Sunday, April 30, 2017

Don Dennison's Excellent CHURCH ADVOCATE Article. (And, Why It will Come to Nothing.)

I may be the one and only person, in 2017, who is an avid, careful and enthusiastic reader of The CHURCH ADVOCATE .

The latest issue arrived here a few days ago and I have been reading it avidly, carefully and enthusiastically. Its focus is on younger people than attend the typical CGGC Sunday morning show and how to get them into CGGC churches.

There's a nice article on Tommy and Joanna Kopp and their journey to become involved in missions. (Joanna was in my "cohort" in the first round of MLI. She's a gem.)

The centerpiece article, though, is by Don Dennison, entitled, Reaching a Generation That Will Not Wait. 

In the article, Dennison notes the difficulty CGGC churches have in maintaining teens and young adults and integrating them into the ministry of the church and he notes that Latin American churches affiliated with the CGGC are extremely successful in attracting and involving and incorporating teens and young adults in ministry.

He gives examples and then describes a "bedrock principle" of these ministries:

Make the church appealing to the younger generation so they want to be a part of it.

Dennison then suggests that embracing that principle leads to a "practice:"

Engage youth and young adults in meaningful ministries as soon as possible. 

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This is truly an excellent article and, clearly, what Dennison says can work and does work.

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I'll predict, however, that, in a year and two and five years, what the article advocates will not be transforming CGGC ministry.

Is that a prophecy or do we ALL immediately know it?  I suspect that it might be prophetic because I even think in terms of the future.

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There are a number of obvious reasons, to me, that Dennison's wisdom will be wasted on a spiritually dead denomination.

One has to do with a problem with the article itself:

Dennison, not being a prophet, doesn't call for repentance.

He shows what might be and, even, can be but, as John the Baptist, or Elijah or Isaiah or even Jesus would have done, he doesn't attack the faithlessness and traditionalism that drives the ministries of people and churches whom the Lord of all power and grace and mercy and authority and love and blessing is not blessing.

Jesus invited only people who are weary and burdened to come to Him. With the same understanding of how change happens among God's people, Paul says that godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation.

The evidence of generations in the CGGC is that people are not going to change with this sort of suggestion of a tweak of what they are doing.

They will not change, according to the Word, until they begin to despise what they have been doing and feel sorrow over it to the point that the thought of continuing in old, failed ways is offensive to them.

And, and this is the greatest stumbling block in a shepherd dominated body like the CGGC:

The people who practiced the old and failed ways are going to have to be called to account for their failure and, if they don't repent of their ways, disciplined harshly. If they don't repent, their names will need to be reviled because they led people away from the Lord's blessing. 

Doing this will be the most difficult thing for temperate and tolerant CGGC people to do. It will absolutely demand a love for the Lord with all of their heart and soul and strength.

I'm not certain that CGGC people these days possess that love.

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Another reason that this wisdom will be wasted is that the sort of change Dennison advocates normally has been thwarted by CGGC change's arch enemy:

DENOMINATIONAL BUREAUCRATS.

In my days in the CGGC, I've seen a similar story played out many times.

A pastor is inspired by ideas exactly like the genuine wisdom in the Dennison article and begins to practice them.

The change in practice makes one or two church people who pay the bills unhappy.

Tension rises to the point that, if it happens here in the ERC, the Commission on Church and Pastor is called to deal with the conflict.

To my knowledge, without exception, the Conference bureaucrats on the Commission ALWAYS take the side of the congregational members who pay the bills. The offending pastor is either forced to back down or is fired.

Most of those pastors leave the CGGC and agents of change are whacked by the bureaucrats and their bureaucracy, never to ripple the waters of CGGC dysfunction and sin again.

The bureaucrats ALWAYS, as far as I know, oppose the very sort of change that CGGC leadership advocates, and could aid in transformation.

And, I see nothing coming from ERC mountaintoppers, at least, to suggest that they are willing to turn from their dysfunctional, change-killing ways.

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I love Dennison's article.

But, I know that, without repentance, his wisdom will be wasted. And, I see no reason to think repentance is at hand.

As another CGGC person has pointed out here on this blog, CGGC hearts are hard.

They resist changing their ways in a manner that could have taught lessons to Pharaoh when Moses was dealing with him.

We must repent.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

My Prayer for ERC Sessions

For those of you who don't read the ERC "Newsletter," the staff of the ERC has been publishing prayer requests for next week's Conference sessions.

One of them asks for "Encouraging and Uplifting Fellowship among Brothers & Sisters."

Because I'm connected to reality, and the fact that 80% of CGGC churches are stagnating or declining and that the ERC always sets the denominational trends, when I pray for the sessions, I pray for an Act 2:36 and an Acts 2:37 moment.

I pray that someone will confront the Conference with the truth about the things they have done--over the course of generations.

And, that people in the crowd will be cut to the heart and say, "What shall we do?"

I got in big trouble several years ago when I began to call ERC Conference sessions the "Yay God" sessions.

But, that is what they have been for the past 25 years.

Yet, the Lord of all power and grace and mercy and authority and love and blessing is not blessing the ERC.

We should face reality. We should be grieving.

As Paul says, "Godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation..."

We need godly sorrow.

We must repent.

Friday, April 28, 2017

I'm Being Encouraged to Sue the Conference

Blog Readers,

Below is the concluding passage of a very detailed email that I received some time ago from a member of the ERC Eldership who knows more than I know about the events which resulted in the deliberations of the ERC on the status of my credentials.

As you can see, my friend, who loves the Conference and has served it for years, is not only encouraging me to take the issue to court but is also willing to assist me in locating an attorney who will handle my case.

Before you consider a knee-jerk reaction, understand that my friend is a person of the Word who is also well-acquainted with what took place.

Last April, after the issue was addressed at Conference, several ERC pastors wrote to me, two of them wrote on this blog assuring me that reconciliation is still possible between the Conference and me.  At the time, I expressed an interest.

