#GC2019: One Day After

It is the day after our special called General Conference in the United Methodist Church. No one has asked me to write this; but I have some thoughts tonight. 

I will start by saying thank you for the calls, the texts, the emails, and the prayers--not only for me, but also for our denomination. 

Today, I have read various articles about the Traditional plan passing at the general conference. Each article has made it abundantly clear that they think the UMC is wrong, that we are bigots, that we hate the LGBTQIA+ community. That is the farthest thing from the truth. If I could tell the media one thing, it's that "Yes, we stood on our belief in the authority of Scripture; however, have you even read the One Church Plan?" If not, here is your chance. If you've not read the Traditional Plan, here's your chance. 

When I look at the Traditional plan, I look at it as any Methodist would--through the lens of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral: For United Methodists, Scripture is considered the primary source and standard for Christian doctrine. Tradition is experience and the witness of development and growth of the faith through the past centuries and in many nations and cultures. Experience is the individual's understanding and appropriating of the faith in the light of his or her own life. Through reason the individual Christian brings to bear on the Christian faith discerning and cogent thought. These four elements taken together bring the individual Christian to a mature and fulfilling understanding of the Christian faith and the required response of worship and service. However, no matter where we get our beliefs, they must be founded on the scriptures. 

Paul even tells us in 2 Timothy 4:3 

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. 

And yet, I am sure you will tell me "Well Jesus said nothing about..." Friends, I am sorry that just isn't the case. Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that He didn't come to abolish the law (The Torah), rather to fulfill. So in that one verse, He says a lot about the orthodoxy of the reformation He was bringing. 

The major media outlets are also missing the fact that even the LGBTQAI+ community will tell you, candidly of course, that "Gay men everywhere, at every age, are 2 to 10 times more likely than heterosexual men to commit suicide." In Sweden, according to Gransel and Hanson "LGBT people have four times as large a portion of attempted suicide in comparison to the rest of the population. Bisexual women have the largest portion. The banner study shows that it is bisexuals between the ages of 16-29 and transgenders of 30 years or more who have the largest portion of attempted suicide. All three surveys show that the largest portion of attempted suicides have taken place between the ages of 13-19. Notable is, both the survey and the banner study show that 6-9 % of attempted suicides took place between the ages of 4-12. The heterosexual control survey shows that no attempted suicides have taken place at such an early age." By the way, the LGBTQAI+ Community in Sweden has full-inclusion. 

The other thing that is frustrating me is that I have seen several people, evangelicals, bragging, celebrating and some made down right rude comments--myself included. So I want to take a moment more of your time; I want to apologize to you if I have said something that made you angry, or hurt. It truly isn't my intention. I also want to encourage my brothers and sisters on both sides of this debate to take a moment; to stop posting online, get on your knees in prayer and to pray. Pray for one another, yes, you conservative, pray for your progressive brethren...yes, progressive, pray for conservatives like myself. We have a long road of healing to go down. We all knew that one side or the other would be hurting today, let's take time to heal.

United Methodist Church Affirms Stance on Marriage and Ordination of Homosexuals: My Response

As many may now know, the United Methodist Church upheld the Book of Discipline’s stance on marriage, and ordaining homosexuals. This vote has, for many, caused people to decide to leave the church, but it’s also brought to the forefront the need for our pastors to preach the truth of what the Bible says. However, I don’t feel the need in this post to discuss those matters, instead I want to share my heart—because what a lot of people don’t understand is that this vote does not affect just them—it affects the greater church body. 

Last night, just before I went to bed, a brother in faith sent me a text to pray hard because delegates who were going to try and stop the traditional plan were meeting—and we knew that if they didn’t get their way, they had planned to protest. Never in my life have I hit my knees with such urgency than to pray that my denomination, the one I chose, would need the supernatural protection of God. 

This morning I woke up, and the first thing I did was read an email from a delegate that was sent late yesterday evening and cried. Not because I didn’t agree with the email, but because some in my denomination have sunk so low that they can’t see that sin—is sin. No matter what the sin is.

