AMERICA, THE UNGRATEFUL

"Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers...and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them and served them: therefore hath he brought all this

evil upon them." (2 Chronicles 7:22)

The God of our fathers
Led them to this land;
Forsaking creature comforts,
His wish was their command.
Their purpose was to worship God
In accordance with their choosing,
Throwing off the King's shackles
Meant many of their lives losing.

Freedom of worship their motive,
With no other gods before them,
The founding documents writ in blood
That we who follow avoid mayhem.
Two centuries have come and gone
With the god of materialism in place;
As we accede to its demands,
We do despite to the God of grace.

The god of situation ethics,
With everyone doing his own thing,
Maligns the God who made us,
His judgment on us to bring.
The evil which is upon us
Is a ploy of our own making--
The direct result of disobedience
And the God of our Fathers forsaking.

Modern generations pride themselves
On relegating God to mythology;
Assuming He lacks power to perform
They bow to the throne of psychology.
Materialism has proven its mettle,
Having fully run its course;
When the flesh can't be satiated,

There'll be ample cause for remorse.

Our country is in trouble
Because we've turned to other gods;
Our prayer will be heard
When we repent and turn to God.
We can say "There is no God"
And scripture calls us fools!
Or, we can bow the knee
To the God Who reigns and rules.

Judgment begins at the house of God
That it might lead the way;
The people called by His name
Must humble themselves and pray.
Denying ourselves and taking up the Cross,
We turn from sin to seek His face;
As he hears from Heaven and forgives our sin,
We learn the true meaning of grace.

  C. R.Solomon  12-29-08

THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST, ". . . for such a time as this" (Est. 4:14b)

Introduction

As the world economic situation continues to escalate, it behooves us to investigate its impact on the Church so that the Church impact on the world might be maximized. The modern trend of living beyond our means has been extrapolated from the individual to business and to the government. Businesses operating on a line of credit have become commonplace, and individuals have gone from mortgages on their homes to borrowing to purchase cars to becoming enslaved to credit card debt. Churches have not been immune to such practices with a great percentage of churches financing some part of their facilities.

The scriptural injunction to "Owe no man anything, but to love one another:" (Rom. 13:8a) seems to have become passé, with some churches carrying a heavy debt load in addition to extensive overhead. It has become common practice to create paid positions for ministry that were formerly the role of lay personnel. All of this can be justified in an expanding economy, but a contracting economy rapidly creates chaos such as we are experiencing to some degree presently.



Those churches with large overheads and major indebtedness are already beginning to feel the pinch. Not only will adjustments have to be made to deal with the economic aspects but also to minister effectively to those of the membership and community who are suffering adversity. It is a certainty that such ministry cannot be confined to paid staff, and the vast majority of churches have not trained their populations via discipleship to step into the breach. In fact, scriptural discipleship has been all but missing from the modern day church. Therefore, it must be instituted swiftly with little in the way of precedent on which to base such training. It will amount to a paradigm shift in ministry to meet the possibly overwhelming need. Though few churches have implemented such ministry, Grace Fellowship International has pioneered an approach to discipleship/counseling which would ideally be accomplished as a key ministry in all local churches. There is nothing to be developed or proven as all of this is history; the materials and methodology can be transferred directly to the Church where God intended for it to be. The rationale for doing so is the purpose of this article.

THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

With the way the country and the world are beginning to shape up from an economic standpoint, it is the part of wisdom that we calculate the corresponding impact on the Church and how it must comport itself to be able not only to minister in the world but to be able to have a positive impact on it. To bury our heads in the sand and wait until the effects are upon us, will be foolhardy to say the least and could bury us alive in the wake of its economic tidal wave. Though we cannot escape the impact, we can take some proactive measures to lessen it and to trust God for a strategy to minister effectively in an adverse set of circumstances with which we have not had to deal heretofore. I am afraid that the 'good life' has been an enemy of the spiritual life, with little in the way of sacrifice required; from this point on, there are likely to be sacrifices on the part of many who are lacking in that experience! Few who went through the Great Depression of the 1930's are alive to recount the deprivation which was rampant at that time.

As the recession begins to take its toll, the local church will be in the forefront due to its dependence upon contributions which is already beginning to be felt. In fact, a recent Barna poll said that the contribution shortage is already in the billions. Of course, those infrequent churches which are debt free will not be affected as drastically as those which have fallen prey to the pervasive trend of living beyond our means. Almost all churches which build or buy facilities think nothing of first seeking a loan with some taking advantage of all assets and giving patterns to enable them to secure a loan of sufficient size to build the size building that is desired, whether or not actually needed. In fact, it is the unusual church which pays as it goes in a building program. Again, in an expanding economy, this has been a way to utilize facilities while paying for them. A large plant, with some the size of a city block, requires a staff commensurate with the ample facilities. The creeping growth usually does not take into account the maximum use of unpaid staff but expands the overhead to take advantage of possible ministry outreaches, including family life facilities with various sports opportunities from walking to swimming to various athletic activities. While there is nothing wrong with any of these, continued expansion and diversification involves continually increasing overhead.

In such a scenario, it is necessary for the pastor to become a CEO or to hire an administrative pastor who fulfills such responsibilities which may tend to detract from the spiritual ministry for which the church was founded. With all of this expansion, the worship center is but a part of the mammoth plant rather than being part and parcel of the mission of the church. Formerly, the non-worship activities took place in homes or in community buildings; but the church facility has expanded to become all inclusive with some even adding restaurants and coffee shops. Coping with the economic situation taking place in our society is inescapable, and reducing the ministry of paid personnel is much more difficult than the happy prospect of adding them! Releasing beloved brethren, when jobs are hard to come by, can be heart-wrenching. Also, it may be that reduction in pay scales will make it impossible for them to maintain the same housing accommodations and standard of living in other ways.

