight to retain control. The Christian church has maintained control through established traditions for over two thousand years. America has maintained being a democracy for only 250 years. Could anything other than the Lord’s return impact and change the current Church mindsets?  The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged that control by shutting down economies and self-quarantining entire cities, sates, and nations. Without a pharmaceutical solution, it has caused communities to bow to isolation, create social distancing, stretch hospital and healthcare systems to the brink, and pose death threats to the masses and healthcare workers world-wide.

American churches have had to reexamine how to do church through this Covid-19 pandemic. It has rediscovered that the Church is its people, not its buildings. “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (I Peter 2:9-10) Christian facilities dot the American landscape and park on the cities’ street corners. According to scripture, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name I am there in their midst,” (Matthew 18:20) when those facilities are vacant, God’s Presence no longer resides in them. This was true in Jesus’ time and is still true today. Take the people out of a church building, and all you have left is an empty building!

Mandated isolation forced people out of their church buildings. To compensate, the institutional church continued to perform their Sunday rituals, sermons or mass, via streaming on the Internet. Pew sitters became comfortable sofa sitters. An appeal for financial support to support their institution continued to be part of the program. The size of the audience was no longer important, having a Sunday morning performance was. Covid-19 revealed that an isolated, quarantined church can still technologically stream its programs to meet their traditional institutional goals.

The Church needs to reexamine how it functions, what tools are available, how to equip isolated members, then how to release them to advance the kingdom of God in the 21st century. With an Internet generation, the church must learn how to communicate with one another locally and world-wide through a new heart, a new vision, and new strategies.

I hope the following blogs will challenge us believers to examine our hearts and vision for a Church that is willing to embrace change during this Covid-19 era

Diversity Is Our Strength

The Ebb And Flow Of Personal Relationships

After spending four days with old college friends in a cabin in Potter County, I’ve learned that “ebb and flow” brings peace. The creek behind the cabin brought soft whispers of peace and tranquility. No humming of cars could be heard; only the humming of a humming bird who danced around the edges of the porch. The gurgling creek harmonized with the chirps, warbles, caws, and blunt squeaks of birds, creating a song of nature that was both simplistic and distinctive.

Hidden in the recess of eddies, tucked near the shore, just beyond the rocks that causes the rapids to sing is found various forms of life: tiny creatures and crayfish tucked among embedded rocks. Tucked in a deep eddy called a fishing hole, trout swim as if still against the creek’s current because eddies are havens of rest from the torrid pace of the stream’s activities.

Our cabin lay in a sleepy valley tucked between two mountains where sun drenched rays of light fought the foliage to feed the ferns on the forest’s floor. I found refuge here from the strong currents of life. My solace lay not in its silence, but in boisterous laughter, revelry, and bantering among five old friends: a banker, carpenter, print foreman, public school teacher, businessman and college professor, all retired, all advancing in age. Here we reminisced of bygone college days, and here we found the essence of peace in the sound of nature.

Peace can be a woven tapestry in a field of diversity, sewn through each person’s unique journey that bonded them as a group. One’s talents flow through their career, but here they are joined together by just sitting on a porch reminiscing, a perfect eddy.

Commonality was found in their acceptance of each other after forty-five years. The weekend caused walls to crumble and openness to prevail as most of the weekend was spend around a kitchen table, talking, playing cards, or sitting on the porch. Differences diminished with peer acceptance.

Similarities can be found between our weekend and how the five-fold works relationally. I cohabitated with five distinctively different people with five distinctively different gifts, talents, drives, and points of view. Once all were very independent from the others in their journey in life, but now were being drawn together through a bond of acceptance they have never experienced before. All served and accepted one another as equal peers. No bickering or fighting ensued since playful bantering brought howls of laughter and delight. No one needed to be asked to do a chore; all chipped in when needed. Everyone willingly served one another. In the past polite handshakes would have been the norm when leaving, but no longer! Backs were slapped and hugs given.

The power of the “ebb and flow” brings peace, and we experienced that peace through giving and taking throughout the weekend. The creek was not the only place where one can find the “ebb and flow”, nor is the mountain valleys the only place one can find peace. Both can be found in built relationships between one another.