I'm still open to that possibility.

I understand that I still have time to decide whether or not to take my friend's advice before I act on the legalities at hand.

At this point, I will accept any assistance in making reconciliation a reality.

However, based on what I'm hearing, attempts to initiate reconciliation, to this point, have been rebuffed by Conference authorities.

(Please excuse any problems with the formatting of the excerpt of the letter.)

bill

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My thoughts: Put all your e-mails from the conference together with yours
and get a lawyer to file (a)...suit for lost wages, etc., etc., etc., etc.

I do know a lawyer...who gave...very good advice to.... I could ask her who she knows that would be the right lawyer for the job
of suing the Conference.

I know, for all the years we both have worked for the conference that we
have loved, at least in the past, that is not what you want to do, but I feel you have every right to do it.

Please stay in touch!!!!!!

My best to Evelyn and the people of Faith Community, you all are in my prayers.

Let me know if you want me to talk with the lawyer we know??

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The Term SHEPHERD MAFIA as a Prediction of the CGGC Future

I remember where I was and what I was doing when I first thought the words, Shepherd Mafia.

I don't remember how long ago it was. It was years ago. I'm certain that it was before Evie's battle with cancer, which was in 2010.

I mentioned it on the podcast I was doing at the time with Brian Miller, Lance Finley and Fran Leeman but I don't remember the dates we did the podcast. It was during the time we were doing the podcast that the term came to me.

I used it a number of times on the Emerging Church blog and got some negative reaction.

I explained it to Evie and my friend Jerry and both of them advised me not to use it.

And, as time passes, I do use it less and less, not because those people have advised me not to use it, but because using the term doesn't come up as often and, more importantly, as prophetic messages sometimes require, it has lost some of its shock value.

If you doubt that God's prophets shock, following the command of the Lord, read Isaiah 20!

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But, in the wake of my defrocking and of the ERC Administrative Council's recent decision to remove Faith as a member congregation of the ERC:

Think about how accurately the term Shepherd Mafia describes the behavior of the mountaintoppers of the ERC. 

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They whacked me.

And, not being satisfied with their action against me personally, they have now whacked the whole community at Faith.

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I'll repeat what I've noted in the past.

When the Ad Council started this in 2015, I wrote to Kevin Richardson and asked him specifically, what the cause was for the recommendation of the Standing Committee and the action of the Administrative Council. He said that there was no actual cause mentioned. (He did note some things discussed by the Standing Committee--concerns, by the way, the Committee never addressed with me face to face, or in any other way.)

But, as a mafia would, the action of the mountaintoppers was based on what they wanted to do, not on any actual reason beyond their own wishes.

I'll mention, again, that I've talked to several people who witnessed the ERC deliberations which resulted in my defrocking. I've asked each what sin I was convicted of.

None of them knew.

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This morning, I read the letter from, as it turns out, Kevin E. Richardson, D. Min., informing "the Faith Community Church of God" of the decision of the Administrative Council to remove Faith from membership in the Conference.

According to Dr. Richardson, nothing Faith did, and even nothing I did, contributed to the action.

According to Kevin, everything that contributed to the decision came from the Standing Committee, the Administrative Council, and the Conference in session, based on the recommendation of the Commission on Church Renewal.

Another whack job from the Shepherd Mafia.

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And, I've pointed out, Faith and I believe and proclaim and practice the church's doctrine and mission.

We were--I, at least, still am--pleased to be a part of the CGGC.

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In the days when I first used the term Shepherd Mafia, I ignored advice from people I love and respect to stop using it because I believed it came from the Lord.

He, alone, knew this future behavior by the mountaintoppers of the ERC.

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The Lord of all power and grace and mercy and authority and love and blessing is not blessing the CGGC.

We must repent.

My Birthday, My Dad and other Personal Thoughts

Saturday was my 63rd birthday.

I'm not bothered by getting old.

In fact, as I've said before here, I shaved my head seven years ago, when Evie shaved hers in anticipation of losing it during chemo, and I've been content to keep it shaved, even though it makes me look older than I am.

It was my habit to let it grow out for about three weeks, before, during and after a vacation to look for bald spots and check out how much gray was, or wasn't, there but, the last time I did that, there was more gray on my right temple than I wanted to see, so I didn't do it during the last vacation. It wasn't very gray, but it was gray enough.

Maybe I am vain after all.

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Anyway, it was a nice birthday.

The sense of camaraderie among the kids and geezers I work with so far exceeds any, uh, fellowship I've experienced in what has become of the church that I was reminded, again, that I'm glad not to be supportive of institutionalized, and I'm convinced now more than ever, false, Christianity.

A sweet, young coworker made fudge for the Front End gang in honor of my birthday and, so, all of the Front End celebrated with me.

I worked five hours and it was the one Saturday in the month that I wasn't a manager. It was a nice work day.

The rest of the day was devoted to normal birthday activities for a geezer with no kids.

It was as nice a birthday as I've had in a while.

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Up to this year, on my birthday, I've paused to notice, and to give thanks for, the fact that I'm this age and still have both of my parents. And, I do that again this year but the character of that thought and praise is different.

We visited mom and dad the other day and, for the first time, dad looked and sounded to me like a frail old man.

Dad seems to be declining more rapidly these days.

His retreat into dementia has come in stages where he declines rapidly and, then, plateaus.

He has vascular dementia, as a result of a number of minor strokes, and I wonder if that has happened again.

His physical balance is much more tenuous and his memory is much worse.

I'd say that he's like a two year old boy with no memory.

This is especially difficult for mom, but it's hard on all of us.

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I'm still trying to understand what the ERC is up to in expelling Faith from the Conference.

I've pointed out that, at Faith, we embrace the teachings of the church without reservation. We also make the CGGC Mission Statement core to the way we function as a body because we both believe it and we believe in it.

And, while my knowledge of Conference and General Conference history has its limitations, I don't know of one other case in which a congregation that embraces church teaching, and is satisfied with being a part of the Churches of God, has been removed from the denomination.

