restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Preaching With the Eleven

 David Alan Black

The demise of doctrine. The death of learning. Such is the sad state of affairs in our churches today.

Where teaching happens to be present it is often plagued by idiosyncratic doctrine. Preachers go “solo,” preferring to say “what the text means to me” rather than standing on the doctrinal shoulders of the great saints of the past. We do not first inquire, “Lord, what does this text mean?” We make a show of seeking the truth but it is His stamp of approval upon our own ideas that we are after.

The collective wisdom of the ages stands at our doorstep but the door remains shut. Paul wrote, “Look, the ear can’t say, because it is not the eye, you don’t need me! Nor can the hand say to the foot, I don’t need you!” No, no, says Paul, “everyone needs everyone! No inferiority in the body, and no superiority; we all need each other!”

“Big” Christians are always saying, “I don’t need you, but you need me.” They forget that relationships in the body of Christ are two-way. We ministers must be willing to have others minister to us. It is important that we not only give advice, but that we also ask for it and receive it gladly.

Are you a teacher? There will be little power if you “fly solo.” Steep yourself in the theology of the Reformers. Surround yourself with friends who will challenge you and correct you if necessary. Keep your relationships in the body two-way.

Acts 2:14 says that Peter “stood up with the Eleven … and addressed the crowd.” I have often asked myself, How could Peter preach with the Eleven? The answer is actually quite simple. Peter knew that he had no right to say whatever he pleased. He recognized that his preaching had to be united with the “Amen” of the whole church. He was speaking on behalf of the other apostles and so he had to correctly reflect their doctrines and views.

Tom Ascol has said (Founders Journal, Issue 32):

Early Southern Baptists took for granted that Christianity is essentially doctrinal. To know Christ and follow Him faithfully demands we understand and believe the essential tenets of the faith. Must one, then, be a theologian in order to be a Christian? No. But every Christian ought to be as theologically informed from the Bible as possible. Such an attitude was once commonplace in Baptist churches. Doctrine was not regarded as dry, boring, or unimportant, and neither was it relegated to the domain of “professionals.”

Ascol is right. It is because of our failure to take theology seriously that our churches are plagued by a non-biblical emphasis on pragmatic reasoning, youth culture, consumer-driven marketing, and feminism.

A great assembly of humble, Scripture-satiated Christians can know more of the truth than all the professors trying to get their latest views published in the world’s prestigious journals.

July 22, 2004

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book is Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon.

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Praying for the Lost

 David Alan Black  

I have a salvation prayer list. Do you? “Operation Andrew” suggests you make a list of 4 or 5 people who need salvation and pray for them daily. I might suggest that before you do this you ask God to bring certain people to your mind. Then, when He lays them upon your heart, pray for them at least once a day.                                                      

Remember: no case is impossible. In New Testament times the Gospel even penetrated the household of the Emperor himself (Phil. 4:22). God may well have a few surprises up His sleeve for you – just as He did for me when Mohammed became a new creation in an Alaba prison. Some people on your prayer list will, of course, be more ready than others. In a tiny village in Northern Ethiopia lives a woman who 3 years ago had no believer in her family. Now she is surrounded by a son and daughter who follow Jesus. I think she is not far from the kingdom. It’s good to remember that God has no favorites. He “does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation” (Acts 10:34).

Must you use a certain technique when praying for the lost? By no means! Simply spread your requests out before God without suggesting what He ought to do about it. Leave the means and the timing to Him. “Ask and you will receive,” said Jesus, and when we ask through Him we can be assured that our prayers will be heard and answered as the Father deems best.

I suppose that a burden for the lost is the most crucial mark of any church when we are considering the matter of evangelism. If you have really experienced the Good News of salvation you will want others to share that experience. My limited experience in foreign missions goes to support the assertion that once a church begins to pray for the lost, before long they will begin to give generously to support those in their midst who seek to go out. Such churches begin to look beyond themselves. They will be willing to neglect their own needs (our “needs” are often only our “wants,” aren’t they?) and look to far needier places to support. The fellowship in a church that genuinely loves the lost has got to be sweeter than anywhere else in town.

My friend, I cannot tell you how important it is for you to visualize the harvest field to which God has called you. Remember: the fields are white, and you’ve been drafted for the harvest. One day you and I will step out into eternity. In the meantime, what can we do for the lost?

Pray for them!

March 16, 2007

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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Prayer Itinerary (March 2010)

Becky Lynn Black  

We’re praising the Lord that He is allowing us to return to Ethiopia again! He has given us a measure of strength and health, and has provided the finances. As we look to the next 22 days, our goals are three-fold. First, we just want to be with the people whom we love so much! This will be our first reunion since Becky’s diagnosis; they have been diligent prayer warriors.  Our reunion will be sweet as we praise our Lord together, just hugging on each other…. what PURE JOY that will be!!!

