What is the Problem with Evangelism Ministry? Part 4 When Ministry Becomes A Mistress or Spiritual Adultery

I am a man who has been broken because I have failed in the most important human relationship created by God. It is a human relationship that God established, blessed, and devised to be a picture of how he deals both with His old covenant people Israel and His New Covenant people- the Church. 

A point of clarification: The church is the invisible and universal body of Christ. The members of the church are those who are born again by God, having repented of sin and trusted in (two sides of the same coin granted by God's grace Ephesians 2:8-9) Christ alone for their salvation. 

I will begin with a parable; There was a man who married a wife. He was in love with her, and desired to serve her and honor God with all of his being by loving her like Christ does the church. With this same passion, He also dove into ministry. As years passed, and children came into the home, and the cares of this world and the realities of married life crept in, this man began to pour his life into ministry. You see, at home, he did not feel the same respect that he did in ministry. People in his ministry hung on his every word, laughed at his jokes, and really were blessed what he had to say. He lost that at home, because his wife saw him act in dishonorable and non respectful ways. She did not hang on his every word, laugh at his jokes, and was often times not blessed, but cursed by him as stupid or not understanding. You see, the demands at home were not being met because he was pouring his life  and all of his energy into his ministry. His wife and kids got the leftovers. Eventually, his wife left him. She was seen as the bad person, She was condemned as the non Christian. 

At this point, you are probably thinking that the spouse is responsible for her own responses. Yes, that is true. However, the man sets the tone. The scripture is very clear that the man’s role in marriage is the one of headship, and with that great power comes great responsibility. Ephesians 5:23-33 details the husband’s role.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

        How does Christ want us to love our wives? Like Christ loved the church. It is agape love, something that Christian marriages strive to emulate. It is choosing to place love on a person, love without strings attached, love that prefers the object of the love above all others. How did Christ demonstrate Agape love towards the church? He laid down his life for the church. He gave up his human existence for the church. How can a man do that for his wife? By preferring her needs above that of his own; her need to be loved and feel loved above his need for respect and self-fulfillment. This example is found in Christ. There is nothing that Christ did not give. He left his heavenly home, laid down some of his attributes for a time, took on flesh, and the confinement of time to save His people- His bride. He gave it all, submitting to the Father before the beginning of time to lay down His life for His sheep. This is not a legalistic standard, it is an attitude.  It is a conviction. It is a decision to place the needs of the object of your love above that of your own life.  It is a act of gratitude for what Christ has done for you.

When a husband prefers ministry or elevates ministry (or work, or anything) over the obligation to love his wife, he is demonstrating a lack of understanding about the Gospel. I wonder specifically about para-church evangelism ministry: Why would a man travel across the country for days, weeks, or even months at a time to seek out a soul that is lost? He will say because he loves them and is concerned for their soul. He is commanded to seek and to save that which is lost. When he is willing to do that while leaving aside or downgrading the priority of loving his wife as Christ loved the church, is he serving God, or serving self? When the wife clearly communicates that she is not feeling loved, regardless if her motivation is pure, the priority is to listen, to hear, and to respond by laying down your life and even your ministry to love your wife as Christ loves the church. This brings more glory to God than any sermon ever preached.

²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^[a]

The next way that Jesus showed Agape love for His body, the church, was laying down his life to save her and also to sanctify her. It was not enough that Christ died to justify us before God and to make us righteous, His laying down his life also benefited us by cleansing us, making us holy. A man who lays down his life for his wife looks like a man who is concerned and intentional in making sure His wife is not only a Christian, but also strives to make her holy through the Word of God. He studies with her, reads with her, prays with her. When he sins, and he will, he confesses to her and seeks her forgiveness. He models the life as a Christian. He seeks to emulate Christ in all he does. And the focus, again, is on the object, his wife, who is loved and preferred above all else. Christ placed this focused love on His sheep, and his focused love was so intense that he laid down his life for the object loved. Men are commanded to do the same. We will never do it perfectly, but it should be our life’s focus.

Men in ministry and in industry will spend hours in study. Pastors I know take 16-20 hours a week preparing for their sermon. Men in industry prepare and study so they can be the top in their field. While men in ministry  hopefully are doing these things to the glory of God, and Christian men in industry do the same, I wonder if many even put a fraction of the energy into doing the job Jesus commands in sanctifying their wives? I do not know any man in ministry or industry who would give up just because someone is stubborn and does not want to listen. They will continue to pursue and strive because they want the best for that person. Why then do we lay down that responsibility at home, where we have been commanded to do it? 