Rebirth of Five Revealed

Spirit of Evangelism Speaks

 “Birthing” as a parent is cool! “Rebirthing” as a grandparent is even better! If Adam ad Eve had been created as grandparents, they wouldn’t have sinned! Spoiled the grandkids? Sure! But not sinned. Eve would have been too busy baking cookies to eat of the forbidden fruit. Adam would have been rocking the grandchildren, telling them stories, gone fishing with them. Unfortunately that is not how it happened, so today we need evangelists. Why?

Evangelists love to “birth” and “rebirth”. The voice of this blog site has been quiet for two years, but no longer! The evangelist proclaims, “Fiverevealed.com” is alive, revamped, renewed, rebirthed!” It may appear that the blog writer went into hiding, but he has been busy writing as well as becoming a grandpa.

Since my last blog, I have written four major manuscripts: One Another: A Guide To Equipping The Saints Through Peer Relationships, The Phoenix Arising From The Ashes: One’s Faith Journey, The 3 R’s - Revolution through Revelation to Reformation; A Metamorphic 21st Century Church, and Martins – 500 Years Later: A 21st Century Reformation. I am also working on Five Underground, the fifth fiction book in the Five fictional series, and Cataclysm: A Tsunami Revival, a fictional book at why revivals do not have to be messy.

Some goals I have for “the new and improved” Fiverevealed.com are 1) share excerpts from some of these manuscripts; 2) reformat the 18 manuscripts I have written dealing with the tearing down and building up of 21st century church structures; 3) offer these manuscripts as ebooks through this website; 4) and have this website become more interactive, networking the body together.

I am totally convinced that the five fold (evangelists, shepherds, teachers, prophets, and apostles) are the passions, desires, and points of view of common believers in Jesus. As “gifts of grace”, they are not hierarchal offices! Their purpose is for “serving one another,” not ruling over each other. They allow a linear back and forth flow movement among equal peers when one is willing to “lay down one’s life for their brethren.” Hopefully, this blog will remain true to this calling.

Adapting and Responding To One’s Environment

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 9

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

Let’s look at the church through the eye’s of Katrina Scherbern’ view or Organism Organization where she defines seven characteristics. Let’s look at her fifth and sixth one:   

5.     Living things respond to their environment

6.     Living things adapt to their environment

Being “Missional”, a current church buzzword, is associated with going beyond church culture by responding and adapting to one’s environment. When the church loses being salt and light, it loses its brilliance and flavor and becomes ritual and lifeless.  The concept of being in the world but not a part of it does not mean to be exclusive.

Jesus commanded to love your neighbor as yourself, but when immersed in only a Christian culture, loving becomes easy, not sacrificial or forgiving. Loving your neighbor means responding to those outside one’s cell and adapting to their environment. Jesus was also criticized in his day for eating with tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, those unclean by Jewish Law, but He knew His Church would one day be outside the realm of Jewish tradition and open to the gentiles.

Again the five fold is important in implementing this principle. The evangelist is needed to rebirth, so that all things are new!  A shepherd’s nurture, caring, and kindness is effective in bringing about acceptance, then openness in receiving the gospel. Teachers are needed to teach the practicality of how to love your neighbor, not just preaching at them. Prophets can “read their mail” as Jesus did to the woman at the well in order to bring them into the kingdom of God. Apostles have insight as to how to be the most effect cell in winning new people into their group, how to nurture and develop them, spiritually feed them, and release them when mature.

An five fold church or cell, led by the Holy Spirit will seek direction on how to win the lost, nurture and care for their needs too, ground them in the faith, bring spiritual life to their stagnant one, and help them grow and develop. All this is what Jesus meant when he told Apostle Peter to feed My sheep.

If the Church is to win the world for Jesus, it must infiltrate the world and environment where it has been placed. As different cells have different purposes, so a church cell can be an urban cell, a suburban cell, a cell with outreach, a cell with compassion, a cell with… on and on. Diversity is important to the nature of the body of the Christ, and responding and adapting to different environments can only come through diversity.

Living Things Reproduce

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 8

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

Let’s look at the church through the eye’s of Katrina Scherbern’ view or Organism Organization where she defines seven characteristics. Let’s look at her forth one:       

4.     Living things reproduce

As I said in my last blog: My “little girl” became a woman, who as a mother birthed another “little girl”, a grand daughter for me.  That is how living things work; they grow, mature, and multiply.