Second, we will have intense meetings with the church leaders. Together we will evaluate past ministry and look to the future, asking the Lord to guide our thoughts, bring unity, and show us His perfect will for His church.

Third, we will be laying some serious ground-work for the 23 people coming in July. This involves buying supplies, solidifying ministry plans and arranging logistics.

Will you pray with us that these things will be accomplished according to His will?  Pray for continued strength, for wisdom, for protection (physically, spiritually, and emotionally), and for His blessing. The days, as usual, will be packed full. We want to squeeze every ounce of blessing from this time! To help you join in the fun, here is our prayer itinerary. You will never know how your particular prayers, given at your specific time, may change the course of our day in Ethiopia. So, please be faithful to respond as the Spirit moves you!

Wednesday, March 17….BeckyLynn departs for Ethiopia, flying Ethiopian Airlines via Dulles in Washington DC.  Pray for God’s special Hand upon her as she travels with her wonderful broken toe 🙂

Thursday, March 18…. Dave departs for Ethiopia, flying United and Lufthansa via Frankfurt.  (Yes, we are flying separately to save money.)  Pray for Dave to make his flights; he is going stand-by status on United to Frankfurt.  After 30 hours of travel, BeckyLynn arrives in the capital city, Addis Ababa, in the evening; she is met by Oshe, a leader of the Burji church, with the “refugee truck.”  Pray for things to get through Customs without difficulty.

Friday, March 19…This will be a wild day, with BeckyLynn and Oshe running here and there all over Addis collecting solar panels, chargers, batteries, Thru-the-Bible CDs, etc., etc.; by the end of the day the Refugee Truck will be loaded to the brim!  Pray for our Lord to make our way straight and efficient.  It will be a full day on little sleep, still coping with jet lag.  There are two things that we especially need at the clinic: autoclave and oxygen; these can only be obtained in the capital. Please pray for His guidance in these items.  Dave arrives at the airport in the evening; pray for easy passage through Customs.

Saturday, March 20…We load up in the cab of the refugee truck at about 3:30am, headed south to Burji. Driving with only one meal stop, we’ll arrive in Soyama about 8pm. Pray for safe travel and a good operation of the truck. Can you already hear the singing as we pull into the church compound! Such a happy reunion!

Sunday, March 21…We’ll spend the day in Soyama, joining the Soyama Town congregation for their services. Both of us will speak. Maybe in the afternoon we’ll get a little nap, but I doubt it; folk will be ready to see us…and we’ll be ready to see them!

Monday thru Thursday, March 22-25….We’ll be taken to a different village each day, and folk will come from miles around.  We’ll share in the Lord’s joy. We’re share testimonies. We’ll challenge each other for live for Christ and His Kingdom.  These will be glorious days! In between these visiting times, we’ve got a list a mile long of things that need to be done….measure this, check that, visit soandso….  Pray for strength and wisdom. I’ve tried to organize things as much as possible, but it’s still a challenge to keep thoughts straight and operations effective. :)….While in Africa, we just have to FLOW!

Friday, March 26…We’ll have some in-depth, prolonged meetings with the clinic staff, with the church leaders, and probably with the government officials. Please pray for His unusual wisdom and a clear sense of His Spirit’s guidance during these meetings. One government official that we met with 2 years ago was very antagonistic against any Christian work, even a medical clinic.  He especially mocked our vision to have an ultrasound machine at the clinic; I’m hoping that God will give me time with this man. We’re told that the ultrasound machine at our clinic is the only one in the lower 1/3rd of Ethiopia! This is God’s work; only let us always keep before us the purpose of the clinic to heal souls as well as bodies.

Saturday, March 27…We will travel up to Alaba, stopping en route to visit Aberash, Tilahun,  and Baby Nathan (who is now 2 years old!). Again, pray for safe travel, good mechanics, and a blessed visit with this precious family. We will probably leave about 6am and arrive in Alaba that evening.

Sunday, March 28…Church service will be in Alaba Town church. We will both speak to the congregation.  This congregation has out-grown their building…on a Sunday morning people are sitting everywhere on the compound listening to the service over a loudspeaker. We’ll get to see our son Mohammed, as well as Nigussie, Demissie, and many others!

Monday-Wednesday or Thursday, March 29-31/April 1…We’ll be visiting the wonderful believers in Alaba….Hajji Mohammed, Kidir, Tessema, Melesse, and many others. Most of these are the evangelists who struggle so much for the Gospel….how blessed we are to be allowed to work with them! Pray for good communications and sweet fellowship. Also, pray for God’s protection from malaria; it is rampant in Alaba.

