Bio

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, the author of Truthspeak and his new book, The Gospel of Grace and Truth: A Theology of Grace from the Gospel of John," both available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing to Dr. Halsey at michaeldhalsey@bellsouth.net and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."

Comments may be addressed to michaeldhalsey@bellsouth.net.

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582

Friday, January 29, 2016

NO REST FOR THE WEARY

There is no rest in the land. This is the year of highly charged-politics. 2016 is an election year. It is a year of caucuses, speeches, rallies, debates, campaigns, personal attacks, smears. lies, the digging for dirt, and the slinging of mud. This is the year for incessant polling, endorsements, traveling from state to state, meeting to meeting, from one rubber chicken dinner to the next, from one press conference to the next. It is the year for strategizing in war rooms, closed door sessions, wheeling and dealing, and back rooms filled with wall to wall cigar smoke. It is the year for surveys that will tell the candidates what they should wear, what colors look best on TV, what to say, and how to say it--southern drawl, midwestern cadence, or the Yankee, "Youse guys."

In a democracy, there is no rest for the weary. They're tired, I'm tired, we're all tired, and the election is still months and months away.

THE SLAVE DRIVER

But truth be told, all of the above didn't suddenly burst on the scene; it didn't begin in January 2016. No, all of he aforementioned began much earlier, when the most recent President was declared the winner four years ago. Some candidates have been planning and running for more years than the last inauguration; while others have been running all their lives, living with the goal of one day moving into the White House. Such is the nature of political ambition for high office; the lust for power embedded in human nature is a hard-driving taskmaster.

As Richard Brookhiser writes, "Politics never rests, even among friends and allies. Even when they agree, there are still slight shades of difference that may deepen over time. New or ignored questions arise on which they differ greatly. And there is always ambition." Such is the nature of the political beast.

"Yes," we say, "a hearty amen to that." The political animals never rest. That's the way of the world, the way of democracy, always on a forced march to power. Democracy, like Las Vegas, never sleeps.

WAIT. WHAT?

Wait. What? The way of the world, you say? Yes, that's the way of the nation whose blood vessels pulsate with democracy. Restless, roiling factions form, foment, and erupt over the land. James Madison, Founding Father, thought factions (the word back then for political parties) unjust, but unavoidable; he thought them to be corrupt and corrupting. In his view, they lead to commotion and war.

George Washing was stern about it: "Let me warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party."

THE INVASION

Somewhere, somehow, at some time, for some reason, democracy came into churches and with it the ways of the world, bringing with it the aforementioned strife-filled environment. Democracy invaded the church and with its fists of steel turned it political. Democracy was a wild boar, loose in the vineyard. Somewhere, somehow, at some time, for some reason, democracy forced churches to elect and dismiss their pastors, elect and dismiss elders and deacons, and conflicts were born as factions formed in view of a coming vote.

THE INEVITABLE

The hand to hand combat was inevitable. After congregations had imbibed the heady wine of democracy, they became so intoxicated that they began to vote on anything and everything, issues big and small. They cast their votes for and against God's will, for and against buildings, for and against bricks or siding, for or against a sign in the church yard with electric or hand-placed letters. They went to the ballot box to vote yea or nay, for or against vans, buses, or private transportation. They finished with a raising of hands for or against red for the auditorium carpet. It's all in a day's work when democracy invades a church.

And along with those indeterminable motions and seconds to motions, those references to the church constitution and arcane by-laws as if those were Scripture, came the dreaded factions and the white hot passions were loosed in the meetings. Brothers and sisters in Christ battled one another in one business meeting after another with emotions as heated as if they were voting on seceding from the Union.

Brothers and sisters in Christ yelled at each, demeaned each other, questioned the motives of each other, attacked each another, held secret meetings against each other, initiated anonymous mailings against each other, spread rumors and innuendos against each other, and called down the wrath of God on each other. (Their meetings would make Jimmy Hoffa proud; the only things he'd recommend would be the distribution of baseball bats to liven the discussion and knives to slash tires to warn the other side.)