Reproduction should be a natural expression of a developmental life. Most Christians today who do not grow spiritually, who are encouraged to remain passive, not active, who have their spiritual passions stifled by leadership or structure, never reproduce.

Again reproduction is a natural process in the five fold. The evangelist majors in reproduction. His cry is, “You must be born again,” being born of the water and the spirit. Life never begins unless there is birth; reproduction is a necessity for spiritual life. A new Christian, one just born into the faith of knowing Jesus Christ, has an enthusiasm, which is contagious. It brings life to the entire body, the cell! Evangelistic churches or church plants breed enthusiasm.

But more needs to be reproduced than just the evangelistic spirit. Shepherding, nurturing, caring, needs to be reproduced in the cell to assure growth in the cell and when it multiplies. Sound apostolic teaching with truth revealed in the Logos Word and lived out through the Rhema Word are necessary ingredients to a health cell, or church. A revelatory spirit for truth and a desire for intimate worship also needs nurturing in order for the cell to divide properly. Finally, apostolic networking needs reproducing so both cells remain the same in Jesus Christ. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

If an individual believer and a local church is not reproducing itself over a period of time, it needs to look into why? Sects like the Cloisters of Lancaster and the Shakers are dead sects, having only their community buildings as museums of remembrance. Without spiritual reproduction, their cells died and their organism died with it. 

Living Things Grow And Develop

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 7

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

Let’s look at the church through the eye’s of Katrina Scherbern’ view or Organism Organization where she defines seven characteristics. Let’s look at her third one:       

 3.     Living things grow and develop

Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. (Ephesians 4:1-4, 11-15)

The purpose of the five fold is for “growth and development” to “equip” the “saints” towards individual “maturity” “to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” and towards corporate “unity of the faith”.  If a cell, a local expression of the body of Christ, is to grow, it must embrace the five fold to give it life: birth, nurturing, caring, developing, spiritual insight, foundational through the Word, and networked together in unity.

Living things grow and develop. My children were destined to grow; they couldn’t help themselves. Developmentally, they passed through infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood eventually into becoming a mature adult. My “little girl” became a woman, who as a mother birthed another “little girl”, a grand daughter for me.  That is how living things work; they grow, mature, and multiply.

The hard thing to learn is that spiritually we can become stagnant, in active, passive, stale, and eventually die. The church is no different.  Spiritually, we do not develop and grow naturally as our human body does, but we can chose when and how we can grow and develop.  Paul acknowledged this dilemma in I Corinthians 3:2 when he wrote, “I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able.”

Spiritual life is determined upon how willing we are to grow and develop in Jesus! That is why the five fold is essential in supplementing a Christian’s spiritual diet through nurture, care, learning the Logos Word, and living it as a Rhema Word, and seeking revelatory truth through the Holy Spirit, the teacher and revealer of truth, and through apostolic teaching and guidance.

A Church that is alive as a living organism is one willing to grow and develop its members, its saints, by equipping them, then releasing them in the faith to bring multiplication. That is the blueprint for cell life.

Living Things Obtain And Use Energy

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 6

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

Let’s look at the church through the eye’s of Katrina Scherbern’ view or Organism Organization where she defines seven characteristics. Let’s look at her second one:        

2.     Living things obtain and use energy

Living things have been creative for activity. The Church was never originally designed to be a passive institution with a subclass called the “laity”. This class, called the “saints” in the Bible were active. After the four gospels, the book of Acts is written to record the acts, the actions, the activities of those followers birthing the Church. The church is not dormant!

When visiting a local church, one leaves and often assesses their visit as just visiting an “active” church they call “alive” or a “passive” church they call “dead”.  Cathedrals are impressive in size, architectural, and artistic value, but when empty they are just empty tombs of remembrance. Without activity among God’s people in a place, death is evident. It is like you want to yell, “The tomb is empty; the Lord is risen!” To find that risen Lord you must look with in a gathering of his people. “Where two or three have gathered together in my name; I am there in their midst.” A gathering of saints produces life when Jesus is in their midst.