Thursday or Friday, April 1 or 2….We’ll travel back to Addis; this is a mere 6-hour drive, but is still along a road full of animals, people and potholes; pray for safety. Especially coming into Addis, huge lorry trucks are added to the blend, everyone’s in a rush to get there, and it can be quite hair-raising. I’m sure that by this time we’ll be exhausted; pray for special strength to finish the work. We’ll stop at Yohannes and Wube’s home for supper; although they left Alaba 2 years ago, they have kept a room available for us in Alaba, foregoing the rental income it would have brought.  Such love!

Friday and Saturday, April 2-3…We’ll be meeting with lots of precious people in Addis…our daughter Emebet and the Williams, “Emebet of Burji,” and many others. Pray for spiritually-profitable times together. Saturday evening Dave boards the Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt while BeckyLynn remains at the Guesthouse in Addis. Pray for safe travel, good connections, etc.

Sunday, April 4…While Dave continues his flight to Dulles and Raleigh, BeckyLynn will rest in Addis before boarding the Ethiopian Airlines flight in the evening. Again, pray for good rest and safe travel

Monday, April 5…BeckyLynn arrives back at Raleigh airport in the afternoon. Praise the Lord with us at His wonderful blessing and the privilege of doing His work!

If God is willing, we’ll be back on the farm late Monday, April 5th. We’ll have 4 days of recooperation before the next Orientation for the July Team; this 6-hour meeting on Saturday will be a great time, but it does require work on our part 🙂  Sunday, April 11, we’ll spend the day with Amelia Baptist Church, in Amelia, VA. Chemo #4 is early Monday morning, April 12. So you can see that we hit the ground running upon our return. We’ll *rest* after Chemo #4 🙂 It is SUCH a joy to be in the Lord’s service!!!

March 17, 2010

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Prayer Guide for Our Ethiopia Team

Becky Lynn Black  

BeckyLynn has written the following detailed itinerary and prayer guide for our trip to Ethiopia this summer. Please feel free to share it with your friends. And THANK YOU for praying! -DB

Part 1: Prayer Guide for the Burji Team

Jason Evans, Ed Johnson, Danny Chambers,

Kennon & Sheree Brown, Jason & Stacy Hatley, Mary Jacobs,

Cindi Jacobs, Dave & BeckyLynn Black

Tuesday, May 29…final preparations…pray for wisdom, for physical rest, for packing, and for stable emotions.

Wednesday, May 30…departing NC… processing luggage & flights at RDU airport (high stress time); depart 5:15pm. pray for saying goodbyes, smooth departure from RDU, weighing & checking baggage, calm spirits, wisdom for Team Captains. Also pray for a smooth flight & courage for those afraid of flying. Pray for safety in flight. Pray that we would remember to surrender ourselves completely to His purposes. Pray for ease of connecting the Bethel Hill team with Dave & BeckyLynn in Washington DC.

Depart Dulles Airport, Ethiopian Airlines #501 at 8:30pm. This will be about 16 hours on the airplane.  Pray for physical discomforts that come with these long flights. Pray for good sleep, good circulation, no leg swellings or aching joints. Pray for that we would trust in Him if He decides to give us these physical ailments, without complaints. Pray for safety in flight & no lost luggage.

Thursday, May 31…arriving Ethiopia at 7:00pm. (this is 12:00noon in North Carolina) We will be very tired. We will be met at Bole Airport in Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia) by several Ethiopian ‘sons’ with several vehicles to transport us to the Addis Kidan guesthouse. Pray for ease of clearing customs, that no baggage is lost, that we do not have to pay any additional fees, that visas will be honored, etc. Pray that the Guesthouse will have the beds ready for us, and that we will sleep well.  Pray that the loud-speaker prayers of the Muslim and Orthodox will not blast this night, so that we can sleep. 

Friday, June 1-Saturday, June 2…our first days in Ethiopia.  Pray that we will rest in the Lord, trusting that whatever amount of sleep He allows is all we need.  We have many logistical errands to run. We will divide into teams of 3-4 people, each team with a list of jobs to do and an Ethiopian guide who speaks good English. This will be the first day of seeing Ethiopia. Pray for the team members as they adjust to the Ethiopian culture & try to absorb all the differences. Pray for safety in travel about the city, staying together, etc. Pray for the Lord’s blessing upon all our errands, that all will be accomplished that needs to be accomplished. Pray for the exchange of our money, that it will be a good rate of exchange. Pray for the translators as they work with Jason on the puppet signs, etc.. Pray for Sheree & Kennon as they visit the places of Sheree’s childhood, that peace & joy will fill her as she sees the Hand of our Lord upon her life. Pray that we will get some rest and adjust to the time change. (Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of NC).  We will visit the National Museum, the King’s Orthodox church and possibly Mt. Entoto to help us understand Ethiopian culture and religious background. From now until we leave Ethiopia, we will eat Ethiopian food almost exclusively; pray for our digestive systems to adjust and for us to exercise wisdom in this area of life; we will drink only bottled water and we will not eat fresh (uncooked) fruits or vegetables.