Brothers and sisters on the losing side of the vote stormed out the building, finding doors to slam on the way, all for the sake of adding an audible, annoying, and intimidating exclamation point to their frustration. Their dramatic departure had a purpose of serving notice: "You people had better vote the way I say next time!" After all, who likes to lose? Who wants another exit with an outburst of anger?  But the steel fists of democracy must always and ever be busy creating jubilant winners and wounded, angry losers.

SUNDAY COMES AROUND

After the rancor of the meeting, on the very next Sunday, the hypocritical congregation gathers, clothes neatly pressed and well dressed, pretending the meeting happened. The secretary will clean up the minutes of the meeting so that last Sunday's blood-letting will read as if it were an afternoon Amish tea. Yet, as they look around, they see pews filled with the walking wounded and some pews empty because those weary of the warfare inherent in democracy have left the building, never to return. They swear to it and they mean it; they will never return. And they don't. After all, how many business meetings are edifying? (I Cor. 14:26)

SOMETHING IS OUT THERE

Once democracy settles an issue, the scarred veterans who stay know one thing: there's another controversy coming; they don't know when; they don't know why, but they know it will come. In a democracy, things to vote on are always out there, being birthed and nurtured in the darkness by someone or some faction. One day, a new issue will be the one who knocks. And if its knock goes unanswered, it'll break down the door and force another meeting, another vote, more malevolence, and more factions. Issues are omnipresent and eternal.

In a democracy, there's no rest for the weary.

And so it goes, ad infinitum, ad nauseam, until the church finally dwindles down to nothing; only the battle-hardened veterans remain to pour the coffee and read the censored minutes of the last meeting.

WHERE DOES ALL THIS COME FROM?

Enter the ignored letter from James. His epistle, as all epistles, gets right to the point as to the origin of all this meeting mania: "This . . . is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing." He's echoing Isaiah who wrote: "The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud."

The solution? It's in Philippians 2, but the practical application of Paul's directive in that chapter is as neglected as James 3.

The sad thing is that democracy is too much with us. Democracy is ingrained in the American psyche. To deny democracy's knock on the church door is unamerican.

If your church is a democracy, you know what I'm talking about. You've been there and you know you'll be there again . . . soon.

In the words of John Calvin, "Good luck," because there's no rest for the weary.




Friday, January 22, 2016

THE VELVET TONGUE

Lucifer may come with a velvet tongue, the perfect complement to his being disguised as an angel of light. When he comes employing the strategy of the velvet tongue he comes appearing both good and moral, so much the better to promote his deceptions. A few examples or his oratorical skills will suffice.

Homeschooling, for some, is an alternative to both private and public education. Many parents across the nation are doing so. According to the U. S. Dept. of Education (by the way, where is it in the Constitution that the Federal Government has any power whatsoever over education?) 1,773,000 students in America are homeschooled, which represents 3.4% of all students.

THE KNOCK

Amy is homeschooling her ten children when she hears a knock at the door. (Homeschooling parents dread "the knock.") When Amy answers the door, a social worker confronts her, saying that she's investigating claims that Amy and her husband are raising unsocialized children. "Unsocialized children?" Say that again.

WAIT. WHAT?

When did raising unsocialized children become a crime, something to be investigated, something in which government is to be involved? And, just what is "socialization?" Is getting a child socialized a procedure someone has to perform? Is it an injection? Is it an exercise? I don't know, so let's turn to the dictionary to help us figure out what being socialized means and then maybe can define an unsocialized child.

In the dictionary, we find the meanings: "to conform to socialist ideas and philosophies," "to adapt to the behavior patterns of the culture around them," and "to be under group or government control." Wait. What? Socialization sounds both serious and unchristian according to Romans 12:1-2.

Let's look at socialization historically: "The youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing.” – HITLER, 1937.