²⁸ In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Christ’s agape love is demonstrated in that, while we were still sinners, He died for us (believers). He showed his love by preferring our need for righteousness above his need for life. When the scripture describes this love, it says several times that we ought to love our neighbors as ourselves, and here it says as our own bodies. I do not know about you, but when I am hungry, all I can think about is what I am going to eat, and where I am going to eat. It is my primary concern. That is the attitude we ought to have in dealing with our neighbor, and in a more intentional way with our spouses. Our love and preference for our spouses overrides and is on a higher level of importance than loving our neighbor. Christ is in us, we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). In the spiritual realm, we are seen as righteous, because the Spirit of Christ now dwells in us. We are indistinguishable from Him in the heavenlies, and we are to become more like Him as we walk this earth. In the same way, we are to be one flesh with our wife. We are separate people (like Christ and Us) but we are one flesh in the spiritual realm. Our wives are our flesh. We are to nourish them spiritually, cherish them above all others. We do this to our own benefit, and if we fail to do it, it is to our detriment.

 It is here that we see that marriages are broken. If we do not love, nourish, and cherish our wives, then something spiritual happens. It is like a tear in our flesh. It is as though there is a wound that must be dealt with, and if it is not, the wound festers, becomes infected, and eventually can lead to amputation or even death. When we are not behaving like Christ to our wives, it is like a wound to our own flesh. She recognizes it in her spirit. If we do not deal with loving her spirit, and taking care of that wound, we are doing damage to our own flesh. Now, carrying through the illustration, when we deal with a wound, it is not always pleasant. It can hurt. The medicine that brings relief often stings. And the longer that it takes for the medicine to be applied, however, the worse it becomes. If you love your body, and you get a cut, you deal with it. We must be so attune to our wives’ spirit that if we wound her spirit, we need to be ready to bring the medicine of repentance, confession, and forgiveness to bear so that you can be healed.

What I hear and see all too often in ministry is a man who is self-centered and focused on building his own kingdom while claiming to build Christ's kingdom.  As stated above, in building our kingdoms in ministry or industry, we will strive to understand the mindset of the market in which we live, studying and gaining knowledge about how best to serve our congregation or our market. Yet, we spend little time and effort in an attempt to live with our wives in an understanding way (1 Peter 3:7) .

³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

                So the command in this verse is clear: love your wife as yourself. This is the highest order. The man holds the burden of responsibility in the marriage to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The responsibility of the wife is to lovingly submit and to respect her husband. 

               

         But you retort- what if the wife just hates ministry? Are you a believer in the sovereignty of God?  Do you think that God chooses the one to whom we are supposed to be married so that our spouse can help us be built more into the image of Christ?  Or does God’s sovereignty end with our decisions about who we marry? Does not God make all things to work out for the good (Romans 8:28) so that we can be made into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) or just some things?

Marriage brings together into one flesh two people who are sinful.  They are two people who need the Gospel. Every day. They need to realize that they are each broken and sinful people. They both need to realize that they are incapable of doing the things God has commanded them to do. The husband needs to realize that he cannot love His wife perfectly, but he will strive to with the help of Christ. When he fails, he will repent, confess, and seek forgiveness of both his wife and from God. He will receive grace and forgiveness and will be made whole. That is the gospel. When the wife does not submit to the husband or give him respect, she will realize it, repent of it, confess and seek forgiveness from her husband and from God, and she will receive grace and forgiveness and be made whole. That is the Gospel.  And when this is demonstrated in marriage, it brings more glory to God.

As ministers of the Gospel, we all must hold one another in the church to this standard of Gospel living before we do any gospel preaching. Again, we cannot do it perfectly. But we must strive to do it. When we fail, we must repent, confess our sin, and seek forgiveness. And there are seasons we must lay down the ministry to repair our marriage. 