As I study Jesus and devote my life to serving Him, I see Him saying that, while a person is saved by believing, ultimately, it is the action your faith produces that reveals who and what you are--and, how you will spend eternity.

I wish I understood what this action of the ERC reveals about who and what it is.

All of that notwithstanding, though I love the Church of God, I am feeling a sense of relief and freedom. I'm not feeling loss.

I continue to believe that I am gifted to be a prophet and that I am called to speak God's Word to the CGGC.

The freedom is from accountability to artificial, humanly constructed, institutional authority.

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The only body in the CGGC with which we are still affiliated and which has not jettisoned us, and by its own initiative, is the Enola Church of God, where we are members.

We still have friends there. And, to remove me from membership would also impact Evie directly. I don't think the congregation will remove us from the membership role...

...but, I've been surprised before.

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Anyway...

...I am a person of the Kingdom and, at the moment, I enjoy the freedom of feeling accountable only to the Lord and the people of Faith for what we do here.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Gathering: 4-23-17. This was One for the History Books

We met in our home today, something I realized doesn't happen enough. The experience was sweet.

The gathering was truly historic. It was our first since the ERC, CGGC separated us from it--since it expelled us!

Give some thought to how extraordinary that act of the ERC is:

The Conference initiated this expulsion. We were willing to maintain our membership in the Conference. We proudly and fully, and without any reservation or exception, support and proclaim the doctrines of the Churches of God, General Conference and we not only agree with the CGGC Mission Statement, we intentionally practice it!

Yet, we were expelled.

You might wonder how it felt for us to gather in the Name of Jesus having been so completely rejected.

It didn't come up.

I'll admit to thinking about it beforehand and afterward but Drew wasn't there and Evie didn't say anything about it and it didn't seem to be on her mind.

And, as far as I know, only Drew and his wife and Evie and me even know about the actions of the ERC against our gathering.

For some peripherally connected to Faith, being in the Churches of God matters but most of us either don't understand or care about denominational affiliation.

We don't take an offering, so the issue of the Conference tithe is irrelevant.

My guess is that many of our people will never know how profoundly and historically we have been cast aside.

When exactly was the last time a congregation which teaches and practices church doctrine was removed from the Conference? I don't know that it has ever happened.

Interestingly, without my guidance, today's Word time focused on teachings of Jesus on the Kingdom of Heaven, not on church or denominational concerns.

And, we were fine.

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The saying goes that ignorance is bliss and it must be.

Today's gathering was blissful.

Even the sometimes cranky among us were in a pleasant place.

The time in the Word was glorious. It led into the taking of the Bread and Cup which was a call to embrace the Kingdom of God with our whole heart.

This was one of the most upbeat and edifying of all of our gatherings.

The meal was the bomb!

And, as we have done recently, after the meal, we sat down together to a relaxed chat about the week ahead and future gatherings.

THIS WAS A WONDERFUL DAY.

I feel spurred on to love and good works, as we are instructed to be by the Word.

God is good. His blessings endure.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Compartmentalizing the Gospel

Back in the day when I beginning to take to heart my faith tradition's mandate to establish churches on, in its historic language, "the New Testament plan," and to submit to the teachings of the Bible as my "only rule of faith and practice," I studied the way so-called preaching was done when the earliest disciples came together.

For a brief time, I engaged in what I called "interactive sermons," in which I encouraged people of the congregation to participate in my message.

In one of those interactive sermons, I mentioned that there is a place in the letters of Paul that Paul states the content of the gospel he preached.

I asked the people to call out beliefs that Paul said he proclaimed as the gospel. I gave the hint that, in my way of counting, there are five items of belief.

As I recall, there were more than 20 Christian beliefs called out, all, in my opinion, genuine biblical teachings.

No one knew the exact content of Paul's gospel. Do you know where the passage is and what is the content of Paul's gospel?

Paul says that he beat the gospel drum over and over and over. His ministry was built on pressing those core teachings into the minds of disciples and potential disciples...

...and, today, the declining and stagnating church doesn't do that.

What we do is to compartmentalize the gospel. We also ritualize it. And, rather than actually proclaim it, we make an idol of it by designing special Holy Days to commemorate it...and to commemorate other teachings that are important but not included in the gospel Paul preached.

The compartmentalizing and ritualizing and idolizing and commemoration--rather than the preaching--of the raw and simple gospel is an ancient practice of the High, Institutionized Church...

...and it has never, ever produced spiritual vitality and growth.

In the past week, I cringed every time I saw, on social media and in other venues, praise of a church's Holy Week and Easter extravaganzas...

...and, as I noted in my DEBRIEFING EASTER post, my coworkers were not moved toward faithful discipleship by all of the institutionized church gospel compartmentalization.

They remembered which grandchild found which Easter egg and who brought what for dessert at the family Easter meal.

But, the gospel didn't touch one of their hearts.

High church Churchianity has disfigured the Gospel, which Paul says is the power of God to salvation, and that church is dying. And, it should die.

We must repent.

Please!  Repent.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

A Report to my Commission

When Dave Williams and the ERC Administrative Council went around me to contact a person from the Faith gathering about its threat to remove Faith from the Conference, their letter gave the deadline of the ERC Administrative Council meeting in April for the people of Faith to express interest in maintaining a relationship with the Conference.

While Drew, the guy who received the letter, sent the letter to me, through a third party and I possess the letter, Drew and I have never spoken even one word about it to each other.

I left it to Drew and the rest of the people to take action on the, well, ultimatum from the Conference.

If I had been a betting man, I would have bet my house, and every penny I could get my hands on, that the rest of the gathering would not respond to the Conference's threat to remove it from the Conference role.

When George Jensen initially contacted me and told me that there was talk about rejecting Faith, I responded, in part, by telling him that, if and when a meeting takes place, the Commission on Church Renewal will find out, in a nanosecond, that I am the best friend the CGGC has in our gathering.