There it is, there's socialization embedded in the words, "inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community." So, in 1938, Hitler outlawed homeschooling and it's still the law in Germany today. If  parents are going to independently educate their children in Germany today, they must do so underground. If discovered, they are subject to a fine, to imprisonment, or losing custody of their children.

BACK TO THE KNOCK

But, let's go back to the knock on Amy's door. Doesn't the "socialization of children" sound like a good thing? It sounds like a worthy goal to pursue, doesn't it? Socialized children good; unsocialized children bad.

That's the velvet tongue at work. We have to admit, it's a brilliant ploy; that's the angel of light at work.

HOW ABOUT ANOTHER EXAMPLE?

I recently received an e-mail from my accountant who does my taxes. I admit it: I'm too dumb, too mathematically challenged, and too impatient to go through the rules for filing the income tax paper work. I'd rather be hitting my fingers with a hammer than figuring out how much I owe my uncle. Besides, to let the accountant do it relieves me of all kinds of worry, "Did I do it right?"

The letter from the tax firm informed all of its clients about what's going at the moment, and I quote:

"If you purchased health insurance through the Exchange last year, you will receive a 1095-A, and we must have it to complete your taxes. 

"Most of you purchased health insurance directly from an insurance company or through your employer, so you should receive a 1095-B or 1095-C form by March 31, but we do not need it to prepare your taxes THIS YEAR.  You do need to tell us about any gaps in coverage last year for everyone on your tax return, and if this information doesn’t match the 1095 form when you get it, the IRS will express their displeasure to you.

"If anyone on your tax return didn’t have health insurance for any significant period last year, you should expect to pay a shared responsibility payment."

(I know, I know, you got a headache just reading that.)

And I know that you caught the velvet tongue--"a shared responsibility payment." In the real world, "a shared responsibility payment" is a penalty, a fine. But a shared responsibility payment sounds like a good thing because it's good to share and it's important to take on one's responsibilities. Shared responsibility payment is a good thing. A paying a fine is bad; paying a penalty, bad. So, we have the velvet tongue.

HOW ABOUT ONE MORE? 

Wheaton College (some times called, 'The Evangelical Harvard") is involved in turmoil because one of its tenured professors decided to publicly state that Christians and Muslims worship the same God and have the same book. Yes, a learned professor at a Christian college actually said that. Her belief violates both the Bible and the doctrinal statement of the school which states:

 "WE BELIEVE in one sovereign God, eternally existing in three persons: the everlasting Father, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the giver of life; and we believe that God created the Heavens and the earth out of nothing by His spoken word, and for His own glory. (Islam rejects the Trinity.)

"WE BELIEVE that God has revealed Himself and His truth in the created order, in the Scriptures, and supremely in Jesus Christ; and that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writing, so that they are fully trustworthy and of supreme and final authority in all they say. (Islam holds that the Koran is the supreme and final authority.)

"WE BELIEVE that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, triumphing over all evil; and that all who believe in Him are justified by His shed blood and forgiven of all their sins."  

According to Wheaton College, "Upon entering into a contractual employment agreement, each of our faculty and staff members voluntarily commits to accept and model the Statement of Faith with integrity, compassion and theological clarity." All faculty must sign the statement annually. "Professor Hawkins has been asked to affirm the college’s statement of faith four times since she started teaching at Wheaton nearly nine years ago, according to "The Chicago Tribune. She was called in over a paper on black liberation theology that the provost thought endorsed Marxism, the paper reported." ("The Washington Post")

Wheaton College placed the teacher on paid leave and is moving to dismiss her. That sounds reasonable; would we allow an admitted arsonist to be the chief of the fire department? A kleptomaniac to be a security guard in the mall? But the professor said she was "flabbergasted" at the action of the Administration. Really?

TO THE RESCUE

Students dressed in black demonstrated, marched, chanted, and conducted a sit-in in the offices of Provost Stan Jones and President Philip Ryken, showing their support of the professor. But it didn't stop there.