Sunday, June 3…our first Sunday in Ethiopia. We will join a native Ethiopian church for worship services. If we are invited to speak, pray that our Lord will fill us with His message. This will be our last day to rest before heading down-country to Burji.  Pray for a good rest time for all of us.

Monday, June 4…driving to Soyama Town in the Burji District.  We will take a bus; our driver will be Demissie, a church leader from the Alaba Town church, and this will be his bus (he is donating this bus & service for our ministry).  It is possible that an additional bus or truck will also help us. Pray for the Lord’s blessing to be upon Demissie for his kindness and generosity to us. Pray for wisdom as we pack the bus/truck with all our suitcases, the motorcycles, the water, etc.  Pray for safe-keeping of our valuables that we leave in Addis while we go down-country. Pray for safety as the drivers negotiate the 2-lane road packed with cars, buses, cows, goats/sheep, donkeys, carts, people, etc. We plan to stop along the way to see the Dila Bible School; pray for a good connection with the Dila staff & a profitable time there. Pray for grace as we absorb and adapt to the conditions of rural Ethiopia. Pray for God’s blessing as we begin to forge relationships with Ethiopians; several Ethiopians will be traveling with us on this bus, and we want to be a positive influence upon them for our Lord and His way. Our ‘son’ Bereket (the blind boy) might be coming with us; pray for healing and protection of his eye on the trip (following cataract surgery), and that this time will be extremely profitable spiritually as he is with the Team.

This drive will require about 12 hours; we will leave Addis very early in the morning and arrive late afternoon. It is not good to be driving at night; so pray that our trip will be without delaying events, engine trouble, accidents, etc. The first 10 hours will be on a 2-lane paved road, traveling south out of Addis Ababa; this road is called the Pan African Highway since it goes all the way to South Africa. If you have a map, you can travel with us! We will go past the towns of Shashamanee (where Sheree was born), of Awasso, and of Dila, to the town of AgreMariam. This traveling will take us past several large lakes in the Rift Valley, and then up into the mountains, where we will be able to see the tops of Ethiopia’s great mountain ranges to the west. The scenery is gorgeous!

At AgreMariam we turn toward the west & drive on a gravel road for 2 hours until we come to Soyama Town. 

This is the “county seat” of the Burji District. This will be our “home base” for the Burji ministry. We will sleep in the guest house of the church; two people per room. There is a pit toilet hole with cemented floor and electricity. The church ladies will cook meals for us.  Pray for us to adjust to the living situation.

Tuesday, June 5…our first day in Burji District.  Several things will happen today: 1) We will have time with the leaders of the Burji churches to share & get acquainted. 2) Jason E. will formally present the 2 motorcycles for the evangelists of the Burji churches. 3) The Puppet team will do a program for the children of the Soyama Town church. 4) Cindi and BeckyLynn will do an extended session with all the evangelists, SS teachers, youth leaders & Bible School students on the subject of teaching children about the Saviour. 5) Ed will review the laptop computers in preparation for classes. 6) Each team member will meet their personal interpreter and practice working together. 7) We will get oriented to the physical layout of the compound and see the completed Meeting Hall for the first time!

During this day, please pray especially for a good connection, person-to-person; this is a new situation for everyone, Ethiopians and Americans alike. The Burji church has never had 11 foreingees (white-faced foreigners) come to them before. They are excited & nervous, and most in our team have never been outside the east coast of America; so they are also excited & nervous. Pray for the Lord to calm hearts & create a bond of understanding and love by His Spirit. Pray also for the Burji leaders and translators, as we connect face-to-face around the schedule, that our Lord will make whatever adjustments are necessary in a spirit of calm and flexibility.

Soyama Town Team:

Ed, Mary, Cindi   

Jason E.

Village Team: Danny, Jason H., Dave, Kennon, BeckyLynn, Stacy, Sheree

Wednesday, June 6 thru Tuesday, June 12…our ministry teams in Soyama Town and the rural villages. During these days, four of us will remain in Soyama Town for their ministries. Ed will teach computers to 12 church leaders. Jason will teach the book of Ephesians to about 110 men; also he will do some leadership workshops for the district leaders. Mary will teach 7 groups of children and 2 groups of women, using crafts along with her Bible lessons. Cindi will assist Mary, do teacher workshops for the government school, and hold English classes for the general public. Both Mary & Cindi will also visit the women of the town in their homes.  People will be coming from all around; they will be sleeping on the compound. On the last day, these team members will spend the day visiting a rural village nearby. 