Since many churches will have to reduce the ministry staff, there will have to be a corresponding increase in filling such voids by laity. Also, it will be necessary to rethink the approach to ministry, not only to take up the slack but also to render the ministry more effective and efficient while at the same time not sacrificing the spiritual content.


Concomitant with the decrease in paid staff will, in all likelihood, be a drastic increase in human need requiring ministry, both inside and outside the church. The major material needs created by unemployment and underemployment, along with possible scaling back of salary levels, combine to create massive needs on the part of many who have been able to handle their own families and even to help others.

The auto industry is presently planning on reducing salary scales to make Detroit competitive with imports, and this could signal such reductions as a ripple effect across the country. In some cases, parents will have to open their homes to married children with families which will involve increased stress on everyone. Interpersonal conflict due to several people being confined in close quarters will contribute toward the massive increase in counseling needs throughout the church at a time when most counseling is referred outside. Since family and church budgets will already be strained, it will be necessary to handle it in-house which will require a paradigm shift in the ministry of most churches.

While it is not insurmountable and the training may easily be done, there will have to be the commitment on the part of leadership to gear up for such an eventuality. Waiting until it is upon us is not wise, since those who will be trained to render such ministry must have time to learn and mature in order to discharge such responsibility. The training would be in the nature of discipleship or sanctification which has been all but missing in the ministry of the modern church, whether among staff or laity. Though long term discipleship will be required, most will require individual discipleship or counseling before being assimilated in a group for long term follow up. Individual or clinical discipleship would have the nature of leading a believer to understand the full impact of being crucified with Christ which is the beginning or entry into discipleship, according to Luke 14:27. Though some may live such a life, few have been trained to teach others to embark on such a spiritual journey. All believers are on a spiritual journey, and a few will be at a point of extreme need where understanding this aspect of the Cross will be not only desirable but absolutely necessary!

After it is revealed reality by the Holy Spirit, it will be necessary to learn to walk in such truth before being effective in sharing it with others. Then, there will be a period of time of personal sharing or ministry before being able to train others to do the same. Although it is not a complicated process, it is contrary to most church practice today, which makes it sound like a foreign concept. It is tried and proven over 4 decades, but the Church has not been forced to embrace such ministry because of needs which cannot be outsourced.

Once the need cannot be denied, and the human need must be squarely faced with no referrals as an alternative, it will be necessary to 'hunker down' and prepare for the long haul. A conference on the material content and a workshop on the basic methodology can be done in as little as ten (10) days, once the church is firmly committed to a thorough discipling of its congregation. Believers with less than a high school education have been trained, so formal education in counseling, education, psychology or theology is not a requirement. It is spiritual ministry which has been neglected for most of the last century and will require some crash training to fill the void and to give discipleship or sanctification an equal footing with justification. However, even in the matter of justification, its inculcation in evangelism has largely become a spectator sport with professionals being emplaced rather than major equipping of the saints. While evangelism, or soul winning, is taught in many evangelical churches, it is safe to say that the majority of Christians have never led anyone to Christ.



Then, those who are most proficient in evangelism have led few, if any, believers to the Cross for sanctification or discipleship. In fact, it is not accorded a place in the curriculum of most seminaries or Bible schools. This means that the whole Christian community is lacking in this vital aspect of ministry which, in all likelihood, will become front and center as the most needed emphasis in the Christian Church. It is a very simple approach to implement and can be done speedily with all necessary materials, methods, and message readily available. The only lack at this point is the distribution system for the materials/media which have been proven in a number of languages and cultures over the past 4 decades with approximately a dozen books published to support such study/training. It is a simple matter of publicity, logistics, and finance that are required to implement the approach widely and witness the Holy Spirit's transforming lives to the glory of God. Each life so transformed experiences revival or renewal which can easily spread from church to church as the message of the Cross is clearly taught from the pulpit and translated into the pew by means of one on one discipleship.

Summary



The discipleship herein described and commended has been the major need of the Church in recent decades, but there has not been the 'open nerve' to necessitate its inception. As a result, those needing a deeper walk with the Lord to resolve inner and interpersonal difficulties have been unhesitatingly outsourced to world system developments in psychology, with much of this being taught in our seminaries. That being the case, pastors have largely bought into the notion that counseling is a specialty which requires advanced education, so neither they nor their staff usually minister to such living needs, most of which should be the domain of clinical discipleship [Christ-centered counseling].

This mindset must be reversed so that the average church member will be equipped to live and share the Cross in a meaningful way and see the lives of other believers transformed. Those who have matured in their walk, where the experienced Cross is reality, will find that learning to share it with others in the Spirit is a simple matter. Hurting believers, as well as unbelievers, could then turn to the Church and get an answer rather than a referral! Though such ministry is presently not even on the horizon, much less in the comfort zone of the average church, the basic training could be done in as little as ten (10) days if pastor and people had a mind to do so. Such a church could have a whole new lease on ministry with a vision for the Holy Spirit to be regularly transforming lives and releasing such believers for ministry according to their spiritual gifting.

While there are a number of exceptional churches which are implementing the above to one degree or another, Dr. Phil Jones at First Baptist of Powell, TN has done the most thorough integration into the ministry of the church. In doing so, he has developed TELL (Teaching Exchanged Life Living) material for use in the local church; all who desire to unite with the church participate in such teaching. This was the project for his doctorate at Southern Seminary in Louisville KY. www.FBCPowell.com

SUFFERING IN PERSPECTIVE

Suffering is God's crucible, (1 Pet. 1:7)
Our value to refine;
Since God is our example (1 Pet. 2:20,21)
It is His grand design.
Not only to believe on Him (Phil. 1;29,30)
But to suffer for His sake;
It is by taking up the Cross (Lk. 14:27)
That He does disciples make. (1 Pet. 5:10)

The godly shall suffer persecution- (2 Tim. 3:12)
A source of great pain;
But we have His promise:
"If we suffer, we will also reign". (2 Tim. 2:12)
Jesus learned obedience by suffering (Heb. 5:8)
Which took place without the gate; (Heb. 13:12)
Being partakers of His sufferings (1 Pet. 4:12,13)
Allows us His passion to relate.