Many faculty members wore their academic regalia and conducted teach-ins in support of her reinstatement along demanding a public apology by the school. 

 And how did the velvet tongue come into play? Faculty and students, among others denounced the actions of the college for "violating the ideal of academic freedom and spiritual debate." One  came to her defense for "representing what Jesus stands for." (contra: John 1:1; 14:6) A professor commented that Wheaton had no right to do what they did and pursue firing her because the administration had never made a direct statement about any conflict between Islam and Christianity. (But doesn't their doctrinal statement state the school's basic disagreement with any cult or religion which rejects the Trinity, Christ's person and work, and the Bible?

And, as we would expect, there was support for the teacher on the basis of "diversity" and there was condemnation of the school's alleged racism. 

WE SEE HOW THIS WORKS

The velvet tongue comes clothed in morality, calling for "socialization," "shared responsibility," intellectual freedom, spiritual debate and "diversity." 

Clever, even brilliant. Be aware of the velvet tongue of the arch-deceiver. Eph. 6:11: "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil."     

Friday, January 15, 2016

HEEL!

Strange isn't it? It's strange how our culture has changed in such a short time to accept as normal, good, proper, and right ideas, policies, and practices that range from the silly and the ridiculous to blatantly evil, morally wrong, and even being obviously destructive to life, limb, and health. It's strange that a culture can come to accept and relabel what's good as "evil," and what's evil as "good." (That sounds like a statement right out of the Bible. It is.)

How does a society come to such a state of affairs? How does such acceptance happen? How is a society transformed, and is there a "they," that is, a group of people who plan and execute such a change. To say it another way, "How do they bring us to heel?" Stella Morabito delineates the process:

THE HOW TO

What we're talking about is the creation of public opinion to accept as good what is evil. It's a process, step-by-step, until the desired opinion is accepted. As with every process, to get to the desired result, there are phases, well thought out steps, tried and true that will work every time.

Phase 1: Inject the idea/policy/practice into the public at large. Start talking about it. Get people listening. What's accomplished in this step is that you've gotten people considering the idea. That idea as a good thing has never entered their mind, but now they're thinking about it. That's all you want at this incipient stage, think about it; discuss it.

Phase 2: Inundate the media with praise for the idea. What we have here is people telling us in print, on talk shows, in plays, movies, and TV shows that what we've always considered evil is good. When someone on a talk show promotes the idea, have the audience burst into enthusiastic applause and cheer. This makes any dissenter in the audience or watching on TV feel isolated.

Phase 3: Get a boatload of famous people, learned people, and admired people to sing the praises of the idea. At press conferences, during Academy Award speeches, wherever, get the endorsements of the rich and famous. This makes the idea look cool. What you're doing at this phase is creating something you must have to transform people's thinking, and thus transform society: you're creating an effect, a bandwagon. By creating the bandwagon effect, you're having people jump on board in large numbers. People want to be considered cool.

Phase 4: Next comes the negative side of the process. In Phase 4 the public shaming and condemning begins against a person who doesn't get on the bandwagon by labeling him as "a bigot," "narrow-minded," "uneducated," and/or "a hater." This phase is extremely effective in shutting down opposition because no one wants to be described by those words. Those words aren't cool.

Phase 5: Use movies, plays, and television programs to cast those who oppose your idea as evil, dumb, nefarious, on the fringe, that is, cast them in the drama as the villain or a bumbler. Instead of the drama format, also use the parody, the satire to ridicule the person who's skeptical of the idea. (This was done on a weekly basis--saturation--by the ground-breaking TV show, "All in the Family." It was so successful, that spin-offs came into being.)

Phase 6: Fire the skeptic from his job; fine him; bring the legal system with its mailed fist against him, ruin his livlihood. Publicize what can be done and is done to him. Make certain everyone knows what happens to those who who will not ask, "How high?" when "they" command, "Jump!"