Part one
Part Two
Part Three

What is the problem with evangelism ministry? Part 1 Church Discipline

     I love evangelism. It is in my blood. Ever since I got saved, I wanted to be ‘out there’ telling other people about Jesus. I was that guy that offended friends and family members because of my passion for Jesus and the way that he saved me. I look back on that guy and I want his passion, but I also realize that the passion that I had needed to be tempered and taught and fashioned, because in some ways it was zeal without knowledge. This is not to say that we do not know enough as Christians to be able to share our faith and the truth that I am a sinner and God saved me through Christ, I am simply saying that discipleship helps us grow, mature, and temper our methodology. And a little Bible knowledge never hurt.

    I tell this little story because there is one more aspect that is true about passion for ministry. Passion for ministry in my life has taken me down a road where no one could speak to me about the unbalanced life that it created. It put me on an island that split me from some friends, family, and, I believe, contributed to the destruction of my first marriage and a total breakdown of my relationship with my oldest child. These are problems that were created by me being fooled into thinking that ministry is the most important, that serving God and following Jesus means that you must abandon all else that God has placed into your life, indeed, that certain Bible passages did not apply to me because I was serving God.

    Herein lies the problem: The institutional church that I was pastoring practiced church discipline, but it was a strong, passionate Pastor (me) with a strong personality of influence. The elders in the church did not see a problem until it blew up in their faces. My story is a cautionary tale because it took an overseeing body to come in and remove my mantel of leadership and practice the discipline that our little church could not. Here I sit, nearly four years later, a little wiser following a divorce where my ex-wife left me, I lost the church where I was pastoring, and I am no longer in formal ministry.

Church discipline worked. I repented of my sin, I sought and still seek out help. I was restored by the Church, and now have a little better understanding of who I am and why I failed. This came after much pain. I had to go through it in order for God to mold me into the person He wanted. I am now qualified again to minister, however, I am still trying to find that balance that does not take me over the edge.

My story is important, because it demonstrates the grace of God in church discipline. It is also important because it is indicative of a subculture within the church that is coming to the forefront today in a movement of evangelists. These are passionate men and women, like me, who want to tell the world about Jesus. However, within the movement there are many who, like me, abandon their God- given responsibility of their family. There are some that abandon the church as well and create their own churches simply because the church they were a part of does not move quick enough to respond to their passion. Others abandon any friends and family members who do not subscribe to or understand their own particular brand of ministry. Most become part of bands of preachers, para-church ministries, and event evangelism  which  have little or no church oversight. Even those who have strong church oversight do not have sufficient oversight in the lives of the evangelists to determine if they are truly fit for ministry.

What is the problem that is at the center of the culture that is evangelism ministry? I can only speak for myself; In my case, it was spiritual pride, followed by a good dose of respect in the eyes of my peers. When I was teaching, training, preaching, and writing in the context of discernment and evangelism ministry, I was at the top of my game. My saying after days of ministry that sometimes lasted sixteen hours or more was that you could sleep when you were dead. There were times that my motives were pure, to be sure. I believe that God used me, my teachings, and writings. People got saved hearing the message. Brothers and sisters were built up and encouraged to press forward in the ministry. But evangelism ministry was like a powerful drug to me, and there were times that it reared its ugly head in the form of sarcasm and less than gracious speech. It also caused me to be blind to the needs of my ex-wife, my family, and sometimes even my young church plant. I was spread too thin. But I found respect and excitement and amazing camaraderie of fellowship with those of like mind. My church and family relationships were dying, but I never felt more alive.

My other problem was that I believed that the proper hierarchy was loving God then wife than family than myself. In practice, this looked like that loving God was doing ministry, and therefore, if evangelism was doing ministry, it was in truth more important than my wife and my family.  I am afraid that while I knew and we could say that this is not the truth, that in practice it was the truth. Ministry, in my case, became idolatrous as it had become synonymous with God in my practice. It also was a false picture of God, because the word of God tells us that we are to love our wives in the same way as Christ loves the church. That means we are to lay down our lives for our wives, in the same way that Christ laid down His life for the church. We are NEVER told in scripture to lay down our lives for the church- Christ has already done this. When ministry supersedes the husband-wife relationship, it is in wrong position. When the family is in trouble, necessarily, you are not qualified to be in biblical church ministry. And while it is the call of every believer to share their faith, when the sharing of faith is done to the detriment of your primary responsibility in the family, you are in fact blaspheming God by misrepresenting His character and nature.