Though no ne enjoys suffering
It perfects our walk in Him (1 Pet. 5:10)-
Establishing, strengthening, settling,
So our vision will not dim.
When suffering has had its way
And the way of the Cross we've trod,
We can comfort them in any trouble (2 Cor. 1:3,4)
As we ourselves are comforted of God.


C. R. Solomon, Korea 11-25-08

THE ULTIMATE BAIL-OUT

 We know our country's in trouble;

Fewer know the Church is, too.
Politics based on human wisdom
Is the expected thing to do.
The birthright of the Church
Is to follow the Spirit's leading;
But ministry in our strength holds sway
While ignorance we are pleading.

Many are those which are seeker friendly
So the world we will not offend;
Others preach a clear gospel
That sin to Hell does send.
But once the person comes to Christ,
The Cross for the believer is seldom preached; (Gal. 2:20)
The eternal destination has been changed,
But the goal of discipleship is not reached. (Luke 14:27)

We decry the need for bail-out
To compensate for government's failing;
With most of our churches in decline,
We can't deny the Church is ailing.
As with the government so with the Church,
We have fallen short of the mark;
We have taught the way of salvation
But on a "doing to be" syndrome we embark.

When we conclude the Church is powerless
We plead for God to intervene;
We know revival is the answer
And pray that God will grace the scene.
Though we have failed to preach the Cross
We ask God for His visitation,
Not realizing that our crucifixion
Must precede our resurrection.

For a gracious bail-out we are asking
To compensate for our disobedience;
We are asking that the Holy Spirit fall,
While to the Cross we should give credence.
When the Holy Spirit sends revival
Though the message has not been taught,
The problem will be its maintenance

Since we knew not what we sought.

God in grace does bail us out
Though the results of the flesh remain;
The Spirit moves with consummate ease
While we continue to grunt and strain.
The Cross must be made central,
That the fruit of the bail-out will remain;
Preaching the Cross, the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18)
Brings constant revival-clear and plain!

 C. R. Solomon 10-3-08

STEWARDSHIP OF THE CHURCH

                                                             

                                                                
In meditating on the subject of stewardship, I find it is usually restricted to the responsibility of the individual church member.  Frequently, the parable of the steward in the New Testament is used to teach that we, as believers, must give account of our stewardship.

But, if we carry it a little farther, should not the body of believers in the local church be accountable for corporate stewardship?  Since the church is all about ministry, there will have to be agreement on the results of the ministry put forth by the church.  As I see it, there are only two main objectives in such ministry, with all of the church's activities working together to produce the desired results.  One of the aspects is evangelism which can be evaluated is the number won for Christ; the other is discipleship of believers that results in their maturation.

Evangelism could be termed those who are saved from sin, while the beginning of the process of discipleship is a believer's being saved from himself.  This is defined in Luke 14:27 where we read: "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."  The sinner repents of sin and believes that Jesus died for him; the believer repents of flesh and believes he died with Jesus.  The unbeliever is saved from his sin, and the believer is saved from himself!

Just as the number of those who are born again is frequently tabulated to portray the results of evangelistic thrusts, the same may be done of those whose lives are transformed as believers-the beginning of a life-long process of discipleship.  However, the latter is ill-taught in the majority of churches with little or no discipleship being done.
If both of these avenues are assiduously pursued, there should be results which can be quantified;  if we do consistent planting, there should be some reaping in due season.   Negligible results in either category should be cause to question the stewardship of the church.  The machinery may be kept running with all of the gears properly oiled, but the lack of tangible and quantifiable results should bring stewardship into question.

In either case, something is amiss if souls are not being saved or lives of believers are not being regularly transformed.  At least, a regular report should be given to the body for praise and thanksgiving. The waters of the baptistry should be stirred regularly.  Then, the Holy Spirit would transform the lives of believers on a regular basis if scriptural discipleship were routinely practiced, which would result in greatly increased evangelism.  Why should believers desire to export what is not working at home in their own lives?

In any church, there is a good percentage of hurting believers who would be candidates for intensive discipleship which would result in transformed lives, if it were offered.  However, an unbeliever goes to a church and is given an answer by being led to our Lord; on the other hand, a believer goes for an answer and is given a referral all too frequently.  The vast majority of believers who are presently treated by mental health workers could be ministered to by the local church if credible, remedial discipleship were an option!

As far as I can read from the scriptures, these are the only two reasons (evangelism and discipleship) for the existence of the local church besides fellowship and worship.  A possible third emphasis would be to do the same in missions outreach.  Accountability for the funds invested in missions should be reflected in stewardship reports from affiliated ministries or from those who go out from the local church on short-term missions.

Rarely does any one of them report the lives of believers being transformed due to missions outreach or discipleship; just as at home, precious little is done on the mission field besides evangelism and some community projects.

The lack of tangible results in both areas should be sufficient cause to evaluate the entire ministry and make the necessary adjustments that the body of believers might be productive.  Continuing to support a ministry where lives are not being impacted regularly indicates a lack of stewardship oversight on the part of church leadership.
Of course, the whole congregation has such responsibility;  but the elected leaders bear the brunt of such breach of stewardship before God.  It is obviously easier to let a church ministry rock along until it becomes so ineffective that everyone can see that it must be addressed.