We must rethink our use of the word “church”, for we attend church, by going to church, and being the church at our church buildings. Confusing? The church is a gathering of saints with Jesus in their midst, that obtain and use His energy through His Holy Spirit. Churches that have life, are centered around the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ who brings supernatural life naturally to that group.

As a proponent of the five fold, I believe that when all five are present, there is life. An evangelist birth’s spiritual life, shepherd nurtures, cares, and develops that life, the teacher instructs that life through daily living based on the Word, while the prophet brings revelatory truth to that life. An apostle networks all the different facets, or organelles, in that cell, and together they all make up the workings within the cell that brings life, multiplication, and growth individually and corporately.

We as a church, have to quit grieving the Holy Spirit that produces that life and stifling the energy He produces. We have to allow the organelles within the cell to function as they have been created, so they can continue to attribute to the health and welfare of the cell as a whole. 

Living Things Are Made Of Cells

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 5

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

Let’s look at the church through the eye’s of Katrina Scherbern’ view or Organism Organization where she defines seven characteristics. Let’s look at her first one:       

1.     Living things are made of cells

If the Church is to be an organism, not an organization or institution, it must be made up of cells. I believe a cell is where “Where two or three have gathered together in my name; I am there in their midst.” A gathering of saints constitutes a cell.

Cells were not created to be denominations or independent Christian sects. Paul visited a metropolis, a city, where he preached the gospel, saw people saved, and nurtured them by equipping them for the works of service for when he would move on to another city. These cells would be self-sufficient, not relying on a hierarchal network to over see them and dictate dogma. They were usually small and met in hopes that built a 24/7 community of active faith.

There was to be no division among these cells, only multiplication. Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:11-13 (NAS), I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, ”I am of Paul” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was ot crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you ot mere men? (I Corinthians 3:4)

The only distinction between churches in the 1^st Century was by location: ie. Church of Philippi, Church of Corinth, Church of Ephesus, etc. I am sure that in each of these cities were several cells, local bodies of believers, that made up the tissue of fabric of the spiritual life of the city in which they lived.

Pastor Cho of South Korea discovered the power of cell groups, as these small groups began to nurture the local saints, equipping them for their everyday life, and his church grew into one of the largest in the world. Ironically, as the Holy Spirit often does, God’s ways proved better than ours as most cell groups were led by women in a male dominated culture when the men did not step up for leadership.

If the Church as a whole is to be a living organism, it must be made up of living cells, local bodies of believers meeting with Jesus in their midst. 

Fighting the Cancer

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 4

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

In this series opening blogs we defined an organism, told how the cell is the central component to life, and how the levels or organs of life, working together, affect the organism as a whole.

Different components within the cell, the local church, bring life to it. Its diversity should be displayed through different passions (evangelist, shepherd, teacher, prophet, and apostle), who serve one another by laying down their lives for the brethren. A purpose for the cell is to “equip the saints for the works of service”. After new converts have grown and been nurtured toward maturity in Christ, cell division should occur where the talents of the saints are released for the purpose of producing two cells, two local churches, all under one banner, the Church. This is the new paradigm for church planting: cell division of an equal splitting apart for the purpose of growth and renewal.

Tissues, organs, and organ systems are similar in that their purpose is to work together to perform special activities in unity.  Historically local churches have bonded over doctrine, forms of worship, church and leadership structure etc. and formed denominations or independent Christian sects. That is not why they were created. Although similar in structure and function, they must “work together” to get the desired results, not oppose one another.

We need Body parts that emphasize evangelism, who shepherd and build communities, who nurture care, and build up saints, who challenge the Logos written Word to be the Rhema living Word, and who network others in an unified effort. We need the five fold, led by the Holy Spirit to bring, maintain, and nurture spiritual life to the Body of Christ.

As molecules, organelles, and cells, we need each other to build the tissues, organs, and organ systems to make the Body effective, bringing it life, and continuing its growth. I believe this can be done through building relationships, not through hierarchal structures. The combination of molecules and organelles makes a cell. Cell combinations create tissues that develop organs and maintain life to birth, build, nurture, and mature the body. That is the structure of the Church.

Cancer is when cells go amok, rapidly dividing without a purpose, fighting to become independent of one another, not willing to bond or work together for the growth, livelihood, and nurturing of the body. Cancer, this uncontrollable dividing among cells, eventually shuts down organs and systems resulting in death.

