Tag: church

The Clergy are Cowards!

I watched a church historian interviewed recently who was asked, “Why is the American church not flourishing?”   His answer was this: “The clergy are the problem.”  Today we get to the third of Alistair Begg’s threefold meme – “The Clergy are Cowards.”  Seriously? Some of you may be saying right now, “Steven, that’s not nice to say about ministers, pastors, and priests!”  As you likely know already, I am not nearly as concerned with being nice, as I am with being honest!

Have you ever thought of your clergy as a coward? The dictionary definition of coward is this: “One who shows disgraceful fear or timidity” [Webster’s Dictionary].  The same dictionary gives “chicken” as the first synonym of coward. Interesting, isn’t it, that the word “disgraceful” is used? Another quote from Alexis de Tocqueville fits here: “Everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure.” (Democracy in America) The Clergy are Cowards! is indeed “disgraceful” and needs to be eradicated!

Here’s some examples of The Clergy are Cowards! which I have encountered over my years in the church. A pastor told his congregation “the issues of evil facing our country all have to stay outside this church building!  In here we only preach Christ!”  He was a chicken clergy worried ONLY about members leaving if he preached biblical orthodoxy which would mean lower offerings, which could put his salary and pension in jeopardy!

Or this: when a mainline denomination voted to affirm a woman’s right to “unrestricted abortion” one of their pastors never even informed their own leaders that their denomination had so voted! Fear leads a chicken clergy to keep their mouth shut!

How about this: A church group was on a field trip visiting sacred sites in Europe when a stranger approached the pastor who was leading the group with this question which was heard by the entire group, “Do I have to be baptized to join your group?” The pastor immediately turned the group in a different direction without responding to the questioner. Why not speak to this person with biblical truths?  Fear!  I could likely muster 1,000 other examples – The Clergy are Cowards!

Three biblical verses show “cowardly clergy” are not at all in step with the Lord:

  • “Fear not, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10)
  •  “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:11)
  •   “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7)

The Greek word for “fear” is phobos from which we get phobia.  Have our American clergy developed phobias which keep them from preaching the truth, teaching God’s and not man’s word, and upholding biblical orthodoxy every chance they get?

I ask again “why is the American church not flourishing?” We now have all three of Alistair Beggs answers, The Culture is Collapsing, The Church is Confused, and The Clergy are Cowards! Please Lord let each reading these words look for ways to be the antidote to these problems the Body of Christ is facing in America!

Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you. 

You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/

[NOTE:  If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com.  I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]

The Church is Confused!

Not only is the culture collapsing around us, the second point of Alistair Begg’s threefold meme of why modern Christianity is failing is this– The Church is Confused!  Do I really need to document this assertion? Just one point will suffice: A major denomination voted at their annual conference two years ago that abortion is fine and that any local, state, or federal restrictions on abortion for women and “pregnant persons” were not to be tolerated.  To me, this leaves no room for doubt – The Church is Confused!

When Jesus told the Apostle Peter that he had just handed him the “keys to the kingdom” and “upon this rock [petros, Greek for rock and Peter] I will build my church,” I hardly think he had in mind a future church deciding to allow babies to be killed in the womb!  When Yahweh told the prophet Jeremiah that he had been known by God even when Jeremiah was in his mother’s womb, surely God was not envisioning abortion of healthy children created in his image (Jeremiah 1:5).

Has the Church always been confused? If not, when and how did the Church become confused?  The first century church at Jerusalem had some serious conflicts which were overseen by James the brother of Jesus.  (See Acts 15:14-21).  The fourth century Church saw the Roman Emperor Constantine forcing his soldiers to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, a fact which might have upset local church boards a tad!

Our 21st century church has  – drumroll please – are you ready for this?? – over 45,000 different denominations and the United States alone has over 200!  When Jesus handed the keys of the kingdom to Peter one wonders if even Jesus would be shocked to see that the Church today is not one undivided Church. To say The Church is Confused is hardly a stretch of imagination to a modern church-watcher. 

We have churches who focus more on political issues than on issues from the Bible.  We have churches who one year declare a “policy” only to change/reverse itself the very next year!   One church says sins are forgiven when one prays asking God to forgive, another church says that sins are only forgiven when one experiences baptism.  One church baptizes by sprinkling water on an infant who has no idea what is happening, another church only baptizes by immersion in water which completely covers the body.

Yes, The Church is Confused and I sincerely wonder at times what God thinks of how we have messed up his plan that the church would be “one”!

Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you. 

You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/

[NOTE:  If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com.  I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]

The Culture is Collapsing!

Why is the Church not flourishing in this crazy world of American extremes?  Why do we see entire denominations taking very unChristian stands on controversial issues?  Why do we have clergy afraid to speak boldly like Jesus spoke?  I recently had the privilege of meeting the amazing pastor/author Alistair Begg – and I thanked him for his simple, yet powerful threefold mnemonic which answers the above questions:  The Culture is Collapsing, The Church is Confused, and The Clergy are Cowards.

Today’s blog looks at the first of Begg’s three answers, The Culture is Collapsing, and future blogs will tackle the other two.  One need only look at the last 25 years to see how incredibly different our culture is today!  The changes seem flowing in warp-speed!

We have grade schoolers being taught that they can choose which gender they want to be, parents who support such life-altering decisions, and a medical profession quick to step up with procedures and medications to help the child change into their desired gender!  Just today the national news dropped a bomb on us Americans with the announcement that a huge % of illegal migrants crossing our borders are criminals—true or false? We have two major political parties in our country which seem to literally hate the other, which leads to simply awful family gatherings around the Thanksgiving or Christmas tables!

Given the above it usually seems wisest, certainly easiest, just to ignore these topics.  I look at how Jesus dealt with his first century culture and I come away with hope that all may not be lost.  But clearly, as Bob Dylan sang, “The times they are a changing.”  The French historian/politician Alexis de Tocqueville had great insights into American Christianity – listen to this from the 1850s:

In the United States … almost all Americans believe in or at least respect Christianity, with the result that ‘everything is certain and fixed in the moral world’.

I doubt he would say the same for 21st century America where nothing seems “certain and fixed in the moral world.”  For over a decade I have belonged to, believed in, and ministered with, a conservative congregation which belongs to an uber-liberal denomination.  I was shocked to learn of the denomination’s official actions.

Here is one thing that Jesus said which, if we Christ-followers can engage with, then maybe, just maybe, the Church might be the antidote to The Culture is Collapsing!

He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. [John 8:7]  Jesus was teaching in the temple when some Jewish leaders of the day dragged a woman caught in the act of adultery before him, demanding that this sinful woman be stoned to death. When they heard the above words of Jesus, they all dropped their stones and walked away. And isn’t it interesting, and instructive, that John notes the older, more mature, Jewish leaders were the first to leave! Then we hear Jesus tell the woman, “Go and sin no more”!  Simple, yet profound, and certainly a real antidote for The Culture is Collapsing!

Leave a comment, if you wish, regarding this post or how you discovered The Merton Prayer and why it is important to you. 

You will find The Merton Prayer and more at https://themertonprayer.com/

[NOTE:  If your organization, church, or school would like a workshop/presentation on The Merton Prayer please email me at TheMertonPrayer@gmail.com.  I can Zoom all over the world and have done 90-minute, 3-hour, 5-hour, weekend, or five-day workshops/retreats.]