However, those who were in need during all of this process will have been neglected when many would have been open to ministry in their lives. Lacking such ministry, they drop out of church or move on to another where the same syndrome is very likely to be repeated so that such a hapless individual concludes that the church does not have an answer.

Since human need is going to multiply exponentially in the very near future, isn't it time that we examined individual and corporate stewardship to prepare for such an onslaught?  The need has been there and has gone wanting, but it will soon be impossible to ignore.  Too, those to whom referrals are made routinely could be too busy looking for answers to give any . . . .  What will the church tell them?

  -  Charles R. Solomon, Ed. D.

Crowding the Church to Christ

As with the individual,
So is the church's plight;
Holding steady or losing ground,
Though trying with all its might!

Consisting mainly of believers
Who are giving life their best,
It should come as no surprise
That few have entered promised rest. (Heb. 4:10,11)

Death must work in us (Gal. 2:20)
So that life might work in others; (2 Cor. 4:12)
Conversely, when self-life works in us
Death will result in our brothers.

With the church being a composite,
Its identity drawn from within;
There'll be a downdraft on its efforts
Caused by the power of sin.

Revival is the only answer
Following the preaching of the Cross; (1 Cor. 1:18)
Ministering in the strength of flesh
Will cause the church to suffer loss.

The flesh must be exposed,
Whether in the pulpit or the pew;
The Spirit reveals the Cross one by one
If believers He's to live through.

When Christ-life shapes the church,
Petty bickering is bound to cease;
As the Spirit is allowed full sway,
 It will know His promised peace.

When lives are transformed
And renewed minds are the norm,
New Testament living will again be seen
As to His image we're made to conform. (Rom. 8:29)

The lost will come to Christ
When they witness resurrection power;
Churches becoming known for this
Is the urgent need of the hour!

C. R. Solomon, August 25, 2008

A Church Being Saved from Itself

In a day when the majority of churches have either reached a plateau or are declining in most aspects of measurement, there are many speculations about a remedy to render the church both effective and efficient in a culture with dire needs.  However, most adjustments in ministry are just that, rather than a drastic overhaul to match ministry to the glaring need.

Messages on evangelism, prophecy, history, and the like, will result in new believers and some adolescent Christians; but very few are nurtured to maturity.  That being the case, there is much infighting and competition, but precious little in the way of true discipleship. The seeker sensitive movement has given people what they want, rather than what they need, which has resulted in large numbers in attendance in a short time, but few disciples, at a time when true disciples are the need of the hour!  It is reminiscent of comparing the growth of an oak and a squash; the squash will grow very quickly, but a strong oak will take years.
In order to understand what must take place, it is necessary to analyze what has brought us here in an overview of the history of a typical church in recent generations.  Understanding the pattern of the waxing and waning of a church can lead to the solution that the Holy Spirit would bring about to revive the church and set a new course.

Since churches have been built primarily on evangelism, to the near exclusion of discipleship, various programs and incentives have been implemented which substituted activity for productivity, to a large degree.  Most such programs were designed and implemented in human strength and wisdom.

As will be seen in the following diagram, the life of the church begins to sag and is bolstered by more programs with the eventual conclusion that a new pastor with differing gifts will be the 'shot in the arm' that is needed.  When a number of solutions and pastors have been tried, the church may be reorganized; and the process is started all over again, or it may be declared dead and have its doors closed.

Rarely is it discerned that it should not be allowed to die a natural death but, rather, be guided through a spiritual death and resurrection to minister in the power of the Spirit.  Just as an individual believer may try all sorts of self help, Christian and otherwise, prior to coming to the end of himself and finding victory, it is my conviction based on four decades of experience, that a church can, and should, experience a similar transformation. Since most have never been through this process, they do not know there is a bottom, nor that the Spirit will transform the life of the church and give a whole new lease on ministry.

Since comparatively few believers have been guided through this process, it will be obvious that few, indeed, are the churches which will have been transformed in this way.  Since it is difficult to guide one believer through the death/resurrection process with his full cooperation, it will be vastly more difficult to convince a church, consisting of mostly fleshly believers, that such is the problem and the solution.  As a comparison, it is much easier to turn around a canoe than a large ship!

During the downward progress to the Cross, there will be much resistance, both voluntary and involuntary.  For the church to experience victory, it will be necessary for the individual members to experience such victory.  Once a number of individuals have appropriated the Cross, they will have to lead, by lip and by life, others who have yet to enter in.  When a church recognizes the downward progress for what it is, it is possible (and preferable) to heed the signals and submit to the Cross voluntarily rather than wait until the inevitable happens where there is no choice.  In other words, it is not necessary to go all the way to the bottom and learn the hard way when we can become obedient and cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He purposes to do a deeper work in the life and ministry of the church.

However, just as with the individual believer, most churches will have to exhaust their own resources before casting themselves on God's merciful intervention.  With the wealth of materials, media, and resources at its disposal, there is much to bolster human wisdom and dedication in the discharge of ministry.  Since "everyone is doing it", there is little reason to question an approach to ministry that has numbers and facilities to buttress the appearance of success.  The mega churches have had success based on numbers, but they are finding that they have made few disciples and, therefore, have gone the wrong direction.

Usually, it is only as the indicators all turn in a negative direction that our Lord can get the undivided attention of the leadership for a prolonged period of time.  When they have given it their best shot and must admit defeat, God can use it to open them to an answer not previously considered.  Sometimes, it is only at this point that they will be ready for an answer rather than an argument!