The truly sad thing was that I was so deceived that I believed God needed me in ministry so badly, and that evangelism was so important that it was my wife and my children that were the ones who were sinning when they told me to come home and get my priorities in order. It was my ex-wife who was seen as wrong by the evangelism community I was a part of when she rightly recognized that my priorities were out of balance. This is a dangerous precedent when the church and the family see things out of balance but the para church ministry welcomes the participation of people who are in sin. There is no excuse for ministries to welcome a person who is under church discipline.

I am vexed at this problem because of what it says to the world about Jesus. In my case, nobody knew what was going on behind the scenes with my family, least of all me. I knew very well, but I didn’t see it because I did not want to see it.  Everybody knew that I had a family and a church and several jobs to keep it all afloat. I would hear things like “man you are gone a lot” “how does your family do it” “don’t your kids miss you” but I did not listen. All warning signs. I can only imagine the tongue wagging that was going on behind my back in the town when my ex-wife abandoned me. I did not have to imagine it because it happened in public after I was restored and I returned to evangelistic  ministry. When people mocked, they used phrases with knowledge. Even though I had been restored in the church, in the eyes of the world, I was still a failure because I failed at the most important human relationship. Restoration can be a powerful testimony, when done in the context of good church discipline in the midst of a loving church and good relationships.

The word discipline is a lot like discipleship, and that is what Biblical church discipline is. Many people upon hearing discipline immediately have a negative connotation of the word. However,  Biblical Church Discipline is for the purpose of the building up and edification of both the one being disciplined as well as the rest of the Church. Indeed, the primary role of the Church is to create disciples. The starting point is repentance and belief in Christ as Savior. Through justification by faith and redemption, people become adopted children of God. Discipleship is the process by which people in the church, according to their gifts, and  in concert with the Holy Spirit, train Christians in the faith with the goal of conforming them to the image of Christ. This, in turn, builds the church into maturity. Discipleship allows the power of the Gospel to change lives for the better, bringing glory to God through these changed lives. This also separates the church from the world as an agent of real and permanent life change, and this brings the Church to a new place of honor and respect in the community. This simply cannot and does not happen within para-church organizations or within most ‘event’ evangelism. Anybody who desires to sign up and has a modicum of knowledge how to answer the questions that some actually ask are given entrance to participate.

The textbook that must be used for discipleship is the scripture. After all, we are not interested in building followers of a specific church, theology,or even the individuals who are doing the discipleship. Least of all, we are not building followers of the culture. We are building followers of Jesus Christ. It is from within the scripture that we find what the Christian walk is to look like. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16:

16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

The location for discipline and discipleship is in the local church. The main problem in the para-church or event-evangelism community is that they are not the church, and they are not walking in the lives of the people who are participating in the events. In my case, many of these events were hundreds, even thousands of miles away from my community, family, and church. I would see these people for a week at the longest. And though they were friends of mine, I could hide truth from them long enough to complete the event. So the participants in the event may not be qualified to minister even in the streets. The discipline and discipleship is not the focus of the para church or event evangelism ministry, so people are not being discipled to walk in the light, because the leadership of the event is either fearful of man, or the organizers and leaders fears man more than they fear God. all that they can see is the pragmatic need to minister, all while they bring shame to the name of Christ.

 

    I was part of a para church ministry that did great work, but was nearly destroyed some three years ago from within. There was a great deal of sin within the leadership that was not exposed until someone was brave enough to bring the sin to light. They had no idea how deep it had gotten. The reality was that the leader, the pastor, had no real accountability and had almost a cult leader like power over his leadership team. It was a real situation of spiritual abuse and warfare, all because proper Biblical leadership was not in place. Discipleship and discipline could be practiced, but out of the oversight of a true church. This turned into spiritual abuse of a kind that I do not want to speak about here. Though the ministry is on a path to healing and growth after church discipline was applied, they, like other ministries, are in the cross hairs of those who wish to bring them down. Now, more than ever, evangelism ministries must be above reproach and very careful about self-examination and vetting of their participants. The stakes are too high to take shortcuts when it comes to the reputation of Christ and His Church.

 

It is my desire today to warn individuals and ministries when I see the warning signs that I wish people would have seen in me. I also hope to help them divide the right from the wrong. The glory of God is of primary importance. The gospel being proclaimed rightly in the home, the local church, and on the street  bring glory to God. When one is not taking care of business in the home or the local church, all the proclamations suffer, and the reputation of Christ is brought into ill repute by those who claim to love Him and the people observing the disaster. The warning in Luke 8:17 is pertinent here: For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. The longer the sin festers the more destruction happens when it is brought to light. I am fearful that ministries that I have participated in and contributed to will be destroyed from within if they refuse to use discernment or discipline within their membership.