Phase 7: Socially shun him. (Just the threat of Phases 6 and 7 will most often bring about a public apology from him, accompanied by his speaking with respect of the idea. Then, praise him for his courage to apologize, applaud him for evolving because evolving implies progress and progress is cool.)

ACCEPT?

It's done. The process is over. Fait accompli: the idea, policy, or practice is accepted. But wait. What does "accept" mean? It doesn't mean that everyone agrees with the idea, but it does mean that those who don't (even if they're the majority) have been coerced into silence and appear to be giving their tacit approval. The process has shut them down.

"THEY"

There are those who study and employ this process and, with forethought, put their plans for social engineering into action, phase by phase. Once initiated, the change they want comes fast and furious. From this, we can see how, when the phases are employed on a global scale, the whole world comes to call evil "good," and good "evil" (I John 5:19). Now we can see how the world will follow the anti-Christ.

Friday, January 8, 2016

GIVE IT THE OLD COLLEGE TRY

"Give it the old college try," is an expression that dates back to 1917 when former major league baseball player turned evangelist Billy Sunday put the expression on the lips of the New York Giants manager John McGraw. Manager McGraw after watching a rookie outfielder just out of college miss a heroic catch which resulted in a homer, said, "That's the eye, young fellow. The old college try." The expression means to attempt something with a vigorous, committed effort.

THE BIG I

American colleges are giving it the old college try at the "Big I," and It's an amazing attempt. The "Big I" is "Inclusiveness" and the universities of our country are giving it the old college try to be inclusive. Keene State College in New Hampshire has a Campus Commission for Diversity and Multiculturalism (another name for the Big I). Other schools have set up Departments for Inclusion. All such Big I commissions and departments have developed purpose statements. The one at Keene State College says that the purpose of the Big I Commission is:

"To address issues related to the multiple dimensions of diversity including but not limited to gender equity and gender expression, age, class, culture, differing physical and learning abilities, ethnicity, race, religion, and sexual orientation. To promote a campus environment in which differences between people are recognized, understood, and accepted in all areas of academic and community life." That's a mouthful. Sounds like a committee has chewed up a dictionary and spit out vocabulary.

THE KEY WORD

You probably noticed the key word in the mission statement: "accepted." The Big I means acceptance of all of the above. It was the Big I that drove the administrators of many schools such as the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to give it the old college try to ban Christmas parties. (This action so incensed the Tennessee legislators that many of them demanded that the university be defunded and chancellor Jimmy Cheek resign for giving it the old college try. Marsha Blackburn a member of congress from Tennessee wrote, "He needs to step up, shape up, or step down.") According to the Big I, the word, "Christmas" and certainly a Christmas party aren't inclusive.

TURN ABOUT

In return, the Big I can be infuriated, and what angers the Big I most is Christianity. Let's examine why.

WAIT A MINUTE

But wait. Isn't Christianity inclusive? Yes, it is. It declares that all men are created in the image and likeness of God.

But wait. Isn't Christianity inclusive? Yes, it is. It pronounces all to be sinners in Romans 3:23--separated from God.

But wait. Isn't Christianity inclusive? Yes, it is. I John 2:2 says that Christ's death on the cross was the satisfaction for everyone's sins, for the sins of the whole world. Isn't that as inclusive as you can get?

But wait. How about the Great Commission? Yes, the Great Commission is inclusive because it's a command for the Christian to go where? Into all the world. "All the world" sounds inclusive.

But wait. How about every believer? Each believer is a member of the body of Christ, each believer is a priest before God, whether they be male or female, slave or free, Jew or gentile, red or yellow, black or white. All believers are one in Christ, equal in position in Christ. No one believer is more saved than any other and all believers are included in the 34 things that accrue to all believers at the moment they trust Christ alone. That sounds inclusive.