As far as I can tell, Evie may be neutral toward the Conference and the CGGC, but the rest of the gathering, if the people have any understanding of ministry beyond the gathering itself, DESPISE the ERC and the CGGC, based, I imagine, on the perception that the Conference was only ever interested in taking from the congregation.

Please understand that I have argued against that peception repeatedly but there is a long history that, in the minds of the people, supports their opinion of the ERC and the CGGC.

Anyway...

...I received word, through the ERC grapevine, that Faith has now been officially removed from the Conference.

I have received no personal contact via a phone call or even an email. Drew has heard nothing and I'm certain he would have let me know if he had. (He would be rejoicing.) But, based on the reliability of the source, I believe it.

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I have many thoughts and feelings.

Most powerful among them is fascination over trying to understand what the institutional CGGC actually does.

A truth in all of this is that the Faith gathering walks CGGC talk more passionately and intentionally than any other CGGC congregation I am aware of.

While I, personally, reject creeds and statements of faith, the fact is that, at Faith, we embrace the teachings of the CGGC. AND, WE NOT ONLY AGREE WITH THEM INTELLECTUALLY, WE WALK THE TEACHINGS IN CGGC FAITH STATEMENTS.

More to the point, we, more than any other CGGC congregation, incarnate the CGGC Mission Statement.

And, even more to the point, no one from the Conference or the CGGC has ever questioned our absolute loyalty to what the CGGC stands for and proclaims.

I continue to wonder what the actions of the ERC signifies.

What matters to the ERC? What truth motivates its behavior?

I came to understand a long time ago that I don't answer those questions well.

Whatever the truth may be, I think that the answers to the questions give little reason for people to hope for the future of the ERC and the CGGC--unless we repent.

We must repent.

Debriefing Easter

I have, what at least used to be called, a secular job. And, as I've made clear, I reject Easter as a Holy Day, to the point that our Gathering simply ignores it.

So, on the job, I have paid close attention to the chatter about Easter these few days after Easter. Here are some observations:


Easter was, indeed, the topic of conversation among my coworkers in the first two days after the holiday. It was common for my coworkers to ask each, and me, how Easter went.

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In conversation about Easter, most of the chatter dealt with the content of the meal, especially dessert. This surprised me. The tone of conversation matched what I would expect from the days after Thanksgiving.

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When Easter activities were discussed, it was the paganish stuff that captured my coworkers' interest. Apparently, when there are young children and grandchildren involved, families have their own Easter egg hunts, or similar activities. Even though many of my coworkers are regular churchgoers, no one at all talked about what Little Jimmy or Suzy did in Sunday School or in Children's church. All of that sort of talk was about subjects entirely disconnected from the resurrection, or even church in the most broad sense.

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There was no chatter at all about the church service or the sermon. It struck me that my coworkers were no more focused on the religious meaning of Easter than people are with the content of the content of the Declaration of Independence on the fourth of July.

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The only talk about Easter Sunday I heard that was church related was some sharing of attendance numbers among two guys who attend different churches of the same denomination.  Easter show attendance figures. That's as spiritual as the conversation became.


I must say that, when I decided to notice intentionally the post-Easter chatter at work, I didn't expect the "true meaning" of the holiday to be so profoundly ignored.

I'm not certain how to understand this and, for the moment, at least, I won't editorialize, other to say that even I am surprised and that even my emotion is sorrow.

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Dad Fell in the Shower and Mom Helped Him Up

My dad has dementia, but not Alzheimer's. His has vascular dementia.

I'm not a medical doctor so my knowledge of what that means is limited to what I know about dad's condition.

Dad has had a number of "mini" strokes and has suffered damage to parts of his brain.

One of many consequences of the brain damage is that he has vertigo and very serious balance problems.

Today he fell in the shower. To this point, we don't think he was injured but the staff of the home is still with him, as far as we know.

In addition to dad's issues, mom has very severe osteoporosis, to the extent that she once cracked a vertebra making the bed.

In a moment of panic, mom helped dad to his feet and moved him to the bed. We're at least as concerned for her as we are for dad.

We are sooooo glad that they are in the Personal Care part of the home.

Easter Blah Blah

This is, based on a reading of past blog posts, the fourth consecutive year that our group will not gather on what people in the Christendom crowd, in English speaking areas call Easter.

According to Bede, known as the Father of English History, the word traces to the name of the pagan goddess Eostre in whose honor pagan Anglo Saxons held feasts during the month of April. By his time the pagan feasts (A.D. 700ish), had been Christianized but the pagan name had been for the celebration of fertility had been retained.

For many reasons, our group disregards today's paganish/Christendomized celebration, not the least of these for me is that Jesus didn't teach or model anything close such a Holy Day and that there is no authority whatsoever for it among what early disciples did or taught.

I researched posts here from past Easters to trace a progression of my thinking and our practice in response to Oestre here at Faith.

It was, I believe, four years ago that we drove together to a largish seeker sensitive church to try consuming their Easter morning extravaganza and that field trip was a disaster. None of us were pleased and none of us were blessed, each for our own reasons.

And, that was our last stab at an Easter gathering.

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In recent years, the Sloat family has met at the home mom and dad live in and had the noon meal with them. In the past year, mom and dad have moved to Personal Care and dad is increasingly distressed by alterations in his routine. There wasn't even talk about getting together this year. We will make a phone call.

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In recent years, Easter day, brings back memories of Evie's battle with cancer. It was on the evening before Easter Sunday that she discovered the lump. Seven years ago. Easter has always brought back that memory for me every year since.

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One final note.  Working in a grocery store, I was struck this year by the degree that Easter has been de-Christianized and become, not so much secularized or even paganized--which, of course, it has been--but how much it has become sentimentalized, even by church people.

There's so much brouhaha about it that the true significance even of the artificial Holy Day is lost.

I understand that it's ironic that I, of all people, would be chagrined over the loss of the true meaning of an observance that I reject as, essentially, pagan in origin.