As with the individual believer, so with the church, it always boils down to an issue of control, however defined.  If our Lord is to take control, the church must lose control.  If it has not lost control, it is yet in control; if it is yet in control, it is really out of control!  Losing control is always a frightening prospect, even though we know that His control will be infinitely superior to our own.  The way ahead is uncharted, but the Holy Spirit is eminently qualified to navigate troubled waters to His destination for which He will receive all the glory.

Needless to say, it will require leaders who have undergone the process to supervise during the transition, and afterward, as the church enters upon a spiritual ministry which was heretofore unknown.  Not only that, but it will be called upon to coach other churches in the same process.  Just as individual believers who find victory need fellowship with other such believers, revived or renewed churches need to band together to encourage each other and to inspire other churches which, knowingly or unknowingly, have the same need.

Whereas the individual must learn the daily walk in the Spirit, the individual church must learn the expertise of daily ministry in the Spirit with few guidelines to pattern after.  In past major revivals, the process was mostly administered by the sovereign working of the Holy Spirit.  Due to leaders' lack of understanding of that which He had done, the revival fires soon died out and the church was back to its fleshly self to repeat the whole process over and over and pray that the Spirit will do it again!

The church cannot speak to the world with one voice until the Cross becomes central and replaces the program-centered ministry which we have known for most of the last century, with rare exceptions.  Just as in individual witnessing, where the lost need to see Jesus in a believer's life before his witness is effective, the world needs to see Jesus, not man-made programs and answers, in the Church.  It is impossible to follow the world and lead it at the same time!

Holding up the banner of the Cross presupposes living in the shadow of the Cross.  The Church must lose its life based upon living and witnessing in human strength, while asking for God's help, and demonstrate to the world that our Lord yet lives through His Church.

We have seen the Holy Spirit reveal Himself in individual lives for the past 40 years; it is my contention and conviction that He will do the same through individual churches which will obediently yield to the death/resurrection process as herein briefly described.  This rationale is outlined in more detail in Handbook to Happiness and You: A Spiritual Clinic by the author.

However, both pastor and people will necessarily be swimming against the tide of public and theological opinion when embarking upon this path!  It will be fraught with obstacles, as well as resistance from Satan.  He was defeated at the Cross; and it is losing our lives and the life of the church through the preaching of the Cross, the power of God, where Life in resurrection power is yet available!  As with the individual so with the church, once it is accepted that the church must come to the end before it can start at the beginning, cooperation with the Holy Spirit can hasten the progress to the Cross so that resurrection life may be released.

The world must see a church triumphant if it is to be taken seriously!  Once the miraculous is commonplace, the Church will have again earned the right to speak for God, and the world will once again stand in awe of a Holy God.

- Charles R. Solomon

 

Materialism: A Paper God, Running Out of Gas!

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender" (Prov. 22:7)

Over the past half century, we have developed a lifestyle where we buy things we can't afford, with money we don't have with deferred payments and establish a family budget that is largely based on servicing debt. It is the rule rather than the exception to have a house payment and car payment as a minimum. The price and size of the house are usually determined by the payment that the salary will cover without exceeding a certain percentage of the monthly salary, which dictates that the set salary must be maintained over the term of the loan. In a continually expanding economy, such a rationale is workable; however, over a period of years there can be "crunch times" (such as are upon us!) where contractions may occur which can apply stress to the borrower. In years gone by families lived on a cash basis, only buying that for which they could pay out of current income; the life style was determined by the money available--not that for which their credit would qualify them.

After the former mentality was firmly established, the credit card industry was launched which capitalized more on greeds than needs. The idea of instant gratification became the rule of thumb in many arenas. Paying cash for purchases is unusual, and the ease of running up exorbitant credit card debt has forced many into bankruptcy.

Those who build considerable equity in a home mortgage are regularly taunted with the idea of taking an equity loan with no closing costs to consolidate high interest credit card debt which they have amassed, financing current expenses over the term of the loan. Thus, the cycle continues unabated. With many, the idea of paying off the mortgage is not even considered, except to refinance or to sell the home and progress to one with larger principal. Thus, a person 50 or 60 years of age will sometimes get a 30 year loan!

The borrower becomes servant to the lender(s) with life decisions being made (or forced) which are based on debt which must be serviced (feeding the monster). (Prov. 22:7) This being the case, such a person has done involuntary obeisance to the false god of materialism--a paper god that can never be satisfied.

With an entire society built on being servants to lenders, most are forced to play by the golden rule--he who has the gold makes the rules! Almost all businesses are run on a line of credit of some sort with precious few being run without borrowing money for operating expenses as well as for capital improvements.

An executive making a large salary will generally adjust his/her lifestyle to match the salary. A sudden downturn in the economy or losing the position because of the ubiquitous mergers and shifting of management personnel can wreak havoc with the family budget, if not force bankruptcy. Those in the family, not just the executive, will usually develop an identity made possible by such a salary. A major downward adjustment can be a decided blow to the identity; an identity based on money and things must fluctuate with the economy. In the oil crunch of the 80' s in Denver, there were cases where such families went to the back door of churches and picked up food baskets in a Mercedes.

When materialism is providing the needs and many of the greeds such as we find common in the West, it very subtly becomes a substitute god--one that is insatiable, unpredictable and capricious, though it be but a paper god. Obviously, such a pervasive societal trend, can not be reversed overnight. Indeed, such an ingrained identity which is based on the paper god of materialism can only be conquered by shifting to the one true God and finding identity and meaning in Him.

Before there will be the willingness to make such a change, it will probably require a major disruption in the life and economy (such as greatly inflated oil prices) that the paper god can not overcome. Having been slaves to the system and covertly serving a paper god, it will take divine intervention to effect such a transition. Barring that, the stage will be set for a dictatorship to bring order out of chaos, if there is a broad failure of the paper god to continue to service the system.