We, as a Church, need a revival, a renewal, a new reformation to rejuvenate life back into the organism by working together by serving one another. Instead of fighting for our independence from one another, we need a bonding that only the Holy Spirit can do. We can only stop the cancer, not through surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, but through embracing an attitude of laying down one’s life for their brethren in service for the purpose of building up one another and bringing unity and health to the entire Body of Christ, the Church.

Organization of Human Organisms

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 3

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

In Katrina Scherben’s video Organism Organization found on YouTube, Katrina attempted to explain her theory of The Organization of Human Organisms. She claims…

Atoms make up

    Molecules which can make

      Organelles that are inside cells that make up

         Cells that are the smallest structural and functional units of life that make up

            Tissues that are made up of cells that are similar in structure

             and function, which work together to form a special activity.

                Organs that are made up of tissues that are similar in structure and

                function, which work together to form a special activity.

                    Organ Systems that are made up of organs that work together to

                     form a special function for the organism.

                   (There are 11organ systems in the human body.)

                           Organism, the total body

Over the centuries, the church created a hierarchal, institutional, leadership pyramid led by Popes, the Bishop of Canterbury, Apostles, etc. who headed Bishops, Cardinals, and Senior Pastors who ruled over boards, presbyteries, and committees who instructed their pastors and priests to organize programs and services staffed and financed by volunteers who were parishioners. This produced a system that has brought division, bickering and disunity.

Local churches, cells, are to support one another (the body) through service through a linear relationship, for no cell, tissue, organ, or organ system is more important than the other. Each is to support the other. It leadership and followers should literally be walking beside one another as Jesus did with his disciples. Each body part is diversely different but must support the other differing body parts in order for the body to function as a whole. How this functions will directly influence the spiritual growth of every believer while bringing unity to the Body of Christ.

The Creation Of The Atomic Cell Theory

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 2

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

In Katrina Scherben’s video Organism Organization found on YouTube, Katrina states that “all matter (living and nonliving) are made up of tiny units called atoms,” and  “1. All life forms are made from one or more cells; 2. Cells arise from pre-existing cells [There is no spontaneous generation.]; and 3. The cell is the smallest form of life.”   

In light of our Church analogy, all cells (local churches) are made up of combinations of atoms (diverse believers). As the Periodic Table lists all the known forms of combinations of atoms that form elements, so each local church body (cell) is made up of different combinations of talents from gifted believers. As an advocate of the five fold, I believe that each believer has the passion, talent, drive, and point of view of either an evangelist, shepherd, teacher, prophet, or apostle, but you need all five present to have a healthy, living, active cell (local church).

1. The life form called the Church, or the Body of Christ, is made from one or more cells (local churches).  There are “unicellular” organisms, but the Church is generally “multicellular”, composed of of multiple local churches.

2. Cells arise from pre-existing cells [There is no spontaneous generation.] Today’s church plants try to birth new churches through spontaneous spiritual generation using a missionary model. New church plants should arise from pre-existing local churches instead. The purpose of the five fold of Ephesians 4 is “to equip the saints for the works of service”. The local church should be multiplying its evangelists, shepherds, teachers, prophets, and apostles within the existing organism, and birth a new church by “releasing” their saints by “sending them out” as a five fold team when multiplying.

3. The cell is the smallest form of life. The local church is not an entity among itself. It is not to stand alone, but bond with other cells (as we shall see in future blogs) to become a tissue or body part. Each local church, one small cell in the Body of Christ, has its own purpose, passion, and activity that is to support the whole tissue, organ, and Body.

Currently there are millions of cells, local churches globally that are like a cancer, some multiplying, others dying. Multiple cells that multiply unnaturally or overbearingly can bring damage and even death to body organs or the body as a whole. This has happened with denominationalism and various independent religious sects that have brought division, not unity, to the body.

How do we stop the cancer? By understanding the Organization of the Human Organism, the Body, can we see each cell’s real purpose in its effort to support life.

The Creation Of An Organism

Organism, to Organization, to Institution Series – Part 1

(A single cell organism is a building block of life. When multiplying, how can you prevent it from becoming an institution where the organism can easily die or become lost in its structure? The following blogs in this series will examine the Church as an organized institution or an organism built on relationships.)