But, I do despair for the souls of the people who are steered away from the power of the Gospel by all hub bub associated with what Easter has become.

I think of Jesus being filled with compassion for the people in the crowd because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

So much mindlessness and inappropriate pomp among so many when the gospel is so powerful in its simplicity.

My heart breaks.

==========

I've already hit publish for what came before this addendum but I want to add this:

If we did Easter here, it would be with Paul's idea that he had become all things to all people that he might save some.

It seems to me that, in today's church world, it's the churchy people who have been won away from the simple truth of the gospel.

Yet, I suspect that most think that they are doing the Paul thing.

The truth, though, is that the church is losing the culture. The secular and the pagan and the sentimental is winning. The gospel is losing.

We must repent.

Friday, April 14, 2017

Serving Jesus on Holy (Maundy) Thursday

Yesterday was a memorable day on the job which I have said I think of as a mission field. I also think of it as my embassy where I do my most important work as an ambassador for the Kingdom of God.

Yesterday was also Thursday during what some people think of as Holy Week.

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I'm terrible at recognizing faces. And, because my mind is programmed on denying self and being a disciple every moment, especially when I am working, I forget people and things I've said and done with/for them, even in the recent past. (This certainly doesn't enhance my effectiveness as ambassador.)

So, yesterday afternoon I was running a solitary register by myself at the far end of the store, away from everyone else at the front end.

And a woman with three or four items came bouncing up to my register. She was smiling in a way that is out of phase for anyone shopping in any grocery store.

She gleamed, "Hello," and I tried, but failed, to equal her enthusiasm with my hello.

Then she said, "This is good. Now I get to repay the 75 cents you gave me last week."

And, my head started to spin through memories to recall what she was talking about and I vaguely remembered a woman who, last week, was 71 cents short of her total while I was giving a break to a bagger.

I always have spare change so I dug some out of my pocket and handed it to the cashier.

As I recall, the woman was thankful and, as most people do, promised to pay me back. Most people don't and, as in this case, I immediately forget about it.

What impressed me about this woman is how brightly she smiled at me when she saw that it was I who was running the register she was going to use.

71 cents is nothing to me, and that amount of money, based on how well she dresses and coifs her hair, means little to her.

It is my act of love (Love is patient, love is kind...) that caused her to remember me.

And, after serving as a parish priest in the CGGC for more than 35 years, until four years ago, last week, I was present to show that, to me--but not to her--forgettable, act of kindness.

I'm sure big wigs in my denomination such as Kevin Richardson or Dave Williams or George Jensen or Lance Finley would have gladly done the same and, perhaps, they do, from time to time, when the opportunity presents itself.

I am juiced about my life as a disciple because, unlike the four guys I just listed, I don't have an office to be cloistered in. And, I never attend a board or Council or Commission or Conference meeting.

Ever...

Not these days, at least.

I, even if I do it poorly, incarnate the Kingdom in the world. And, I give thanks for the opportunity.

I honestly grieve that the best and brightest of the Kingdom in the CGGC spend so large a chunk of their time away from the world that God loved so much that He gave His Son for it.

John Winebrenner lived in the world.

Is it any wonder that the Lord blessed the Church of God in his day?

Is it any wonder that it's dying today?

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Then...

Yesterday evening, I was the Front End manager who closed the store and, because it's Easter Sale, it was a very busy evening.

Somehow, a woman squeezed into the store after the doors were locked at closing time. We don't know how. Probably, she walked in when another late customer went out.

One of our customer service people told the woman that the store was already closed when she walked in. She didn't leave but promised to shop quickly. However, she wasn't quick by my definition of the term.

About 20 minutes after closing, I kept one cashier on duty and we were waiting for her to check out.

When she came to the register, it seemed to me that she was either a total head case or drunk/high or extremely distracted. Her groceries came to a little more than $30 and she started to scrounge through her pocket book to find her money...without success.

After some time, I pulled out my wallet and took out my debit card.

She looked up and said, with a trace of sarcasm, "So, you're going to pay it for me?!" And, the cashier, who'd seen this before said, "Yeah. He is."

As I swiped my card, she said, "No, you're not. Oh, I'm going to cry." And, she did cry.

After bawling for a moment, she thanked me and asked if she could hug me, and she did. I told her, using the Steve Sjogren line, "I just want to show you God's love in a practical way."

Then she told us that her that her father, who lived 900 miles away, had died suddenly and that she'd had to travel there and back...

...and that she just knows now that God really does love her and is watching over her.

I was amazed!

For her, in that moment, I had disappeared and only the Lord was present and, in that moment, the Lord was, as far as she was concerned, pure grace and mercy and love.

All because of 30 stinkin' dollars.

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Now, this happened on Holy, or Maundy, Thursday, a church Holy Day that early disciples never, as far as we know, observed.

My educated guess is that the guys I listed above all spent the evening somewhere in a church.

Because of my obligation to the job, it was impossible for me to go to church yesterday.

However, it feels to me as if I actually did Feet Washing in the real world.

I'll take that.

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My guess is that Maundy Thursday 2017 will be more memorable for me than any I ever spent away from the world and in a church building.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Dealing with Sin: The Western Church's Lukewarmness is Killing It

The Greek word is elegcho.

It's the word that appears in Luke 3:19-20, which says John the Baptist rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias.

It's a strong word. And...

...It's the word that Jesus uses in Matthew 18:15.

Here's a very literal, artless translation:

"If your brother sins against you, go, rebuke him between him and you..."

If you don't believe this, get out your Bible study resources and dig into the Word of God.

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Jesus calls His people into a relationship with each other rooted in the radical kind of love that He possessed when He abandoned heaven, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and humbled Himself, being obedient to death, even death on a cross.

His sort of love is honest and, by today's churchly standards; it is raw. The love of Jesus could be blunt.

Jesus often, and quickly, rebuked people for their sin, and not only Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees.