Today, I have spent the day trying to get those on the left to understand that we (traditionalists) are not hateful people. In fact my standard response to many media outlets has been “Get your facts straight, which I know is hard for folks to do in a situation like this. We upheld orthodox Christian values and the Biblical definition of marriage. We have shown grace to the LGBT+ community. We have affirmed they, as all humans are, people of sacred value. However, we have shown the world today that the UMC stands on the Bible and will not be bullied into accepting sin as God’s will. I understand that there are people who are hurting currently, well still welcome everyone into our churches, will also continue to call sin what it is…sin. I don’t know one UMC that will not welcome people from the LGBT+ community—however, we will continue to call them, just as I have been called, to repentance.” I have been called a bully, a racist (though homosexuality isn’t a race), a hypocrite, and several names that I can’t even mention on my blog as, well frankly they aren’t Christian. 

To those on the other side of the table, I want to tell you that I know you are hurting, I know you are disappointed, and I know you wish things were different. I don’t have the answers you are seeking…except that I will tell you to give consideration to the scriptures—not to what you’ve been told, but to really give thought to what God is saying. If you choose to leave, do so. If you choose to stay, embrace God’s work within the UMC—whatever you decide know that, I love you as Christ loves the church and I want to see you all come to repentance and a true understanding of Orthodox Christian beliefs and faith. 

Can a gentile convert to Messianic Judaism?

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who was questioning conversion to "Messianic Judaism." They have embraced Judaism, but do not want to give up their faith in Jesus Christ. Immediately my heart was taken back to when my best friend found out that his biological father was Jewish...he "Converted" to Judaism, and before his Mikveh* he was asked "Do you renounce your Christian faith and will you live as a Jew for the rest of your life? Do you renounce Jesus?" My former best friend blatantly told me that "I renounced all they asked because I no longer believed in Jesus, I had accepted Yeshua as my savior." I have struggled with his conversion to "Messianic Judaism." Since he was already a Christian...Matter of fact, I am afraid that my former friend is mixed up in a cult and I will explain why.

Now before I continue with the answer to the question I posed in the title, let me say that I do not believe that all Messianic Jewish groups or Messianic Jews are in a cult. So for my question:

Can a gentile convert to messianic Judaism?

The short answer is No.

Messianic Judaism is not a specific religion; it is simply Jews who believe in Yeshua (Jesus)

of Nazareth as the Messiah and realized that since both Yeshua and all his first followers (including the authors of all of the New Testament with the possible exception of Luke) were Jews, they do not need to reject their own Jewishness when coming to faith in Him (in spite of what “the church” taught for centuries). So how would you as a gentile hold on to your “Jewish heritage” in converting?

Even if a gentile could convert to “messianic Judaism”, the Scripture is quite firm on the point that you should not. This was exactly the point argued and decided by the (Jewish) leaders of the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 15) - If a gentile person believed in the Messiah, he did not first need to convert to Judaism (become circumcised) in order to become part of the congregation of God or to be saved. Indeed, Paul went as far (in Galatians) as saying that if you want to convert to Judaism and trying to keep all of Torah, you have essentially cut yourself off from Messiah and will be judged solely on your ability to keep all of Torah. He was not talking of Jewish believers in Messiah Yeshua here, but about gentiles who imagined that they needed to convert in order to become acceptable to God… our acceptance is in Messiah alone and not in anything we do. Elsewhere (1 Cor.7:18–20) he explicitly says that Jewish believers in Yeshua should remain Jewish and gentile believers (uncircumcised) should remain gentiles. In Messiah we are one (Eph.2).

Of course, you are always free to join a Messianic Jewish congregation and immerse yourself in a Jewish expression of worship, but this doesn’t make you a Messianic Jew. You are Jewish if you were born of Jewish parents, from the people with whom God made an eternal covenant at Sinai and to whom He promised that they would a light to the nations and that in them all nations would be blessed. We, as gentiles, are part of the “all nations” who are being blessed in and through the Jewish Messiah, as promised. Why would we want to reject this blessing?

*Mikveh: Immersion in a mikveh is the final ritual in the process of conversion. An act of rebirth – and the precursor / source of Christian baptism — the mikveh does not “wash away” one’s past life. It enacts a beginning and a promise.

In God We Trust: Separation of Church and State

Recently Alamance County decided it was going to allow decals on all county vehicles that read “In God We Trust.” It’s the nation’s official motto. So why not? 