While they are doing ministry in Soyama Town, the rest of us will be traveling & ministering in 4 villages (3 are predominantly Muslim, one is predominantly animist/witchdoctor /traditional religion). We will spend two days in each village. During our time, Jason H, Danny, Kennon & others will do teaching and the Gospel presentation using puppets in the village square. Kennon & Danny will also use Frisbees & kite flying to draw attention to the puppet scene. Dave will use portrait drawing and guitar music.  While this is going on in the village square, Stacy will be doing teacher training and an English workshop in the little village government school, and Sheree will be doing a women’s Bible conference in the rural church. Also, BeckyLynn will test for eyeglasses and distribute prenatal vitamins. In the evening we will show the Jesus Film and give our testimonies at the church. We will sleep on the church floor; the believers of each rural church are making new outhouses for our use, and they will also cook for us. We will travel from village to village in an open-bed truck, walking the distances not possible for the truck, carrying our equipment on our backs.

For all members of both teams, please pray for physical strength & health (digestion, sleep, mental acuity, protection from vermin, etc.). Pray that nothing will be lost as we travel from village to village.  Also, pray for unity of spirit as we work with each other and also with the Ethiopian translators. Pray for our Lord to draw people to Himself thru us, that our testimony of Him and His way would be very clear to the people with whom we come in contact. Pray that Love will be evident. Pray for our translators. Pray for emotional stability in the midst of fatigue, frustrations, adjustments, etc.  Most of all, pray that we would be surrendered to the Lord (completely, purposefully, & continually), so that He is free to do His work in His way thru us and in us. Pray the Lord to bind the Evil One, so that His Kingdom can be established thru us. Also pray for Dave, BeckyLynn & Oshe as they provide guidance & logistical support to those doing the ministry.

Wednesday, June 13…our last day in Burji, tying up loose ends. This will be our last day in Burji.  JasonE, JasonH, Dave & BeckyLynn will meet with the leaders to discuss the future of the Burji churches. Village team members will return from the villages & take their first ‘bath’ in a week.  Everyone involved in the ministries will come together for a last time to present gifts and have a special time of testimony. Stacy, Cindi, JasonE, BeckyLynn & Dave will discuss the Soyama Town School project with church leaders. We’ll pack our suitcases, leaving our bed linens for the guesthouse to keep using.  Emotions will be running wild. We’ll all be very tired. We’ll be sad to leave, and the Ethiopians will be sad to see us leave. Many last-minute items will pop up. Pray for emotional calm & clear thinking to the end. Pray for wisdom in discussing the future, to know His mind in all things. Pray for physical health & strength and a spirit of unity in the midst of fatigue.

Thursday, June 14…leaving Burji. We will leave Soyama Town early in the morning, traveling on the gravel road back to AgreMariam.  Then we will join the 2-lane paved Pan African Highway, headed north. We will pass Dila, Awasso and Shashamanee. North of Shashamanee is a town called DebreZeit; this town is the base of the Ethiopian air force. For many decades it also has been the location of the rest home of SIM Mission, which has offered rest to thousands of missionaries coming up from down-country. It sits at the edge of a beautiful volcanic lake. Our Lord willing, we will arrive here in time for a supper of foreignee food. We will sleep in very comfortable surroundings, with hot showers and flush toilets. 

Pray for safe travel coming up from Burji. Pray for us emotionally as we “let down”. Everyone will process the ending of our trip in a different way. Pray the Lord to give us a restful, restorative night of sleep. 

Friday, June 15…saying Goodbye to Ethiopia. The trip to Addis is only about 1 ½ hours from Debre Zeit, which will allow time for everyone to do some shopping & final business items. The Team will say goodbye to Dave & BeckyLynn, who will remain in Ethiopia to receive the 5 people coming to minister in Alaba. Ethiopian Airlines flight 500 departure is at 10:15pm (3:15pm NC time). Due to the rotation of the earth and the wind currents, the flight back is longer than the flight going (about 18 hours)

Pray for good sleeping, no aching joints & muscles, stomachs to be settled, no swollen feet, etc. Pray for safety in traveling & no lost luggage. Pray for patience and clear thinking. Pray for Jason E and Kennon as the team captain & co-captain.

Saturday, June 16…back on USA soil.  Arrive Dulles Airport in Washington DC at 8:10am. Go thru Passport Control & Customs. Depart Dulles Airport, United Express flight 7223, at 12:15pm. Arrive in RDU Int’l Airport at 1:21pm. Meet family and friends in the baggage claim or at the curbside. Pray that no luggage is lost.  And keep them in prayer as they adjust to life back in the USA.

Part 2: Prayer Guide for Dave and BeckyLynn in Addis

Friday, June 15…After returning to Addis, while the Burji Team is doing shopping, we will do some final logistics (get passports & tickets from safe keeping, confirm flight, etc.). This afternoon we are meeting with individuals, mentoring them in the things of the Lord. Pray for ease of logistics and blessing in communications, especially since we will probably be very tired.