Jesus is the guy who said to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan!"

His love for the person, greater than His discomfort over their sin, drove His rebuke-in-love-lifestyle.

In Matthew 18:15, Jesus commanded that lifestyle for men and women who are His disciples.

One note from church history: Christian movements that were spiritually vigorous, and blessed by the Spirit, practiced love as Jesus loved and commanded it in Matthew 18:15 and in the verses that follow.

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Here's a truth about the Western church today:

The love Jesus commanded in Matthew 18:15 is considered, by the Western institutionized church, to be sin.

What Jesus commanded as love has been replaced in Western Christianity by its lukewarm alternative:

Tolerance.

In my faith tradition, the Churches of God, General Conference, we used to love as Jesus commanded but, these days, we have "lukewarmed" love out of our play book.

We tolerate.

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And, based on my experience, when we deal with what we perceive to be sin against the institution, we don't rebuke it, using the formula Jesus commanded in Matthew 18:15-20.

We never face down the sinner and call sin, sin as John did with Herod or Jesus did with Peter when Jesus called him Satan.

Instead, we pass motions in Committee meetings or Council meetings or in Conference sessions.

But we don't obey Jesus.

No one actually goes to the person who is believed to be sinning, looks him/her in the eye and, being specific, rebukes, and calls that person to repentance. We don't take one or two others along as a second step to be reconciled with the sinner. We don't, in community, rebuke the sinner and the sin before the church...

...As Jesus, the Head of the body, COMMANDED.

We don't do that in my faith tradition. In all of my years, we never have.

We don't practice the radical love Jesus modeled and which He commanded. We don't rebuke sin face to face.

We sometimes claim that we do.

In our past, we did.

But, not today.

And, of course, the Lord of all power and grace and mercy and authority and love and blessing is not blessing us.

We must repent.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

I STILL Don't Know Why I was Defrocked...if I even was

I mentioned, in my Temporary Bachelorhood post a few days ago, that I would be meeting a pastor friend for lunch. And, in fact, I did.

Our meeting was the first time we spoke face to face in more than a year.

This guy has been an advocate for me and neither voted for the rumored defrocking, nor has acquiesced to it.

He reviewed, with me, some developments in ERC ministry up to, during and since last year's Yay God sessions.

He was able to give me information that I'd not heard before, and, while I have an absolute sense of peace about my role in rumored recent events, it was angst-ful to listen to his account of what others have said and done as far as I am concerned.

I also told him about a meeting and email exchanges and conversations I've had with Kevin Richardson. I've never mentioned these things to anyone before and, certainly, have not detailed them here.

Toward the end of our lunch, I asked the question I've asked two other people in the past in reference to the rumored defrocking, "What is the sin I was accused/convicted of?"

His answer was similar to what I heard the first two times I asked the question: "I don't know. "

He did add, "I guess they would say, 'Insubordination...to the Conference...that you don't submit to the Conference.'"

I shouted, in the middle of the restaurant, "I always submit to the Conference!"

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And, I do.

Obviously, admittedly, I am very outspoken in expressing my concern about the decline of the ministry of the CGGC and of the ERC.

I'm consistent in pointing out, for example, the ways I see "leaders" of the ERC and CGGC themselves being guilty of insubordination to the authority of the Eldership which declares the Bible as our only rule of faith and practice and our denominational mission of establishing churches "on the New Testament plan."

But, in what I do, I, myself, am ALWAYS subordinate to the Conference, I always submit to the Conference.

More importantly, here at Faith, we are intensely focused on the CGGC mission of functioning according to the New Testament pattern of being a gathering of believers.

Here, if nowhere else in the CGGC, we, at least attempt, always, to look to the New Testament to guide us in what we do...

...and we do those things to submit to the authority of the Conference, to operate, in absolute and literal SUBORDINATION, to the Conference.

We teach and believe the doctrines of the CGGC and, as a core person in this ministry, I always do what I do to submit to the authority of the Eldership.

If anyone is innocent of the charge of insubordination in the ERC, it is I.

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As we talked, it became clear to me--based on this conversation and comments others have made on this blog and, based on emails I have received and other conversations I have had--that:

Kevin Richardson was far less than honest on the Conference floor in characterizing how he behaved and what I said and did in the months and, even years, leading up to Conference in 2016.

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that many of the people who voted to defrock me did so under false pretenses, based on untruths told about me or, at the very least, implied by Kevin.

I mentioned to my friend the ways I can document my account of what I said and did--if it would, one day, be necessary for me to prove my side of the story.

And, more to the point, what Kevin actually said and did.

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We discussed ways I can seek justice--and truth.

I am praying through how to respond. And, I have been.

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I honestly believe that the Conference acted under false pretenses.

I'm hoping that brothers and sisters will initiate a process of reconciliation.

Monday, April 10, 2017

Temporary Bachelorhood

Evie saw an opportunity to spend a week in the Orlando area with no additional expense for the resort she's staying at. She and a niece drove down in two days and will return in, next Friday and Saturday.

The two of them plan, simply, to rest in the April Florida warmth.

Evie, her retirement notwithstanding, has a very full life with a part-time job and caring for my mom and dad who are sliding deeper and deeper into dementia. She needs the R and R.

So, I am at home, but not alone. Lizzie, our high-maintenance Golden Retriever is here.

Beside caring for Lizzie and working, my time is my own and I've been vegging.

We own the A & E series, A NERO WOLFE MYSTERY, on DVD and love it but I enjoy it much more than Evie. I've been watching it, in order, from beginning to end, when Evie's not around. I finished it last evening. I love the series. Its music is in my wheel house and the interior decorating is my dream. I think it's the best of TV ever. But, I thought it fizzled in the final two episodes.

We also own the BBC series, LEWIS, from beginning to end. The series is a sequel to MORSE, in which the Lewis character was second banana.

The series ended in 2015 very poignantly. One of the story lines in last series had Lewis' colleague, James Hathaway, dealing with his father's struggle with dementia.