In Katrina Scherben’s video Organism Organization found on YouTube, Katrina explains how an organism becomes an organization.  She defines an organism through seven characteristics:

1. Living things are made of cells
2. Living things obtain and use energy
3. Living things grow and develop
4. Living things reproduce
5. Living things respond to their environment
6. Living things adapt to their environment
7. Living things have different levels of organization.

Scherben emphasizes that all 7 characteristics must be present for the organism to be living. Missing one can bring eventual death.

In Genesis, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likneness…..” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiple, fill the earth, and subdue it.

The Church was birthed to be a living organism, not a lifeless institution or a dead religion. “For where two or three have gathered together in my name I am there in their midst.”

Gathered believers find their energy, grow and develop, reproduce, respond and adapt to their environment through their cell, the local church. Gathering, growing, reproducing, and adapting come through built relationships among God’s people. The local church is to be active, not passive, a living organism who multiples through reproduction to grow, so all seven characteristics are needed to remain alive!

Instead of building buildings, cathedrals, and mega-churches and hierarchal structures with Senior Pastors, priests, bishops, cardinals and popes, God’s intention was to build a living body, a living organism composed of cells working together for the whole. Each cell may have a different function, appearance, and purpose, but is created to support the life of the whole body. Kidney failure can destroy a body. Digestive problems can cause great pain. Heart failure brings certain death. The shutting down of organs brings certain death.

Cell division is for the purpose of reproduction and growth. Uncontrollable cell division is called cancer, which also causes death. When there is cell division and reproduction, what should the church do? Should it organize, institutionalize, or develop a supportive life system?

We will look at these phenomena in upcoming blogs.

Reflections of a Book 40 Years Later

 Howard A Snyder’s “The Problem of Wine Skins”

Forty years ago I purchased a copy of The Problem Of Wine Skins: Church Structure In A Theological Age by Howard A Snyder (Inter-Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Ill. 60515, 1975). I have cleaned off my bookshelf several times, but have kept this book on the shelf. I picked it up just the other day, and the truths of it in a Pre-Internet, Pre-Flat World, Pre-Charismatic Movement Day marveled me, for it paralleled much of the current material I am seeking. I would like to share some quotes from the book:

Preface: “Leaving the North American scene and becoming involved in the work of the church in another culture prompted me to a fundamental rethinking of the mission and structure of the church in today’s world. Reading, reflection on my pastoral experience in Detroit, Michigan, my involvements in Brazil and, above all, direct Bible study have together brought me to the conclusions and (in some cases) hypotheses which I venture to set forth in this book. Particularly helpful was an intensive study of the book of Ephesians during 1971.”

“Jesus’ words in Luke 5:37-38: ‘No one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the new wine bursts the old skins, ruining the skins and spilling the wine. New wine must be put into new wineskins.’ (Living Bible) (p. 13)

“God is a God of newness. On the one hand he is ‘the Ancient of Days’, ‘the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change’ (Jas. 1:17), and Jesus Christ is ‘the same yesterday and today and for ever’ (Heb. 13:8). But this does not mean that God is static or stationary. The history of God’s people in the Bible and the history of the Christian church show just the opposite. In every age the true biblical gospel is a message of newness and renewal.” (p. 15)

“Every age knows the temptation to forget that the gospel is ever new. We try to contain the new wine of the gospel in old wineskins – outmoded traditions, obsolete philosophies, creaking institutions, old habits. But with time, the old wineskins begin to bind the gospel. Then they must burst, and the power of the gospel pours forth once more. Many times this has happened in the history of the church. Human nature wants to conserve, but the divine nature is to renew. It seems almost a law that things initially created to aid the gospel eventually become obstacles – old wineskins. Then God has to destroy or abandon them so that the gospel wine can renew man’s world once again. (p. 15-16)

….. and finally:

“There is something else this parable teaches us – the necessity of new wineskins. Wineskins are not eternal. As time passes they must be replaced – not because the gospel changes, but because the gospel itself demands and produces change! New wine must be put into new wineskins – not once-for-all, but repeatedly, periodically.” (p16)

There are a lot of food for thought and a lot of wisdom in those insights!