The extra demands that are presently being placed on the financial system combine to place pressure on lives and families that may already be near the breaking point due to having been built on the shifting sands of the flesh. These pressures include the cost of war preparations, financing a war and rebuilding all that we have destroyed, damage inflicted by terrorism to installations, the downturn of the economy caused by war jitters, oil prices, unemployment, natural disasters and rolling back of salaries. With a preponderance of our population stretched to the limit with debt, such assaults on the economy could make bankruptcy and foreclosures a common occurrence. In such a scenario, it is inevitable that there will be a drastic increase in suicides, as well.

With the identities of the individual, the church and the nation having been based, with few exceptions, on the profferings of the world system, the only answer is for these to come under the influence of the Cross of Christ such that a resurrection life identity may be manifested. (Luke 9:23, Gal. 2:20) When that quality of devotion becomes a significant percentage of believers, there will be repentance on the part of the church which can have a major impact on the nation. Radical Christian Living must become the rule rather than the exception if societal trends, not just financial, are to be reversed and the God of the Universe is to take precedence over the paper god of materialism. Only as we find our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ by having revealed to us, one by one, our death and resurrection with Him, will we be able to transcend the world system and have victory over false gods to which our flesh has become accustomed. (Rom. 6:6-14; 2 Cor. 2:14) Only so will revival begin to spread across our country such that the enemies of the Cross will begin to be pushed back to the glory of our Lord.(Phil. 3:18)When the flesh has been satiated with materialism, the identity and lifestyle are dictated by its demands. The expanding economy to which we have become accustomed in the last half century has accommodated its continuation, with the last two generations knowing nothing else, other than minor recessions. The present oil crisis, itself, can have just such effect as was mentioned above.

Since long distance commutes have been feasible, the property values at a distance from cities and the workplace have greatly escalated, with only those able to work locally or by computer avoiding commuting. Not only in travel to work, but also in leisure time activities, driving great distances has been commonplace, as has attendance at many megachurches.

Since the almost unlimited consumption of oil (our life blood as a nation) has been greatly curtailed, it will have the effect of shrinking the economy. Since a great percentage of our population has become accustomed to using almost all of their income each month, the major increase in fuel prices means that many will have month left at the end of their money!

Many will not be able to reduce spending or obtain additional income to cover the deficit. If a way is found to do so, it can be at the expense of family time, which will negatively impact relationships. If the family already tends toward being dysfunctional, the additional financial down pressure can bring many families to the breaking point.

As has been the case in recent years, the trend of adult children returning to live with their parents can accelerate, with the added feature of bringing their families with them! The cost of distance commuting and the inability to find work closer home may mean that the younger families will be unable to support a separate dwelling.

When that is the case, two or more families forced to share the same home will generate tension in relationships, which can reach the breaking point. As this becomes commonplace, the need for spiritual counseling will multiply exponentially! Since most churches are not even equipped to do it presently, the additional demand can also overstress churches.

On another dimension, distance commutes to megachurches will become increasingly burdensome, which will negatively impact such churches as well as to tax community churches. The former will have surplus staff, and the latter will have insufficient staff to cope with an influx of those making life-style adjustments, with house churches becoming more common.

With the likely demographic shift described above, a significant percentage of our population could be adjusting to a lifestyle which is not friendly to self-centered expectations! Those individuals/families currently living on the edge could easily be pushed over the brink.

With such a scenario, it is obvious that some of those becoming have-nots could be tempted to take from those who have, thus drastically increasing such things as burglary, stealing gasoline, etc. Unsettled people can easily precipitate further unsettled conditions in society.

A forced return to community living, as opposed to bedroom communities in proximity to cities, can cause unrest in society as a whole. Since this would undoubtedly be characterized by lowering the income of many, the financial pressures will be exacerbated.

Since the prognosticators do not see a return to comfortable living in the predictable future, with ample supplies of reasonably priced oil a distant prospect, the Church must gear up for a major role in such a paradigm shift. Business as usual will not suffice when the remainder of society is forced to abandon business as usual!

While the Church has the answer, few indeed are those which are prepared for such an influx of human need--financial short fall resulting in massive interpersonal conflicts within and between families and affecting church budgets.

Self-centered living has never been scriptural, but it has become the norm in today's society with Christian families not escaping it. Only the Church can minister to this malady, but the 'physician' must first heal itself since it has fallen victim to the same trend.

The Cross is the only answer; but its teaching is in short supply, even among sound evangelical churches. While the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus on the Crosscross of Jesus is commonly taught with its emphasis on justification, the cross for the believer (Rom. 6, Gal. 2:20), or deeper life sanctification, is very uncommon since it runs counter to the self-life.

I have found that believers are not open to ther crucified life (Col. 3:1-9) so long as the self life can cope; when the self life is curtailed, the Cross for the believer may become appealing! The same is true of the Church which has fallen prey to marketing church growth and other fads which run counter to a Christ-centered and cross-centered approach to life and ministry.

The negative impact of the fuel crunch can be used of God to prepare both the believer and church leadership for the return of the role of the Cross in living and ministry. (Gal. 6:12-15) However, it does not promise to be an easy transition from the flesh to the Spirit.

The message, proven materials, and methods are readily available, awaiting the receptivity of church leadership to utilize them. Widespread desperation, which could be upon us, can force the church's hand to return to First Century ministry twenty centuries later! (Acts 2:42-47) This would entail more widespread use of lay ministry and less dependence upon paid professional staff to accord with reduced income. It could easily be increasingly difficult to get blood from the turnip"! Churches can prepare for such societal change by seeing what is coming down the pike or can have it forced upon them as the ripple effects spread out and choice is no longer an option.

DISCIPLESHIP OR LEGALISM?