Boy, does it hit home with me.

Hathaway needs to resolve father/son issues with a father whose body is sound but whose mind is gone. Interestingly, the father is at about the same stage of dementia that my dad is at, at the moment.

Often, a huge issue, when a parent has dementia, is tension between/among the children. And, that tension is an issue for Hathaway. It's not for us but seeing the heart breaking emotional angst between Hathaway and his sister gives me a reason to be thankful.

The series, appropriately, leaves all of the dementia related issues unresolved. At one point, the Lewis character leaves Hathaway with a one-sentence piece of wisdom. Evie and I have probably quoted that line to each other more than a dozen times.

Apparently, a writer of the last three episodes had gone or was going through a parent's dementia.

I using my time alone to watch the last episodes of LEWIS.

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I meet with an ERC pastor friend for lunch today and pick up mom and dad's taxes from the tax preparer, if they're finished.

Then, until Evie returns, it's back to the grind.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Amish and Mennonite Worship: Palm Sunday

I've mentioned before that our Golden Retriever,  Lizzie loves riding in the car and is fascinated by horse and buggy teams on the road and, so, on Sunday mornings, I drive her on a tour of three of the plain Mennonite churches within about eight miles of our home.

Today is Palm Sunday.

I was fascinated to see that, today, no one appeared to be at two of the three churches.

I've noticed that two of the churches don't always meet and one of them is huuuuuuuuge. Clearly, several hundred people attend.

It strikes me that, among people who are most focused on Christianity as a way of living, the, uh, "church service" is less important than it is among people among whom Jesus is merely an add-on to their lives.

I have not lost sight of the fact that, in my own tradition, we were vital and growing at a time when few congregations met every week and some had a credentialed minister present only once a month, or less than that.

If you want to grow your church, perhaps you should de-emphasize your church and your pastor.

Millennials, Jesus...and me

I wouldn't trade the job I have now for the juiciest pastorate in the world.

At the moment, I am a manager of the Front End of a super market. There are about 60 people in the department at my store, more people than the average attendance of many churches.

Of the 60, about one third are millennials and about a third are geezers. And, there is a very real sense, for me, that I'm "on staff" among my coworkers.

As I've said in other posts, I'm blatantly Christian on the job.

It's not hard, really, because the members of the family that owns the store are, mostly, profoundly Christian and, as I've said in the past, the store owners are more committed to operating the store based on the teachings of Jesus than the people of the my faith tradition are in operating the church based on red letter truths.

[Sorry for that digression, but the owners are very serious about their way of life. And, they empower people like me to be who we are in Christ on the job among customers as well as, among other employees.]

I am very intentional about being an ambassador for the kingdom, as opposed to being a proponent of the organized church, on the job.

I take, very literally, what Jesus said about greatness in the Kingdom, demanding that a disciple be a servant. And, managing in a Customer Service setting, gives me an unusual opportunity to do that.

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For the next week or so I'll still be 62 years old. I'm actually the oldest person on the Front End managerial staff.

So, I've been surprised that, among the millennials I manage, I've settled into a role of being something like the cool teacher that all the high school kids really like.

A few of the kids have twisted the musical theme, "Bill Nye, the Science Guy," into "Bill Sloat, the Manager," and, most of the time, I'm still amused.

Several times, after a few weeks on the job, a kid has asked me, "Has anyone ever told you that you are their favorite manager?" Other times, parents, and I do my best to get to know them, whisper, "You're his/her favorite manager."

I've been invited to some 18th birthday parties and high school graduation parties. (I've not attended one yet.)

This fascinates me because, if you are familiar with this blog, you know that being liked by people isn't high on my list of priorities. I don't enjoy being offensive and it's never my desire to put people off but being liked for the sake of being liked is never my goal.

Being radically faithful to Jesus is my intentional goal--all the time and in every place.

On the job, I don't think I'm known for achieving that goal. But, I think I'm known, by many, for seeking that goal. And, generally, people are inspired when they watch someone try to live a "red letters" lifestyle.

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One of the failings of my walk, and I mean this sincerely, is that I'm too red letter focused and, far too little church oriented.

My coworkers know that we are, well, House Church people and that fascinates many of them and some of them have hinted that they'd like to attend our, well, church.

And, I've always steered them away from being a part of our gathering.

At the moment, no one from work gathers with us. And, I'm okay with that, even if I shouldn't be.

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One of the blessings I think I could have brought to the institutionized church is my yearning to get people to hone in on Jesus so that they don't lose Jesus when they build community in the church.

In my opinion, the Western Church is too much about church and not a Jesus-inspired, red letter lifestyle. For a long time, I've thought church people could have benefited from accepting a word from me about making Jesus, not church, their Lord.

But, the church people I know best ultimately were not interested in the blending of callings I've envisioned.

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Anyway, I love millennials.

For the most part, the millennials I've met are very open to Jesus and they are fascinated by me and my goal of being radically Jesus focused.

They seem to be able to love the Jesus lifestyle.

What I think most millennials are not interested in is the so-called church that their parents and grandparents have conjured up from their own yearnings and traditions.

Many millennials, in my opinion, end up living without Jesus because their parents and grandparents can't, or won't, teach them how to distinguish between involvement in the institutionized church and following Jesus.

The institutionized church of Boomers and Builders feels icky to most millennials and, sadly, most churches' message to millennials is, "our way or the highway."

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From all of this, I can say that I think today's version of the institutionized church is doomed...

...but, I'm not, yet, inclined to despair for the Kingdom.

The Spirit is alive in the world, even if His place in the institutionized Western Church is uncertain.

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Lance Finley, the CEO of the denomination that is my faith tradition, sent out a note this past week recounting an opportunity he had to preach to a gathering of millennials. He was encouraged by the experience.

As someone who loves Jesus and lives daily among millennials, I do not despair for millennials and the Kingdom...

...but, unless it repents, I do despair for the church Lance leads.