Saturday, June 16…This will be a very full day for us. In the morning, we will have an extensive meeting with various leaders about organizing evangelists to reach the North Gondar region with the Gospel; this is hard spiritual soil. Please, please, pray diligently for the Spirit to guide us in knowing His mind on this matter. Pray that we will think of all the aspects and thoroughly discuss the issues. Pray for good communications & understanding between us. In the afternoon, the editor of the largest Christian magazine in Ethiopia will interview us and our (blind) son Bereket. Pray for a clear message of God’s grace to be communicated, that His Name will be praised, and that others will be encouraged to live true Christianity. After the interview, we will go to meet a partially paralyzed woman that we have been able to help a little. Pray for a time of spiritual encouragement in the Lord. At 6:00 in the evening, we will have our traditional Family Dinner, when all our Ethiopian children gather with us for a nice meal together. Pray for good fellowship, sweet love, mutual encouragement in the Lord, that He would be glorified in our family.

Sunday, June 17…In the morning we will attend an Ethiopian church. In the afternoon and evening, we will have a very special Ring Ceremony for the betrothal of one of our Ethiopian sons. Dave & I will stand in this Ceremony as his parents. Pray for a rich time of communication, for the young couple as they begin their marriage relationship, and for our Lord to be honored in all things.  After the ceremony, we will meet the Alaba Team at Bole Airport. Pray for an easy connection with them.

Part 3: Prayer Guide for the Alaba Team

 Becky Lynn Black  

Earnie & Gunda Taylor, Lloyd Williamson, Sudie Early,

Carolyn Carter, Dave & BeckyLynn Black

Friday, June 15…final preparations…pray for wisdom, for physical rest, for packing, and for stable emotions

Saturday, June 16…departing NC…pray for saying goodbyes, smooth departures from Mecklenburg County, weighing & checking baggage at RDU & Dulles, calm spirits, wisdom for Team Captains Earnie & Carolyn. Also pray for a smooth flight & courage for those afraid of flying. Pray for safety in flight. Pray that we would remember to surrender ourselves completely to His purposes. Pray for ease of connecting the Union Chapel & Tabernacle Baptist groups at the Ethiopian Airlines gate in Washington DC.

Depart Dulles Airport, Ethiopian Airlines #501 at 8:30pm. This will be about 16 hours on the airplane.  Pray for physical discomforts that come with these long flights. Pray for good sleep, good circulation, no leg swellings or aching joints. Pray for that we would accept  & cope with traveling discomforts, without complaints. Pray for safety in flight.      

The Alaba Team: Carolyn, Lloyd, Gunda, Dave, Earnie, BeckyLynn, Sudie

Sunday, June 17…arriving Ethiopia at 7:00pm. (this is 12:00noon in Virginia).  They will be very tired.  Dave & Becky will be meet the Team at Bole Airport in Addis Ababa (the capital of Ethiopia) & take them to the Addis Kidan Guesthouse.  Pray for ease of clearing customs, that no baggage is lost, that we do not have to pay any additional fees, that visas will be honored, etc. Pray that the Guesthouse will have the beds ready for us, and that we will sleep well. 

Monday, June 18…the Alaba Team’s first day in Ethiopia. Pray that we will rest in the Lord, trusting that whatever amount of sleep He allows is all we need.  We may have some logistical errands to run and we will visit the National Museum and the King’s Orthodox church to help us understand Ethiopian culture and religious background.  This will be the first day of seeing Ethiopia. Pray for the team members as they adjust to the Ethiopian culture & try to absorb all the differences. Pray for safety in travel about the city, staying together, etc. Pray for the Lord’s blessing upon all our errands, that all will be accomplished that needs to be accomplished. Pray that we will get some rest and adjust to the time change (Ethiopia is 7 hours ahead of VA). From now until we leave Ethiopia, we will eat Ethiopian food almost exclusively; pray for our digestive systems to adjust and for us to exercise wisdom in this area of life.

Tuesday, June 19…driving to Alaba Kulito Town in the Alaba District. We will rent a Land Cruiser from the head office of the Kale Heywot fellowship of churches. Pray for the vehicle to operate well, and for there to be no confusion in the rental agreement.  Pray for wisdom as we pack the vehicle with all our suitcases, the water, etc.  Pray for safe-keeping of our valuables that we leave in Addis while we go down-country. Pray for safety as our driver Markos negotiates the 2-lane road packed with cars, buses, cows, goats/sheep, donkeys, carts, people, etc. Pray for grace as we absorb and adapt to the conditions of rural Ethiopia. Pray for God’s blessing as we begin to forge relationships with Ethiopians; several Ethiopians will be traveling with us, and we want to be a positive influence upon them for our Lord and His way. It is possible that our ‘daughter’ Emebet will be coming with us; pray for her spiritual growth during this trip.

