Why I Say What I Say and Do What I Do

Not long ago, I was invited to lunch by two members of the ERC, both of whom hold positions of immense authority and power within the Conference.  They were very cordial during our meeting but they were also careful to report to me that there is ongoing concern, in the highest ERC leadership circles, about the way I talk and walk. 

They told me that there is one very highly placed person in the ERC who regularly suggests that my credentials be removed. 

One of the two people with whom I lunched asked me (in reference to my walk and talk), "What do you want to accomplish?" 

To my surprise, I stumbled for a moment in answering the question.  However, I didn't stumble because I didn't immediately know the answer. 

The answer I eventually gave was true and precise. 

I said, "I want us to repent."  (If you read this blog regularly you've probably noticed that I normally end a post saying, "We must repent.")

After lunch, when I had some thinking time, I mused over why I stumbled in answering the what-do you-want-to-accomplish question.  It didn't take long for me to figure it out. 

I stumbled because what I hope to accomplish is far less important to me than why I do this.

I do this for the salvation of the souls of the people who sit trustingly in the seats and pews of CGGC churches.

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

A continuing theme in the teaching of Jesus is that, on the day of Judgment, many who confidently considered themselves to be saved by Him will be horrified to discover that He rejects them and will send them away to eternal punishment.  For example:

²¹ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7)

And,

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25)

Note, in both passages, the shocked tone of the people whom Jesus sends away.

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

When I take stock of the way things are in the CGGC (and, for that matter, much of Western Christianity) today, two things concern me:

1. The way our General Conference leaders and (for me as someone in the ERC) ERC leadership define what it means to live as a Christian. 
   
     As I see it, they preach and practice Cheap Grace--a Cheap Grace which never, ever calls for repentance and implies that church attendance is intimately connected to salvation, though that notion is absent from the Word.
     As I examine what they write and say and do, our leaders define righteousness as "accepting" Christ, attending worship services and actively participating in a congregation which, then, potentially signs on to programs such as the Transformational Church denominational program or the program that involves reading the Seek God for the City Lenten devotional or (in the ERC) participating in the Dare to Dream program.
     While I can not ever recall reading words like righteousness or holiness or obedience or repentance in the communications or Ed Rosenberry or Lance Finley, Don Dennison or Kevin Richardson, Dave Williams or Chuck Frank, I see that the Gospels and Acts and the writings of Paul and Peter and John are absolutely packed with those words.
     Roughly a year ago, I received what I believe to be a prophetic word.  I have examined and reexamined that word in the murky and rippled mirror Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, says prophets see into.  After that effort, I am convinced that it is a word from the Lord.  As best I can put it in human language, the prophecy is this:
     "The way CGGC (and most Western Church) leaders define righteousness is just as theologically corrupt and tradition-bound as were the ways promoted by the Pope and his Bishops to which Martin Luther objected when he posted his 95 Theses in 1517."
     When I read the Word of God, I see the path to salvation defined very clearly.  Yet, as I view the "Gospel" promoted by CGGC leaders, I see false doctrine that is found nowhere in the Word.
     What our leaders preach and teach--and the righteousness they promote--scares me!  It is false.  It imperils them for all eternity.
2. The fact that many thousands of people fully trust--without doubt--their leaders' definition of what it means to live the Christian life.  
     When their CGGC pastors and their pastors' leaders' tell the people of the CGGC that "accepting" Christ, church attendance and, perhaps, congregational outreach and/or Transformational Church and/or Seek God for the City and/or Dare to Dream and, before those schemes, Natural Church Development and 35,000 by 2000, etc., etc. are God's way for them, they trust and follow those errors. 
    Thousands pin their hopes for the moment of the "Rapture" and the Day of Judgment on a definition of righteousness that is absent from the teachings of Jesus and the apostles and prophets.
    Before Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven...," He said, "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."  In between those two statements Jesus defined, with laser precision, what true righteousness is.
     His definition of righteousness and what comes from CGGC headquarters offices have nothing to do with each other.
     Also, when Jesus predicts separating the people of the world in the way a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, He is specific about the righteous acts in a person's life that will make the difference between who stands to His right and who stands to His left.  
    CGGC leadership simply doesn't pay attention to Jesus.  It doesn't proclaim His way.  It preaches a false, flock-focused righteousness.
     I am convinced, without doubt, that our leaders are preparing the people who trust them and learn from them to be placed with the goats on the Day! 
   
    I say what I say and do what I do because I care about those trusting people.
   
     I fear for the souls of the thousands of people who innocently accept the tradition-bound wisdom that comes down to them from Findlay and Harrisburg--and, perhaps, the other headquarters locations.
   
    How many thousands of souls are being led astray?!
   
    How many will be surprised as they spend eternity weeping and gnashing their teeth?

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

What do I hope to accomplish?  Repentance.  Repentance from what, when I read the Word, I have to see as a false definition of righteousness coming from CGGC leadership and too easily consumed by the CGGC body.

Why do I do it?  For the salvation of innocent and trusting souls who might one day, because of what they are being taught, hear Jesus confess,  "I never knew you.  Away from me you evildoers."

I honestly believe that our leaders are leading to destruction the people who trust them.

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

Even people who are open to the things I say and do occasionally accuse me of hating the people who lead the CGGC.  I do not hate them.  I love them. 

But I do hate, with every fiber of my being, what they stand for.

I am certain that they preach, teach and live a false gospel.

We absolutely must repent.