The next blog post will be on the qualifications for evangelistic ministry. 

The Ghouls Among Us: Babies BORN ALIVE and Killed.....

The irony and deception of planned parenthood should be evident; except for those blinded by the god of this world- Satan- (Ephesians 2:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:4).

• Planned Parenthood/The Pro-Murder crowd want to convince you that a baby in the mother's womb is just a blob of cells- Yet in two previous videos they are talking about harvesting tissues human organs from babies that they allow to be born partially and then crush the skull.

• In this video, we hear this 'doctor' proclaim "its a boy" - the same she and her cohorts claim is just a 'fetus'

• The president of PP, The president of the US, and all his liberal cronies in congress ignore the fact that this is happening, claiming that planned parenthood is a needed thing providing health services to the underprivileged. Since when does health care involve murder? 

Abortion at its root comes from a denial of God as creator, which devalues human life as simply a product of a host of changes over time. Evolution says that we are animals, and actually we have a lower value than some animals (see the uproar over Cecil the Lion).  Denial of what all humans know about God and His creative power leads to ungodliness, which leads to unrighteousness, which eventually turns into a depraved mind. 

Romans 1:18-32 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Are you giving approval through silence? 

     This leads to lack of conscience, which is evidenced in our country's continued support of 'a woman's right to choose'. You would think these videos would be enough to stop abortion in our country all together, but our nation is under the wrath of God (see above) evidenced by the society's blindness to this evil. Even professing christians are apathetic to this and other societal evidence that God is removing His hand of grace from our country as His wrath is being poured out.  Abortion is worse than the holocaust, and yet many who call themselves Christians continue to remain silent on the issue. They refuse to be 'one issue voters' and vote for people who will actually address the human justice issue of our time. They believe that if they make a stand for righteousness, they will be seen as unloving and judgmental. 

Though liberals deny it, the comparison to the holocaust is not that far off; Hitler was a negative eugenist, which has to do with the breeding of a 'master race' and ultimately included the murder of over 6,000,000 Jews. 

Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany's racially based social policies that placed the biological improvement of the Aryan race or Germanic "Übermenschen" master race through eugenics at the center of Nazi ideology.^[1] Those humans targeted were largely living in private and state-operated institutions, identified as "life unworthy of life" (German: Lebensunwertes Leben), including but not limited to prisoners, degenerate, dissident, people with congenital cognitive and physical disabilities (including feebleminded, epileptic, schizophrenic, manic-depressive, cerebral palsy, neuroatypicals, muscular dystrophy, deaf, blind) (German: erbkranken), homosexual, idle, insane, and the weak, for elimination from the chain of heredity. More than 400,000 people were sterilized against their will, while more than 300,000 were killed under Action T4, a euthanasia program.^{[2][3][4] --Wikipedia}

Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, came before Hitler, as did the U.S. eugenics program. Have you ever wondered why a disproportionate amount of Planned Parenthood clinics murder mills are in communities dominated by people of color?  It is because Margaret Sanger (hero of Hilary Clinton) was also a negative eugenist. Check out these quotes from the one who Planned Parenthood says "Sanger’s early efforts remain the hallmark of Planned Parenthood’s mission.”

1) “[Our objective is] unlimited sexual gratification without the burden of unwanted children… [Women must have the right] to live … to love… to be lazy … to be an unmarried mother … to create… to destroy… The marriage bed is the most degenerative influence in the social order… The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.” – Margaret Sanger (editor). The Woman Rebel, Volume I, Number 1. Reprinted in Woman and the New Race. New York: Brentanos Publishers, 1922 

2) “We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. And the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”– Margaret Sanger’s December 19, 1939 letter to Dr. Clarence Gamble, 255 Adams Street, Milton, Massachusetts. Original source: Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, North Hampton, Massachusetts. Also described in Linda Gordon’s Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A Social History of Birth Control in America. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1976 

3) “Today eugenics is suggested by the most diverse minds as the most adequate and thorough avenue to the solution of racial, political and social problems.

“I think you must agree… that the campaign for birth control is not merely of eugenic value, but is practically identical with the final aims of eugenics… Birth control propaganda is thus the entering wedge for the eugenic educator.

