Jasperism

Jasper was a sheep dog. 

Evelyn's sister, Ruth, and her husband Rich, lived in a house built on land once part of the family farm.  After their youngest child left home, they adopted Jasper. 

One afternoon, Ruth noticed that things were too quiet in the house and said, "Honey, where's Jasper?"  They searched the house but Jasper was gone.  They rushed outside, frantically calling his name.  Then they noticed that all of the cows that had been grazing in the meadow beside the house were standing in tight formation.  Jasper had herded them into a flock and was watching over them.

It didn't matter to Jasper that none of the animals

he'd shepherded actually were sheep. 

This is Jasperism.

Jasper is the patron saint of 21st century American Christianity which cares about creating and maintaining flocks more than winning souls.

Jesus didn't send His followers to create flocks; He commissioned them to make disciples.

A Smokin Email I Received Condemning the 2013 CGGC Gathering "Introduc(ing)...the Transformational Church"

Gang,
 
I couldn't say this better myself!
 
-----------------------
 
"Bill,
 
This is what troubles me!  Read below" (the CGGC Office's announcement of "The Gathering 2013" which reads, in part):
 
"We have invited Justin Meier to introduce us to Transformational Church and the Transformational Church Assessment Tool (TCAT). Transformational Church and the TCAT (Transformational Church Assessment Tool) were designed to give churches tools to keep their focus on the biblical principles and guidelines for being the church while at the same time providing guidance on how to help them engage their culture and grow their church.

A Transformational Church is a church where:

• People become more like Christ
• The church acts more like the body of Christ
• The community becomes more of a reflection of the kingdom of God

TCAT helps churches:

• Learn what’s working
• Find out what needs attention
• Start having the right conversations"

------------------------

(The email, only slightly edited to preserve the anonymity of its sender, continues)

"I am fully convinced that unless people fully repent or are aware of their sin and how it separates us from God's blessing, we are, as Paul said, just beating in the wind.

I am not angry at anybody and have respect for my superiors, but now have more questions than answers; and this is after spending my life in the organized church.

I sense that that alone is our problem. The early church was never organized in the context we think of as "the organized church."  

 

It was (a CGGC pastor who recently planted a 'church') who had Bible School this year using fun and games to attract people. I just don't get it!  The old saying is as true today as it ever was, the way you attract people, is the way you keep them. . ..

I've grown to dislike weddings, funerals, baptisms, as we know and practice them.

...Someone has to love the quest for truth and then hold that truth in passion and love.  So keep up, keeping up as (Rev. Whozitz) would say. He went strong until he was in his 80s.  He Loved God and people too."

 

------------------------------

 

Gang,

 

As I sometimes say, there are people in the CGGC who see things more clearly than I do, feel at least as passionately about the misguided actions of leadership as I do and, at times, speak more strongly than I would.  I shout, "Amen!  Hallelujah!" to this entire commentary.

 

This commentator highlights three problems with today's CGGC.  Unless we turn from them, they will be the death of our body:

1. Lack of repentance and acknowledgment of our sin--even at the highest level of the CGGC,
2. Increasing (top-ended) organization, and
3. An absence of love for the quest for truth.

No new program planned and executed from the mountaintop is going to reverse the CGGC decline.

The Second of Two Theological Flaws that will Doom the Latest Grand CGGC Idea

As I noted in the first post on this blog, the teaching of the Word makes it very clear that there are two flaws with the latest vision to come down to the CGGC body from it's leadership core. 

I described the first of those flaws, i.e., it does not begin with the pursuit of repentance, in that first post. 

I also promised that, in time, if the Lord was willing, I'd describe the second flaw.  That is the purpose of this post. 

Very briefly: 

The second flaw is that leadership ignores the teaching of the Old and New Testaments that God's people are saved by faith and that the righteous live by faith.

-------------------------

In review:

In his final eNews posting prior to the 2013 General Conference sessions, Ed Rosenberry announced leadership's latest vision.

This latest idea is rooted in the key phrase which Ed said would "pervade the [General Conference sessions 2013] gathering, i.e., "ONe Mission."