This drive will require about 6 hours; we will leave Addis early in the morning and arrive mid-afternoon.  Please pray that our trip will be without delaying events, engine trouble, accidents, etc. The first 4 hours will be on a 2-lane paved road, traveling south out of Addis Ababa; this road is called the Pan African Highway since it goes all the way to South Africa. Get out your map to travel with us! We will go past the town of DebreZeit to Shashamanee. At Shashamanee we leave the Pan African Highway, turning west onto a less-traveled 2-lane paved road. After 2 hours, we will come to the town of Alaba Kulito, which is like the county seat for the district of Alaba. This town has one paved road; primary transport is by gari (“gah ree”), which is a horse-drawn cart. We will stay in the homes of the Alaba Christians, ministering in the Town church and various rural churches. There is a pit toilet hole with cemented floor and electricity.  Pray for us to adjust to the living situation. Pray for rest from the mosquitoes at night. This afternoon Gunda will begin working with Desalegne in preparing the bell choir music for the Ethiopians.    Pray for quick understanding of this choir; it is very new to Ethiopians. We will get some ministry reports, tour the church compound, meet with the Alaba church leaders & our personal translators. Pray for good working relationships

Wednesday, June 20 thru Friday, June 22…phase 1 ministry in Alaba District. For these three days, Gunda & Earnie will go every day to the Keranzo-1 rural church; they will work with Desalegne, Hajji Mohammed and Melese the evangelist.  They will have morning and afternoon sessions for the people of this church. Gunda will shape a Bell Choir out of 8-10 people, and Earnie will teach the book of Romans to all the people (maybe 20-40 men & women). Fetiye will cook their noon meal. Sudie & Carolyn will remain in the Town teaching English to school teachers and the general public; they will have morning and afternoon sessions. While their English class is in one room, Dave will be teaching a Bible Conference to the men/leaders/evangelists in another room. Meanwhile, Lloyd & BeckyLynn will travel every day to a different rural church and host a workshop for the local farmers; this workshop is designed as an outreach, helping the farmers understand better about the eco-dynamics of farming; we will do soil testing & distribute seeds. For security reasons, everyone will return to the Town to sleep at night.

Pray especially for a good connection, person-to-person; this is a new situation for everyone, Ethiopians and Americans alike. Like the Burji church, the Alaba church has never had so many foreingees (white-faced foreigners) come to them before. I’m not sure who is more excited: the Ethiopians or the Alaba Team members!  Pray for the Lord to calm hearts & create a bond of understanding and love by His Spirit. Pray for us as we mingle the Gospel message with English lessons & farm instruction, that our Lord will touch the Muslims attending these classes. Pray also for the Alaba leaders and translators, as we connect face-to-face around the schedule, that our Lord will make whatever adjustments are necessary in a spirit of calm and flexibility. Pray for a super-natural opening of the hearts of the Muslim people to our presence and His love. Pray for just the right people to come to our events, so that long-term, deep-rooted spiritual growth can take place. We are not looking for large numbers; we are looking for meaningful encounters.

Saturday, June 23…a change of pace. Earnie  will join Lloyd to go to the rural church for the farming workshop. Carolyn, Sudie & BeckyLynn will do some training for those who work with children (Sunday School, evangelists, etc.)  Gunda will teach a women’s Bible class.  In the evening we will show the Jesus Film at the Keranzo-1 church. Pray for the blessing of the Lord Jesus upon our work. Pray for spiritual & physical refreshment this day. Pray for protection from the Evil One during the Jesus Film, so that many will come to the Saviour.

Sunday, June 24…Graduation & worshipping with the people. In the morning, Dave will speak at the graduation exercises of the little Alaba Bible School.  In the afternoon, Gunda, Earnie & Lloyd will return to Keranzo one last time to worship with the people; they will have a last meal with Fetiye and Hajji Mohammed in their home. And Sudie, Carolyn, Dave & BeckyLynn will worship with the Bedene congregation, share a meal with them, and then show the Jesus Film in the evening at the church. By now the word would have spread that we are in the District. Pray for physical & spiritual safety on this day of worship, and for logistics of getting everyone to the right place on time for ministry. Most of all, pray that we would be surrendered to the Lord Jesus (completely, purposefully, & continually), so that He is free to do His work in His way thru us and in us. Pray the Lord to bind the Evil One, so that His Kingdom can be established thru us. 