“As an advocate of birth control I wish… to point out that the unbalance between the birth rate of the ‘unfit’ and the ‘fit,’ admittedly the greatest present menace to civilization, can never be rectified by the inauguration of a cradle competition between these two classes. In this matter, the example of the inferior classes, the fertility of the feeble-minded, the mentally defective, the poverty-stricken classes, should not be held up for emulation.

“On the contrary, the most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective.”– Margaret Sanger. “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda.” Birth Control Review, October 1921, page 5 

4) “Our failure to segregate morons who are increasing and multiplying… demonstrates our foolhardy and extravagant sentimentalism…

“[Philanthropists] encourage the healthier and more normal sections of the world to shoulder the burden of unthinking and indiscriminate fecundity of others; which brings with it, as I think the reader must agree, a dead weight of human waste. 

“Instead of decreasing and aiming to eliminate the stocks that are most detrimental to the future of the race and the world, it tends to render them to a menacing degree dominant…

“We are paying for, and even submitting to, the dictates of an ever-increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all.” – Margaret Sanger. The Pivot of Civilization, 1922, pages 116, 122, and 189. Swarthmore College Library edition 

5)  “Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.” – Margaret Sanger. Woman, Morality, and Birth Control. New York: New York Publishing Company, 1922, page 12 

6) “One fundamental fact alone, however, indicates the necessity of Birth Control if eugenics is to accomplish its purpose…

“Before eugenists and others who are laboring for racial betterment can succeed, they must first clear the way for Birth Control. Like the advocates of Birth Control, the eugenists, for instance, are seeking to assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit. Both are seeking a single end but they lay emphasis upon different methods.”– Margaret Sanger. “Birth Control and Racial Betterment,” Feb 1919 

7) The government ought to “apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”

And the government should “give certain dysgenic groups (those with ‘bad genes’) in our population their choice of segregation or sterilization.” – Margaret Sanger, “A Plan for Peace.” Birth Control Review, April 1932, pages 107-108 

8) “The third group [of society] are those irresponsible and reckless ones having little regard for the consequences of their acts, or whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers. Many of this group are diseased, feeble-minded, and are of the pauper element dependent upon the normal and fit members of society for their support. There is no doubt in the minds of all thinking people that the procreation of this group should be stopped.” – Margaret Sanger. Speech quoted in Birth Control: What It Is, How It Works, What It Will Do. The Proceedings of the First American Birth Control Conference. Held at the Hotel Plaza, New York City, November 11-12, 1921. Published by the Birth Control Review, pages 172 and 174 .

9) “There is only one reply to a request for a higher birthrate among the intelligent, and that is to ask the government to first take the burden of the insane and feeble-minded from your back. [Mandatory] sterilization for these is the answer.” – Margaret Sanger, “The Function of Sterilization.” Birth Control Review, October 1926.

10) “In passing, we should here recognize the difficulties presented by the idea of ‘fit’ and ‘unfit.’ Who is to decide this question? The grosser, the more obvious, the undeniably feeble-minded should, indeed, not only be discouraged but prevented from propagating their kind. But among the writings of the representative Eugenists [sic], one cannot ignore the distinct middle-class bias that prevails.”– Margaret Sanger, quoted in Charles Valenza. “Was Margaret Sanger a Racist?” Family Planning Perspectives, January-February 1985, page 44 .

11) Birth control: “To create a race of thoroughbreds.”– Margaret Sanger, “Unity.” The Birth Control Review, Nov 1921.

12) “Hordes of people [are] born, who live, yet who have done absolutely nothing to advance the race one iota. Their lives are hopeless repetitions… Such human weeds clog up the path, drain up the energies and the resources of this little earth. We must clear the way for a better world; we must cultivate our garden.”– Margaret Sanger. Birth Control: Facts and Responsibilities, 1925. 

     Not only are people who murder babies heartless, they are also racist at the core. Margaret Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood, and still seen as a 'hero' of that movement. One of her goals, like Hitler's, was to make a master race that looked like her. Again, however, the communities of color are blinded to this fact. Again, when one denies what they know about God, their understanding becomes darkened.

     What should we do about this? Speak up. Make people aware of the evils of abortion Gospel. Repentance and faith, and the ensuing change of character and nature is the only thing that will change a person's mind about life. It is the change of individuals that changes cultures. If you are a Christian, proclaim the Gospel far and wide so that people will be converted and immediately see the value of life.