Sound teaching heard today
Leaves much to be desired;
The same clarity on salvation,
For discipleship is required.
Sanctification's been neglected
Since our life we must lose; (Matt. 16:24,25)
Between the flesh and spirit
Is left up to us to choose.

Systems of theology
Can a bane or blessing be;
The scriptures may be twisted,
With a system to agree.
Faithfulness to God's Word
Insures the Spirit's moving:
Being crucified with Christ,
And the flesh's reign reproving.

The 'old man' is dead and gone, (Rom. 6:6)
With the body of sin destroyed; (Rom. 6:6)
As we yield to sin's power, (Rom. 6:13)
The flesh is yet deployed.
The 'old man' was our taskmaster
When to Satan we were alive;
As it's dead to Satan, alive to God,
In the Spirit we're set to thrive. (Rom. 8:9)

Absent a spirit in our makeup,
There is nothing to be crucified;
So an alternate explanation
Must deal with that which died.
When we're dead and raised with Christ,
Our doing proceeds from being;
Since our 'new man' is who we are,
Christ in us others are seeing.

Since we are dead to the law (Rom. 7:4,6)
And alive to God in Christ Jesus,
All glory goes to Him
As the world, in Him, sees us.
Thus, sanctification is reality,
Not a doctrine to be defended-
Christ is us, the hope of glory, (Col. 1:27)
Not effort that is expended.

                   

-  C. R. Solomon 6-22-08

GRACE DISCIPLESHIP OR FLESH ENHANCEMENT?

Soul or personality problems have long been a topic of discussion as we read in the New Testament-particularly in First Corinthians where the behavior of believers went far afield from that preached by Paul, so corrective measures had to be taken.  From then until now, there has been an ebb and flow, both of the behavior stemming from such aberrations and the solution which was prescribed.

We know that Islam goes so far as to sever hands of those caught in thievery or other severe punishment of untoward behavior.  In Christianity there have been extremes as well. In the Middle Ages, spiritual direction was advocated and practiced by some mature believers who came to be known as mystics.

At the turn of the twentieth century, psychology and psychiatry had their beginnings.  About the same time, the German theologians began their Higher Criticism.  As Freud gained popularity with his psychoanalysis, there were offshoots of various kinds. As it gained in strength, there was a corresponding liberalizing of theology which sapped it of its power.  Conservative Christians steered clear of it, and the Fundamentalist movement began which had nothing to do with psychology and very little with counseling in general.  Slowly, but surely, seminaries began to imbibe at this fountain to the point that most seminaries now have a licensing track to prepare their graduates to collect third party payment from insurance companies and compete in the market place with secular therapists.

As Christians resisted the encroachments of psychology, there began an anomaly called Christian psychology which seemed to be a good compromise.  Some made an amalgamation of psychology and the Bible in an effort to integrate the two; however, psychology began to get the upper hand, with the Church gradually ceding its God-given mandate for soul care to the disciplines of psychology and psychiatry so that the trend today is to go outside the church for a resolution to mental/emotional/behavioral problems and for pastors to deny a counseling role.

In this paper, I will be addressing the field of biblical counseling as contrasted with that which borrows heavily from the methods and goals of secular counseling.  Though it is called Christian counseling, it is usually some watered-down psychological counseling with scriptures added--  more or less.

There is much that passes for Christian counseling that is not evaluated for its theological presuppositions.  One of the early approaches is nouthetic counseling which was developed by Dr. Jay Adams.  Since that time, there are a number of deviations from the general Reformed Theology constituency.  However, Jay Adams' is probably the best known and most utilized of them all.

There are a number of pastors and schools which utilize his approach who are unaware of its presuppositions based in Reformed Theology.  As a result, they espouse one theology from the pulpit and another in the counseling room, while being unaware of the inherent contradiction.  About the same time that Dr. Adams was writing his first book, Competent to Counsel, God called me to develop and pioneer a Christ-centered approach to counseling where the theology could be described to follow Keswick teaching or, as Hudson Taylor termed it, exchanged life teaching.  It has also been dubbed, crisis sanctification, as contrasted with the progressive sanctification of Calvinism.  Handbook to Happiness (1971) was my first book which laid the foundation for this approach and is a polar opposite of Dr. Adams' work, from a theological perspective.

Since scriptural sanctification teaching is the missing ingredient in most churches due to the lack of emphasis on discipleship, I think it is incumbent upon us to bring such teaching to the fore.  To do so, it is necessary to search out the role of the cross in the definition of sanctification which should be synonymous with true discipleship.  Luke 14:27 tells us that taking up the cross is the key to  true discipleship.  Without the cross' being an experiential reality in the believer's life, discipleship or disciplines would serve to strengthen the flesh.
Since progressive sanctification does not allow for the application of the cross to the life due to a usual teaching of a dichotomous stand on biblical anthropology, a successful culmination would result in the flesh's being strengthened for its inevitable conflict (Gal. 5:17) with the Spirit.  By contrast, an approach to discipleship/counseling where the flesh comes under the work of the Cross, would weaken the reign of the flesh as the believer is filled with the Spirit.

A fair comparison of the efficacy of the clinical teaching of sanctification would be to analyze the utilization of each in a crisis situation.  Let's assume, for example, that a believer telephones for help who has a gun to his temple and is crying out for spiritual help.  Let's further assume that only an hour or so is available to resolve the situation to see the Spirit transform the life and prevent the suicide.

How would progressive sanctification be applied to defuse the suicidal ideation and lead the believer into a life transformation within the allotted time?  The same would be required of a Keswick or exchanged life model of counseling.  It would seem obvious that the Holy Spirit must necessarily honor this ministration; otherwise, a suicide or, possibly, a homicide followed by a suicide could be the result!