This morning when WCNC broke the news on Facebook, I read through comment after comment after comment of people talking about the “Separation of Church and State.” After reading so many comments, I decided to tell people what most scholars will tell you is the truth behind the Separation of Church and State: Great here comes the Separation of Church and State comments: Do you even know what the separation of church and state is? No, you don’t. Let me explain, the government can’t set up a state religion. This isn’t setting up a state religion—it doesn’t say what God or god they are putting their trust in. Also, separation of church and state means that the government can’t come in and tell people what religion they have to observe—Finland and Germany you are Lutheran, England you are typically Church of England. Get ya facts straight on what a phrase means before you start spouting it.

When the first amendment was written, it spoke to Jefferson’s mind—especially since it says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” According to UC-Riverside Professor of Religion and History Edwin Gaustad and Princeton University Religion Professor Leigh Schmidt “ Here a double guarantee could be found. First, government will do nothing to give official endorsement to a religion or to set one above another; second that government would do nothing to inhibit the freedom of religion.

Another commenter, whom I can only imagine is an Deist at best, an agnostic/atheist at worst decided to challenge me. Great, I am always up for a challenge. His comment to me was that putting the nations motto on any car is a slap in the face of people who don’t worship anything.  Well he must know, because his cheeks must be pretty sore, getting slapped all the time from Christians. 

I, in my always spiritually thinking way, said “We all worship some God or god. Wether it’s a deity or not.” I have always said that “God will not yell over whatever you have placed before Him in your life.” I went to find an example of what I meant and kept coming up with articles that encouraged us to put ourselves first—as an act of loving God. But that is a bit anti-biblical don’t you think? After all Jesus says that it will be easier for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into the kingdom of God.

Whatever we place before God we are using to replace God. If I place all my extra time that I would normally use for devotions before my time with God, I am replacing whatever I am doing as a god. There may not be a deity involved, I may not be worshiping it, but it is becoming a god none-the-less.

Instead we should be willing to look at truly putting God back where He belongs. Sincerely I have come to believe that I am single because when I wrote my dating profile out, I said “My Christian faith is of the utmost importance to me. I want a husband whose faith is of the utmost importance to him, and that is willing to make sure that God is the center of our relationship.” So yes, I want you sitting in church with me every Sunday. Yet, no one that I have met seems to think that faith in God is really that important…And that was evident today when I spoke on the Separation of Church and State.

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” We are to delight ourselves in God first, THEN the desires of our heart will be given to us. Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Again, trust God first, then He will make your paths straight. Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

There are tons of scripture that tell us to PUT GOD FIRST; and does it really matter if the Nation’s Motto is on a car…as it says “In God We Trust.” The constitutionality of "In God We Trust" has been pretty well established in American jurisprudence.  It is frequently challenged in court and to my knowledge thus far has never been found against in terms of constitutionality.  

The reason is that it is generally considered to be purely ceremonial or ornamental, has no denomination attached to it, and is in no way coercive.  

The big precedent on the matter is from 1970, Aronow v. United States, in which the court found:

"It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage  and currency 'In God We Trust' has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion.  Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true  resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise. ...It  is not easy to discern any religious significance attendant the payment  of a bill with coin or currency on which has been imprinted 'In God We  Trust' or the study of a government publication or document bearing that  slogan. In fact, such secular uses of the motto was viewed as  sacrilegious and irreverent by President Theodore Roosevelt. Yet  Congress has directed such uses. While 'ceremonial' and 'patriotic' may  not be particularly apt words to describe the category of the national  motto, it is excluded from First Amendment significance because the  motto has no theological or ritualistic impact. As stated by the  Congressional report, it has 'spiritual and psychological value' and  'inspirational quality.'"

This decision is cited in basically every ruling since, and has held every time.  

Now, I sympathize with the arguments against.  But it is important - for both theists and atheists - to understand what the first amendment does and does not say.

It says:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

What it does not say:

• Congress shall make no law which mentions God;
• The word "God" shall not appear on anything bearing government authority;
• America must be a country which treats religion as a value-neutral proposition;  
• That there is an absolute "separation of church and state";
• Everybody has a constitutional right to be free from accidentally being exposed to something that might offend them.