THERE'S NO SATISFYING THE BIG I

But that's not what infuriates the Big I. What makes the Big I angry is that the inclusiveness of Christianity is limited by free will. Although Christ's death renders every person, red and yellow, black or white, savable, not all are saved because each person must place his faith alone in Christ alone in order to be saved. The Big I see that the vast majority doesn't do this and therefore, by their own free will are not included (Matthew 7:21-23). For those who want nothing to do with Christ and Him crucified and raised again, God honors their free will choice--He lets them live out that choice: eternal separation from the Christ they chose to have nothing to do with. He's simply giving them what they wanted.

What also infuriates the Big I is that Christianity will not abide by its mission statement "to recognize, understand, and accept gender expression . . . culture . . . religion . . . and sexual orientation." Christianity will not accept any and all gender expressions because it declares some to be sinful; it will not accept any and all religions because Christ is the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to God except by Him; it will not accept any other book as equal to or above the Bible. Christianity will neither accept as right all sexual orientations nor all practices of all cultures because some "orientations" are sinful and some practices of all cultures are sinful, no matter what culture we're talking about, even the American (Romans 1).

Christianity refuses to treat all behaviors the same by being "understanding" and "accepting:" Mark 8:15; Galatians 6:10; Titus 3:10-11; Matthew 18:15-17. In this regard, Christianity refuses to rename sin, calling evil "good." (This is inclusive in one sense: the Bible won't rename sin for the believer or the unbeliever. Sin is sin is sin. Adultery is still adultery, no matter who's involved.)

The Big I is giving it the old college try, but it will continue to fail because, for all it's inclusion, it will accept every book except one. It will accept every person except One. It will accept every ethic except one. 




Friday, January 1, 2016

CHILDREN'S CHURCH

I attended a church service a while back and after it was over, I could have sworn that I'd attended their children's church, not the adult church. And, as the saying goes, thereby hangs a tale.

When I entered the nice building, a friendly and smiling usher gave me a bulletin with an outline with blanks to fill in during the sermon. Also in the bulletin was a listing of the week's activities by which I learned that the church was a beehive of activity everyday of the week except Saturday. Tucking the bulletin into my Bible, I navigated my way through the people who were milling around in the spacious foyer, meeting and greeting one another before the service. It was a foyer of wall-to-wall smiles and friendly "hellos."

I settled into the auditorium and waited for the service to begin. I chose the front row, front pew, center section. A man strode to the transparent pulpit, and after a friendly greeting, announced the tally for the morning. He told us how many had been in Sunday school and how many of that total were visitors. When the congregation heard the figure, they burst into a round of applause.

THE SOUND SYSTEM

The pleasant speaker then told all of us to meet and greet one another while a singing group of six people, in addition to the choir, sang. People came up to me from left and right and introduced themselves and I reciprocated. But I have no idea who those people were, nor did they catch my name either. The reason was that the music rendered by the chorus and choir, although not heavy metal, was of heavy metal volume through the high tech sound system amplified by those in the chorus, each of whom held a high tech microphone and the various microphones dangling in the choir area. None of us could hear anything understandable from anybody, although we were a few inches away from each other because the singers were belting out "Away in A Manger" as if in a rock concert in front of thousands.

WHERE I WAS NOT

One other thing you need to know: I wasn't in a megachurch among thousands. No, I was in a moderate-sized auditorium with some empty pews and others only half-filled.

After many a song and a well-done solo, it was time for the pastor to speak and speak he did over the high-tech sound system which he rendered superfluous because he spoke like the choir and chorus had sung--he yelled, even though he was using one of those high tech mics Bruce Springsteen would wear. The thing was, in that moderate-sized auditorium, there was no need to yell. I (and he and anyone) could speak in a reasonably moderate conversational voice and be heard by one and all, no problem; no mic really needed.

WONDERING ABOUT CHILDREN'S CHURCH?

Now, this is where children's church comes in. As the sermon progressed at full-throttle (it was a yelling of the Christmas story) people were dutifully filling in the blanks of the outline which had been included in the bulletin. This was neither difficult nor challenging because a high-tech power point projector was throwing complete outline on two walls, one either side of the front of the auditorium as he went along.