Women in Ministry- Where to Draw the Line? Part 2: Spiritual Gifts

     When examining any question that concerns the Word of God, one must examine Himself and use sound hermeneutic principles. This is especially important when it is a man examining the roles of women within the Body of Christ. As an example, too many men have used Ephesians 5 to inappropriately dominate their wives and treat them poorly because the command to the women  is to submit and respect. I have heard many a sermon that practically gives license to a man to beat his wife verbally, emotionally, and physically- and many a counselor say to a woman she has to take it and ‘submit’. All this while neglecting the command a few lines later to love his wife as Christ loves the church- and forgetting what that looked like when He did. The same problem was illustrated by the many in 19th century America using the scripture wrongly to justify slavery.

     The problem has gone the opposite way as well; there are many from the more liberal bias towards scripture that use culture as a lens to interpret scripture. They believe, for example, that the clear roles laid out in scripture were only for that culture at that time. This has opened up the floodgates- we have genderless scriptures, genderless hymns, women who are Pastors and elders in churches- and now we have homosexual ministers as well as blessing and approval of homosexual marriage. What does that have to do with gender? When you break down gender roles while interpreting scripture through the lens of current culture, these types of errors become rampant. Every church that has negated clear biblical gender roles eventually must- and usually does- compromise on homosexual sin. And allow me to clarify- any church that allows a woman to have a eldership role over men- whether it be a pastor or the head of the board- has ceased to be a biblical New Testament church.

10 but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. 12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve; 14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. (1 Timothy 2:10-14, ESV)

12γυναικι δε διδασκειν ουκ επιτρεπω ουδε αυθεντειν ανδρος αλλ ειναι εν ησυχια

     So for many, this is an emotionally charged topic, and it may cause them to throw away sound principles of hermeneutics and submit to their gender pride. This can happen on both sides of the sexes. One of the principles we must examine is the historical context as well as the ecclesiological context of the commands. I submit to you that within the scripture that there are gender roles laid out for both church life and everyday life. The command above is in context with specific instructions for the assembly of the church. Verse 12, in English and in Greek, is misinterpreted by laymen and pastors alike that hold gender bias. It is in the contest of the church. There is the pesky word or (GR oude) between teach and exercise authority- that shows two separate activities within the body of Christ, and the role in the church. This has been properly interpreted that a woman is not to be a preacher over an assembled congregation. It does not mean that a woman cannot teach authoritatively on scripture in the proper context- outside of the context of the church and church governance. She cannot hold the role of pastor or teaching elder within the church. But I submit to you that there is a boundary there. There are rules that apply differently in the church and in the home- and there are rules that cross all of those boundaries. The challenge is to put off our pride and our opinions- and especially our gender bias- and honestly look at what those boundaries and roles are.

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:4-13, ESV)

     The one shocking thing about this list of gifts in terms of this topic is that there is no gender differentiation in the gifts. There is no announcement from the Apostle Paul that these gifts are for men, these other ones are for women. In other words, shocking as it may be, women can have the gift of prophesy! You say, if she has that gift, then why can’t she use it?  She absolutely can- just not in a position of headship over a man (the pastors, the elders) in the context of the church. The question really is, in this context, where can she use that gift of forth-telling or proclamation of the word of God?

 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:3-5, ESV)

     Herein lies the rub for so many people-the scripture states clearly the roles of wives, husbands, older men, older women, younger men, younger women etc. in the context of home and church. It does not speak clearly to the in between time- the time at work, the time at school, the time in the temple. Many people here on both sides of this question allow the scripture to speak from silence. In the example above, Older women have a role within the body of Christ, stated very clearly. It is a role of teaching and training younger women. But what of outside the body of Christ? Can a woman with children hold a job? Can she be a CEO? Can a woman be the head of a Christian organization that trains men and women to preach the Gospel? Can a woman proclaim the Gospel and the Word of God publicly on a street corner to non believers in the presence of male believers? The scripture is silent on these activities. We cannot stretch the principles made for the ecclesia- the church into life outside the context and scope of authority of the local church.