We have seen a number of such situations, where suicide was definitely planned, that were resolved as the cross was applied to the life in the power of the Holy Spirit.  One was the exact situation where the believer had a gun to his head and called 2 or 3 churches but could find no help.  One of the churches gave him our phone number, and he found victory; and, subsequently, his marriage was restored from an abusive relationship.  The defusing of the situation and his finding of victory was done by the Holy Spirit in about an hour.

Howe would this have been handled when coming from a progressive sanctification stance with no therapy?   Or, how would such a view of sanctification handle a pedophile or someone who is clinically depressed?  It is not unusual to see a believer who is clinically depressed freed literally overnight, although it is the exception that proves the rule.  I witnessed the Holy Spirit's setting a pedophile free in 3 weeks, as he was born again and understood his death and resurrection with Christ at the same time.  We have seen many desperate people find victory in Christ in the first interview, where most of the work is done in a short span of time, though this is not the experience of the majority of those exposed to cross teaching.

If progressive sanctification is biblical and honored by the Holy Spirit, there should be miraculous results; and it does not take the Spirit long to do a miracle!  Of course, it may take Him years to get us ready for one!

Biblical counseling is not always Christ-centered, but Christ-centered counseling will always be biblical!

Someone has said, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating!"  I think we can also say that the proof that sanctification or discipleship/counseling is Spirit-anointed and directed is the results in transformed lives.  Theoretical theology is good for arguments; but if it is not attended with life transformation, of what practical good is it?  And what is the proof that the Holy Spirit is doing it, rather than an assiduous application of human strength, both that of the counselor and counselee?

A seminary professor once told me that his school had the proper theology whereas my theology resulted in more life changes.  I replied, "If I have to choose between something works and something that doesn't, I will choose that which transforms lives in the power of the Holy Spirit".

In an experimental approach, a new development must be capable of being replicated with no dependence upon anecdotal data.  We have seen the Holy Spirit honor the model He gave, which utilizes scriptural truth, in other languages and cultures around the world to transform lives for almost 4 decades.   Some of these have been followed for more than 30 years, and a good number have been called into such ministry.  A  number of books have been written which are variations of the core teaching that God has honored with transformed lives.
One young man in Ukraine who spoke Ukrainian and Russian had taught himself English.  Sharing the truth with him via internet not only transformed his life but also those whom his life and ministry impacted. Subsequently, he translated 5 of my books into Russian, among others, and published a Russian/Greek Interlinear New Testament with Strong's numbers, revising the New Testament as he went.  I met him for the first time when we released my first book in Russian in Bucharest, Romania.  Incidentally, he is now 30 years old with no formal education beyond high school!

Last year marked 40 years since God called me to found such a counseling approach based on Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20-a new approach which is 2000 years old!  Incidentally, God was honoring it for more than 15 centuries before Reformed Theology was even formulated and more than that before I arrived on the scene!  Someone has accurately stated, "If it is true, it is not new; if it is new, it is not true!"

Much time and breath is spent on comparisons regarding soteriology.  Who can be saved? How do they get saved? What do they do after they are saved?  Will they stay saved?  And other such questions about justification.  Reformed Theology takes much stock in the 5 points of Calvinism, but I note that not nearly as much paper is consumed writing about progressive sanctification and putting forth lives transformed in a short period of time as an exhibit of its efficacy.

So, laying aside the first principles of justification, regeneration, etc. which the Reformers majored in, where do we find great strides in the transformation of the lives of believers?  It seems to me that the emphasis on sanctification by faith leaves much to be desired in the teaching of Calvin, Zwingli, Luther and others of their ilk.  While justification by faith was heralded and necessary because of the contradictory teaching of the Roman Catholic Church in their time, Calvin's Institutes tend to make more hay in his 5 points, all of which have to do with justification.

Agreeably, the foundation of justification has to be firmly laid; but once it is, shouldn't we be about building the superstructure of sanctification?  Believers from all denominations and no denomination are saying, "I'm saved already; now what?"  But adherents of Reformed Theology join the ranks of those in typical evangelical/fundamental churches in withholding practical theology to meet struggling believers at their point of need.

A church built on a solid foundation of justification, but continuing to build layer after layer of justification, does precious little to mature believers.  Absent the teaching of sanctification which is cross-centered, the admonition of Galatians 3:3 goes unheeded; and solid biblical teaching serves to entrench the believer and the church in fleshly pursuits.  The current seeker sensitive movement has proven the validity of this in amassing great numbers of people in their meetings with very few disciples among them.  Now, they are going back to the drawing boards to discern what they have missed in the process-lost, but making good time!

Now, we are facing the prospect of one crisis after another, with a Church woefully unprepared to deal with them in the Spirit.   The wholesale referral of soul problems outside the church to the behavioral sciences, a pattern over the last several decades, must give way to providing spiritual answers for non-organic symptomatology. One of the key ingredients is in the training of ministers; their spiritual growth must keep pace with their theological understanding, which is greatly underemphasized in most Christian institutions of higher learning.

Due to the present emphasis on Christian psychology, it is virtually impossible to engage the leadership of seminaries in a dialogue on Christ-centered, cross-centered discipleship/counseling, as I have found in my attempts over the years.  Western Europe, the UK and North America are all but closed to the consideration of such teaching, while the developing nations are much more open to solid teaching on the cross for the believer.  Brokenness is not in the vocabulary of today's average Christian, and losing their lives is the last thing they want to think about!  And yet, the theme of the New Testament is that we must lose our lives in order to save them. (Matt. 16:24, 25)

- Charles R. Solomon Ed. D.

Beginning to Blog

Since I continue to write poetry and articles related to Christ-centered discipleship and counseling, a friend has set up this blog for me. Those who have read my books and/or have been through Grace Fellowship International's training or counseling can have access to my more current and brief writings.