Ed predicted: "During the sessions, God’s call from Isaiah 6:8 will figure prominently: 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?'" 

Ed added that, during the last year, the CGGC church planting team took Isaiah 6:8's question and "sought to address the leadership issues it raises."

He continued saying that before a disciple or the church today can echo Isaiah's words, "'Here I am. Send me!'...certain realities must exist in our hearts and lives."  They include the following four "priorities:"

1. Always we must hold to our first love, namely Jesus. This will require a radical commitment of heart, mind, soul, and strength to the message and ministry of Jesus (Mark 12:30). It is possible to be busy about many things, and neglect that which is better (Luke 10:42). Sadly, a disciple, or even the Church, can loose sight of its “first love” when engaged in ministry and thereby lose sight of its calling.
2. We must be ONe Mission in the world, seeking the lost and serving the least. Jesus ministered to people’s spiritual and temporal needs. As his disciples the Church can do no less (John 20:21). The CGGC has but one mission: to help people everywhere experience life abundant in Christ Jesus. This means walking in the way of Jesus and sharing his gospel in ways that bring deliverance from bondage (Luke 4:18-19).
3. We must work together and stand against the adversary. His attacks often come externally, but sometimes he works from within. Always the Church must be ready to stand! (Ephesians 6:10-13) Since his tactic is to divide and destroy, unity of the Spirit is a must (Ephesians 4:3) as is the love of Jesus in all things or all is naught. (1Corinthians 13)
4. We must pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Philippians 4:6). Without the prayers of God’s people nothing of lasting merit can be accomplished. Prayer has the power to unleash the forces of heaven against the forces of darkness (Matthew 16:19). The Bible is replete with examples! May the CGGC pray prayers that shake the cosmic order, seeing lives and communities delivered and transformed (Matthew 7:7).

Please understand: 

These priorities are not wrong as much as they are secondary to the Word's foundational priorities and that they are skewed toward shepherd values and assume that the yearnings and passions of shepherds define the totality of the Gospel.

Each of these priorities are fruit of the shepherd calling that most of our leaders, even our church planting leaders, share.  The priorities emphasize, as shepherds do organically, in the Spirit and by their calling, relationship not righteousness.

Therefore, typical of past shepherd-oriented innovations--all of which have failed--Ed and the planters ignore what the New Testament always places as the first step (and first priority)--as well as what it places as the second step/priority--in obedient discipleship:

In the Word, the first step always is repentance.

In the Word, the second step--a step which must accompany repentance but which must follow a nano-step behind repentance, is faith. 

Considering our roots in the ministry of John Winebrenner, it is remarkable that living as people of faith is not listed even as one of Ed's priorities for the CGGC.

There is an important macro--big picture--truth played out here:

It is characteristic of the shepherd-dominated leadership culture to set aside the most essential biblical truths and to substitute, for those truths, ideas and values with which shepherds are most comfortable.  After doing that, the shepherd culture adds truths and values which genuinely are rooted in biblical truth but which, because they are not built on Christ, lead us into error.

Hence there would be value in Ed's four priorities IF Ed's submitted to those of Jesus.  However, in the new program, leadership's priorities exclude the priorities of Jesus.  They make no mention of either repentance or faith.

Faith is a core biblical reality that our shepherds set aside in establishing new priorities for the CGGC.  This is death!

Does leadership not know that the Gospel of John teaches, "Whoever believes in him will not perish." (3:16)

Mark says that Jesus' core message was:  "Repent and believe the gospel." (1:15)

Paul says that men and women are saved by faith.  (Eph. 2:8-9)

He says repeatedly that followers of Jesus are people of faith and that, when men and women believe as Abraham believed, their faith is counted as righteousness. (Rom. 4)

Paul also quotes the words of the prophet Habakkuk, who states, in sentence form, the truth demonstrated by the way Abraham's lived his life.  Habakkuk quoted the Lord saying: 

...the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. (2:4)

Paul alludes to this foundational truth in Romans:

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (1:17)

He does that again in Galatians:

Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith." (3:11)

-------------------------

Frankly, dear ones in the CGGC, our leaders are leading us astray from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles to shepherd-oriented traditions. 