     What this means, quite simply, is that if a woman who is single, begins a ministry outside the church, but under the authority of the church/Pastor/Elders this is not a usurping of authority, nor is it in rebellion to the Word of God. If the church leadership recognizes a gift of teaching and, under the authority of the elders, a woman teaches Sunday School, this is not against the Word of God. She is under authority- the authority of the man- the head elder. If she goes to the Super Bowl- or any other evangelistic outreach- to preach- having been sent by the local church, under the approval of her husband (if she is married) or with her husband- and if with a ministry under submission to the leadership of that ministry- then she ought to be able to preach if she has that gift.

In Part 3- we will attempt to break down what the Bible does say about the roles of women and men inside the church and outside the church.

Posted in Adventures in Christianity, Bible, Change Collegian Network, College Ministry, Evangelism, Theology

Women in Ministry- Where to Draw the Line? Part 1: The Great Commission

This article was first written in April 2013 in response to a book called "Should She Preach?"

In my current season of ministry, I labor as an itinerant evangelist with a small fellowship of people under the headship of Mark 1:15 ministries. In my role as a leader in this band of evangelists, I am often approached to join hands with other individuals and groups that are going forth to proclaim the Gospel. We do have standards of accountability, methodology, and theology that no one formally adheres to, but evangelists are observed and known before they go out with our group. There are a few standards that we demand of our members. They must be born again believers in Jesus Christ who faithfully attend church. They are all under the care and leadership of elders. They must demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in their lives and ministry. They must have the approval of their spouses if they are married. If they are married with children, their first priority is ministry at home. There are a few other minor issues that we demand, including methodology of using sound biblical evangelism of the law to the proud and grace to the humble.

I was challenged this week about one other issue, the issue of gender. I have thought this through before, and have studied the scripture, but never have I written down a formal stand on the issue of women as evangelists on the street. There are a few groups of Evangelists that have gender-based standards, and that list is growing. It is going to become a point of contention in evangelism circles if it has not already. I am going to challenge thinking on both sides of the issue, but I am going to do so based on sound biblical exegesis.

15 And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. (Mark 16:15, ESV)

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20, ESV)

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV)

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, (1 Peter 3:15, ESV)

These commands come after the first evangelist – Does anyone know who this is?- proclaimed the good news.  The evangel- the good news- that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, was buried- and on the third day rose again- according to the scripture. (1 Corinthians 15) Again, according to this standard, who was the first post- resurrection evangelist?

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her. (John 20:11-18, ESV)

John and Peter observed- John believed- but both returned to their homes, no proclamation, no evangel, no good news. Mary stayed behind, she had been to the tomb, she first noticed that Jesus was not there, she got John and Peter. Now, she stayed behind in mourning. Jesus revealed Himself to her, and commanded her to go- to tell the good news- that He had risen and would ascend. He trusted this news to a woman- the gender whom the Jewish males would pray thus about: ‘thank you God that I was not born a gentile, Samaritan…or a woman’. This woman who could not even testify in court- she was entrusted with the first good news by Jesus Himself- post death and resurrection.

Having said all of this, notice in all of the scriptures that contain the Great Commission, there is no gender announcement. We know that Jesus’ disciples- not the apostles who were to be those who would be responsible for establishing and leading the church- but the disciples of Jesus which included the 12, but also at least 120-500 men and women at this time. If you contend that the Great Commission was only given to the 11 apostles, then you contend that there is no responsibility for Christians today to proclaim the Gospel. If you contend (rightly so) that those to whom the command was given included both apostles and disciples, you must include women in the equation. So from the time of the Great Commission, both faithful men and faithful women were commanded to proclaim the evangel- to be evangelists.

Of course, as we look in the book of Acts, the history of the establishment of the church and the early fulfillment of the Great Commission, we see the giants of the faith- Peter, Paul, Stephen, Phillip, Timothy, Mark- all men- all front and center. Is this to say that there were no women involved? Clearly, there was. Again, we must consider the culture, especially of the Jewish Church. Women were not reliable witnesses in that culture. We do not argue from silence in the scripture, and I will not do so here. We do not see Luke chronicling female evangelists. That does not mean there were not any, and it certainly does not mean that there was a gender restriction on the command.

So what is the issue? The issue gets convoluted when we begin to look into the epistles of Paul as he looks at the church- those who are part of the invisible and universal body of Christ- and the gender roles within the church. And this is what we will look at in the next article. Please prayerfully consider the scripture and respond and correct as we go by using the scripture.