General Conference: Unbelief, the church at Pergamum and Reestablishing faith

As we face the upcoming General Conference in the United Methodist Church, I have been doing a ton of praying and thinking about what this conference truly comes down to—Where the progressives are coming from and what they are doing, yet my friends, there is hope…even for the most liberal progressive in the UMC.

I can tell you right now the progressive point of view is coming from one place; a place of unbelief. Not a place of doubt, not a place of questioning, it is coming from a place of complete and utter unbelief. Hebrews 3:12 tells us “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” And 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Everything that the progressive church professes as truth—the inclusiveness of ordained homosexuals, the inclusion of being able to marry same-sex couples is a lie straight from the pit of hell. 

Paul knew that a time was coming when men would wander towards unsound doctrine. 2 Timothy 4:3-4, he writes to Timothy, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” Friends, let us not forget that our progressive members have itching ears and they are running towards whomever will scratch them. 

But what are the progressives doing in this instance? Well if the OCP passes, they are re-writing our discipline. I mean we have already dropped the title “Doctrines” from the BOD. So what if we just slip in and rewrite the definition of marriage and ordination. Matter of fact they aren’t just rewriting our definition they are completely deleting our definition. According to John Lomperis if the GC votes to change the BOD, it DELETES present language which affirms marriage as a uniquely special relationship, defines marriage as being between “a man and a woman,” declares that “God’s plan is for lifelong, faithful marriage,” calls for “encouraging reconciliation wherever possible” in divorce proceedings, and expresses concern about “high divorce rates.” Changing our denomination’s definition of marriage by deleting all of those phrases just quoted would make the UMC’s official definition of marriage open to same-sex couples as well as to polygamy. 

As I sit here, I think of the Book of Revelation, Especially chapter 2:12-15. In this part of John’s vision, Jesus is telling the church at Pergamum “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” 

The Book of Revelation must never be read in isolation from the Book of Acts and the Pauline letters. In Acts 15 we read the text of a letter authored by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.  This letter of encouragement and instruction was sent to gentile Christ-followers who had been delivered from the bondage of paganism (Acts 15:22-29). The conclusion of the letter reads as follows:

“… for it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules: that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality.”

Once we realize this etymological connection between “Nicolaitans” and “Let-us-eat-ers,” it is not difficult to see that this aberrant group of Gentile Christ-followers were at odds with the decision of Jerusalem Council and the will of God in Christ.  They appear to have set aside the teaching of the apostles given in Acts 15 and were slipping back into their former pagan practices.

We, if the OCP passes, are becoming like the church at Pergamum—we will be slipping back into our pagan practices and a humanistic mind-set. 

The other thing that the progressive is doing is abusing Christian liberty. Romans 6:1-2 warns us of seeing salvation as a license, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” 1 Peter 2:16 tells us “Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.”

As I said in the introduction, there is still hope, even for the most liberal member of the COB, the Way Forward Committee and the delegation. 1 John 1:8-10 says If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

If I could tell the progressives one thing it would be 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Each person that is in St. Louis has been bought with a price, our progressives, are like the woman whom God ordered Hosea to marry. Hosea 2:7 says “She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’” Matter of fact, if we really look at Hosea for what the prophecy is, we see that in using the imagery of a marriage, the Lord, through Hosea, taught His people that though they had been unfaithful to Him, yet He would still not divorce them (cast them off) if they would but turn back to Him. Though Hosea speaks of a nation, the same principle holds true for individuals. Even those who have been grossly unfaithful to God can reestablish their relationship with Him if they will but turn back to Him with full purpose of heart.

So my encouragement to the conservatives in the UMC right now is to take a moment; several actually, and pray. Pray that those who are being unfaithful to God will reestablish their relationship with God. Take a few moments every day not think negatively about our progressive members, but rather to bring the names of those you personally know to the throne of God and to pray for them. I have a list that I pray for daily—they don’t know me, many have never met me and probably never will—but they are on my list for daily prayer. And to my progressive readers in the UMC, I am going to challenge you to do the same—take a few moments daily to pray, not that your conservative counterparts will see things your way—but rather we all find a way back to Biblical truth, our Wesleyan roots and a relationship with God.