Friday, April 7, 2017

Schizophrenic Leadership in the CGGC

I have always been absolutely clear about one thing in the posts I submit to this blog:

The Churches of God, General Conference is, to use the language of people who have theological education, Presbyterial in polity.

In the language of real people:

The CGGC believes that human authority in the church resides in the community of the called or what John Winebrenner and his early Church of God colleagues called the Eldership, that is, "Ruling elders" [not 'pastors'] and elected delegates to an Eldership (Conference) meeting. 

When I say that CGGC leadership is schizophrenic, therefore, I'm not saying that Lance Finley, for example, or Kevin Richardson, the Chief Mountaintopper in the ERC, are suffering from a form of psychosis.

As I say here to the point that it makes some people want to puke, those General Conference or Regional staff people are not leaders in the CGGC. They are Directors. They direct CGGC ministry established under the leadership of the highest earthly CGGC authority: The Conference, the Eldership.

Lance Finley is not the CGGC Pope. Kevin Richardson doesn't possess the authority of a Cardinal.  Dave Williams, in the ERC, is not a Bishop.

Authority and leadership in the CGGC is vested in what's now called the Conference.

So, when I say that the leadership of the CGGC is schizophrenic, I'm saying that the statements and proclamations of the Eldership(s) produce the fruit of schizophrenia.

That is, the Conference(s) is/are out of touch with reality, as the Lord: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, created what is real. The CGGC Eldership has created an alternate reality, formed from its own, unique delusion.

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Here's evidence that the Conference exists in a unreal universe of its own creation:

It declares that, in the CGGC, the Bible is its "only" "rule" of faith and "practice" and that its mission is to create churches, using Winebrenner's words, "on their New Testament plan...

...yet, at the same time, it declares,..

...using the language of Americanized Big Business capitalism, that the General Conference Executive Director is the "Chief Executive Officer" of the CGGC and it still, after decades of folly, defines a disciple of Jesus Christ as someone who has contributed to the average attendance of a congregation.

Show us that teaching in Winebrenner's New Testament plan!

The CGGC Eldership blends together principles that, in the universe the Lord formed, are entirely at odds with each other.

By the standard of what the Lord created, the CGGC universe possesses all of the essential qualities of the insane.

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Human authority in the CGGC is schizophrenic. It's psychotic. It core, guiding principles can make sense only in an alternate universe--one not created by the God of the Bible.

Therefore, the CGGC can't and will not be blessed by the God of creation.

We must repent.

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What follows are some of my observations based on the reality that CGGC leadership is schizophrenic:

1.  If you want proof that God's real world truth doesn't matter in the CGGC, reflect on the illogic and contradictory nature of CGGC Eldership truth.

2.  If you want proof that CGGC mountaintoppers are not people of truth, consider the fact that they allow these contradictions to remain and, in fact, continue to add to the illogic of Conference proclamations.

3.  In my opinion, CGGC mountaintoppers keep the psychosis of the Eldership in place because the schizophrenia makes it easier for them to abuse their authority and behave in authoritarian ways that even Roman Catholic Popes and Cardinals never would.

4.  To repeat what I've already said, the God Who created the real universe will not enter into the false CGGC universe to bless it, yet CGGC mountaintoppers seem still to hope that He will.

5.  The schizophrenia of CGGC leadership invites chaos. As CEO, the General Conference Executive Director, if s/he wishes, may defy biblical authority. That, in my opinion, has happened in the past. That person is, after all, CEO and, as such, possesses ultimate authority in the CGGC, at the same time that the Bible is our only rule of faith and practice.

6.  I believe that this schizophrenia defines the core of CGGC identity.  The CGGC IS schizophrenia.

7.  This illogic and self-contradiction is what happens when a Shepherd Mafia succeeds in dominating a church body. Illogic and self-contradiction goes unnoticed because tolerance is treasured over truth. A sin, where there is a Shepherd Mafia, is to demand that the Mafia submit itself to God's truth.

8.  In the end, the CGGC will thrive only if the Lord blesses and the Lord will not bless where His reality is cast aside. He alone is truth. CGGC schizophrenia is an offense to Him.

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The CGGC must repent.

Thursday, April 6, 2017

"An Unwilling (Hard) Heart" as a Reason for the Failure of 35,000 X 2000

There are times when people with the gift of prophecy speak that I turn green with envy.

Such is the case with Phil Wilson's relatively brief note to me in response to my post studying 35,000 X 2000 as a case study in repentance that the Lord did not bless.

(As far as Phil is concerned, I'd say that he demonstrates the passion for truth and integrity that is fruit of the gift of prophecy but that his gift mix differs from mine. Hence, his way of functioning as a prophet varies from mine.)

In his response to my blog post, Phil made the point that it is CGGC people who are at fault for the decline of the CGGC and that it is not God's fault.

At one point, he says, in reference to the lack of God's blessing on the CGGC, that God will not bless "unwilling (hard) hearts."

Let me be clear, I know Phil well enough to say for certain that he doesn't make that observation about the CGGC with a personal dislike or hatred of CGGC mountaintoppers. He makes it with a love for the Lord that makes his love for other people pale in comparison...

...as Jesus says must be the case in one who truly is a disciple.

I've said many times, of myself, that I not only love the people on the CGGC mountaintop, I also like them many of them. And, I'm certain that the same is true for Phil.

I believe that what Phil says fits.

What I see when I note what CGGC mountaintoppers actually do is fruit of profound love and concern for the CGGC institution, not love for the Lord with all of heart and soul and strength.

That's idolatry.

It's hardness of heart.

It's unwillingness to love the Lord more than church.

It's my Brand of the CGGC, Ecclesiolatry.

It is sin. Death.

Evidence of that is that the Lord of all power and grace and mercy and authority and love and blessing is not blessing the CGGC.

What I understand Phil to be saying, more than I say it, is that the CGGC needs a change of heart, starting on the peaks of the hills.