CGGC leaders regularly, and apparently without shame, set aside the most foundational teachings of Jesus and, in the process, lead us to ignore the very acts that bear fruit in salvation.

According to the universal proclamation of the New Testament, the foundational priorities of the righteous are, first, repentance and second, faith.

Please ignore what's coming down from leadership.  Build your hope for eternity on the teachings of Jesus and the apostles, not on the traditions of the leaders of the CGGC.

Our leaders must become men and women of His truth.  They must set aside shepherd traditions.

We all must repent.

In Praise of Indignation

Not my praise of indignation, though I do praise it and see it functioning in many of the great men and women of the Bible e.g., Elijah and Isaiah and Jeremiah and John the Baptist. 

Jesus Himself is described as being indignant.

Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” (Mk. 1:41)

When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Mark 10:14)

But, no.  Not my praise of indignation.

Paul's.

2 Corinthians 7:2-16 is a remarkable passage in Paul's writings which reveals as aspect of living in Christ's body that is, as Alan Hirsch might say, a forgotten way.

Paul says that he had written to the Corinthians previously with "great frankness" about a serious (unspecified in the text) issue that was taking place within the Corinthian church. 

Paul says that, after he wrote the letter, he was distressed by his great frankness so much so that, while he was waiting to hear how the Corinthians responded, he felt regret over writing the letter.

However, when they received the letter, the Corinthians took it to heart and, after Titus returned to Paul with news of how the letter was received, Paul says that his distress and regret were now turned into happiness because his letter caused the Corinthians to be sorry.

Paul was actually happy that he'd made these people feel sorrow!

Why?

Paul states this fundamental and universal spiritual principle:

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (v. 10, NIV)

Paul is also clear, in writing to the Corinthians, that he knows that they really did repent and, through repentance, achieve salvation. 

How did Paul know that they had repented? 

Paul notes that the Corinthians displayed seven attitudes that people who repent display. 

To the shepherd culture, what Paul says must seem remarkable to the point of being unbelievable.

The ESV translates these attitudes from the Greek in a way that is artless but accurate.  It renders verse 11:

For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!

Note the seven fruit that displayed to Paul, even through Titus' second hand report, that the Corinthians genuinely had repented in a way that leads to salvation:

1. earnestness
2. eagerness to clear yourselves (Grk. apologia--see the English 'apology' there)
3. indignation
4. fear
5. longing
6. zeal
7. punishment

-----------------

Friends,

Having existed for nearly four decades in the lukewarm, mellow values of a shepherd-dominated CGGC leadership culture, I discovered this passage afresh about a year ago and I was stunned!

Paul actually knew that something good was taking place among the Corinthians because they demonstrated indignation.

Paul's distress in writing that letter was ameliorated and his regret turned into happiness because his letter had caused the Corinthians to feel godly sorrow and, from that godly sorrow, to exhibit fear and longing and zeal and to practice punishment.

By this standard, the mainstream CGGC culture is an unrepentant and godless culture!

In the CGGC these days, the person who feels indignation over the things that take place on the mountaintop is assumed to be in error. 

Those who fear for themselves and for the CGGC body because of the path the body is taking are dismissed. 

The CGGCers who experience longing--who hunger and thirst for righteousness as Jesus defines righteousness--are marginalized.

Those in the CGGC world who live with zeal in the face of shepherd-imposed moderation are the ones deemed to lack fruit of the Spirit.

We who would exercise discipline and exact punishment are the very people who are regarded as spiritually wanting.

The truth is that Paul praised indignation and fear and zeal and punishment but the CGGC is a culture that despises all of those attitudes.

None of those attitudes that the Corinthians displayed--and which brought happiness to Paul--are welcomed in the CGGC in the 21st century. 

However,...

...they were welcomed,...

...accepted...

...and even EXPECTED...

on the day we were formed in October 1830.

And, in the days that followed, the Church of God flourished.

Today, we decline.

Oh, how we haven fallen!

We must repent--and achieve the seven fruit of repentance that Paul praised.