Besides that, before each blank in the outline the first letter of the word was given, such as, "There was no room in the i_________." "She laid Him in a m_________." If I couldn't figure out the word for the appropriate blank when the pastor said, "inn" and "manger," if I couldn't get it from the given first letter, there it was on both of the walls behind the speaker. I got it.

SAY IT AGAIN, SAM

Occasionally, the pastor would encourage us to speak up. He did this by yelling things like, "Joseph was faithful--say, 'faithful.' Most people said, "Faithful." One one occasion, he said, "Theophany, say, 'theophany.'" (We had trouble with that one; it wasn't as easy as "faithful.") This, "say it routnie" was interspersed throughout the sermon, not often, but every once in a while.

At one point the speaker began a long, rapid litany of descriptive words, saying all in one breath, "God is faithful, wonderful, loving, sustaining, giving, providing, guiding, protecting, leading, wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, delivering, and saving" and as he finished, literally panting, the congregation burst into applause, with "Yes, Yes." After that, his lungs were thirsty for air.

I wondered if, at some point later in life, the pastor's vocal cords would need medical attention. The strain must have been great for this 40-minute yellfest. That aside, he deserved a long nap that Sunday afternoon. What he did was exhausting.

Now, you may be thinking, "What charismatic church were you in?" Ah, but I wasn't. It was no charismatic church, it was a Southern Baptist church in the Bible Belt, USA. It was a church which showed the influence of the charismatic movement.

SO, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?

What's the meaning of this? In her revealing book,  The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, by Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt, the author reveals an astonishing documented trail, proving that "education" in America is a tool of deliberate dysfunction. (She worked in the U.S. Department of Education during the Regan Administration.) She calls this "educational abuse" and says it's massive and while many see through it, many others do not. The same thing is happening in churches to the extent that we may call it, the dumbing down of the church.

Melissa Cain Travis asks, "How often do you hear serious theology or doctrine discussed in a Sunday School class? At the last retreat or conference you attended, were there challenging ideas of substance being taught and discussed, or was it not much more than a 'Yay, God rocks!' rally that would have been foreign and perhaps repellent to a non-believer?" She has a point.

Dr. William Lane Craig laments, “Our culture in general has sunk to the level of biblical and theological illiteracy…But if we do not preserve the truth of our own Christian heritage and doctrine, who will learn it for us?”

"I must be frank with you: the greatest danger confronting American evangelical Christianity is the danger of anti-intellectualism.." So said Charles Malik, speaking at the Billy Graham Center Dedication Ceremony.

What masquerades as a Bible "study" is a 40-minute emotional bath which by-passes the intellect to emphasize personal feelings, the scratching of itching ears, thus leaving the hearers theologically illiterate with no grasp of the nature of Christian teaching and ideas.

Whatever happened to Luke 10:27: "Love God with all our minds"?

The service was childlike--fill in the blanks (the words will be provided by the spoken word, by the hint with the first letter of the word, and with the power point). Put the completed outline in your Bible, go home, come back next week for more of the same. The problem is that, as Warren Wiersbe has pointed out, life isn't lived by an outline.

Outlines are neat and orderly, but life is messy. No one lives their life by bullet points. The literal, grammatical, historical, dispensational, and premillennial teaching of the Bible demands all the intellect we've got and more (Dr. John F. Walvoord). Peter mentions that Paul wrote some things "hard to understand." (This shows us that Peter had read all of Paul's epistles.) Some of what Paul (and the Apostles) wrote needs further study. Prophecy would be a good example.)

What to do if your pastor will not dive deeply into the Word of God with intellectually careful and doctrinally precise sermons? The usual procedure is to "go talk to him." But talking to him won't change a thing.

Get out. Get out now. You aren't going to change the church. You're wasting your time. Life is too short to spend your years in children's church.