Monday, June 25 thru Tuesday, June 26…phase 2 ministry. Carolyn & Sudie will do home-to-home visitation of ladies in Alaba Town, then they will have an all-day Women’s Bible Conference. They will teach the book of Ruth. Pray for good communication, good attendance, the free working of the Holy Spirit and stamina. …  Lloyd & BeckyLynn will continue to visit rural churches and do farming workshops.  Continue to pray for strength & good communication. … Dave will work with the Bible Translation Team and/or have a Prayer Ministry with the evangelists & church leaders. Pray for good working relationships and the free flowing of the Holy Spirit in doing His work. …Gunda will develop a Bell Choir at the Zobechame rural church while Earnie teaches the book of Romans to the Zobechame believers. Pray for stamina. Pray for receptivity and organization.

By this time, we will be getting very tired. Please pray for physical strength & health (digestion, sleep, mental acuity, protection from vermin/mosquitoes, etc.). Pray that nothing will be lost as we travel from village to village. Also, pray for unity of spirit as we work with each other and also with the Ethiopian translators. Pray for our Lord to draw people to Himself thru us, that our testimony of Him and His way would be very clear to the people we come in contact with. Pray that Love will be evident. Pray for emotional stability in the midst of fatigue, frustrations, adjustments, etc. Also pray for Dave, BeckyLynn, David & Nigussie as they provide guidance & logistical support to those doing the ministry. Pray that we will be flexible without being negligent.

We will also have a last meeting with the Alaba leaders. Deep friendships will have been forged. Pray for wisdom in discussing the future, to know His mind in all things. Everyone involved in the ministries will come together for a last time to present gifts, look at pictures and have a special time of testimony.

Wednesday, June 27…leaving Alaba. This will be our last day in Alaba. Emotions will be running wild.  We’ll all be very tired. We’ll be sad to leave, and the Ethiopians will be sad to see us leave. Many last-minute items will pop up. Pray for emotional calm & clear thinking to the end. Pray for physical health & strength and a spirit of unity in the midst of fatigue. We’ll leave Alaba Town mid-morning & drive the 6 hours back to Addis. Pray for safe travel. Pray for us emotionally as we “let down” & digest what God has done in & thru us. Pray the Lord to give us a restful, restorative night of sleep back in Addis Ababa. We’ll be back to hot showers & flush toilets.

Thursday, June 28…saying Goodbye to Ethiopia. In the morning we will gather for a sort of “debriefing” share time after breakfast, then we will have time for everyone to do some shopping, run errands and rest for the return flight. We will also get our items from safe keeping and finalize the finances of the trip. Pray for clear thinking and safe travel as we finish up our business things. We will meet for a last Ethiopian meal at 5:00, then be at the Bole Airport in Addis no later than 7:30pm. (which is 12:30pm in Virginia). After getting boarding passes & checking the luggage all the way, the Team will go thru passport control and security checks. Then go to the gate for Ethiopian Airlines, flight 500. We’ll walk, exercise, visit the restrooms, and prepare for the long flight back to NC.

Boarding will start about 9:45pm (2:45pm VA time), departure is at 10:15pm (3:15pm VA time). Due to the rotation of the earth and the wind currents, the flight back is longer than the flight going. So we will be about 18 hours on the airplane. Remember to do the hourly leg exercises & walk about. 

Pray for good sleeping, no aching joints & muscles, stomachs to be settled, no swollen feet, etc. Pray for safety in traveling. Pray for patience and clear thinking. Pray that no luggage is lost or stolen. We will be very tired; pray for strength.

Friday, June 29…back on USA soil. We arrive Dulles Airport in Washington DC at 8:10am. We will go thru Passport Control as US citizens, collect our checked baggage & go thru customs; Carolyn & Sudie will meet their husbands to drive back to Mecklenburg County. The rest of us will then re-submit our checked baggage for transport to Raleigh Durham. 

We’ll proceed to the USAirways terminal for flight 6283 and depart Dulles Airport at 10:40am. We’ll arrive in Charlotte at 11:57am, and depart on USAirways flt 1179 at 12:58pm.

Arrival in RDU Int’l Airport is at 1:50pm. Meet family and friends in the baggage claim or at the curbside.

Rejoice together over God’s faithful provision for all that was needed, and for His mercy in calling us to Himself and allowing us the privilege of bearing His Name in the nations.  And continue to live a life of surrender to the One who loves us and has redeemed us.  May the Gospel expand!!

OUR THEME VERSES:  PHILIPPIANS 2:1-11

May 28, 2007

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Pray for the Work in Ethiopia: Assisting our Brethren

Becky Lynn Black  

For the month of July, 23 people from our area are going with Dave & Becky Lynn Black to serve the Lord’s church in Ethiopia.  All 23 of these people are working hard in preparation.  Will you join the work in prayer?

1. Pray for personal resources of faith, finances, health & wisdom for each person:Jason H, Jason E, Cindi, Ed, Alan, Danny A, Danny C, Jamie, Rick, Lynette, Leigh, Marshall, Thomas, Kimberly, Dale, Kevin, Ben, Jon, Matthea, Nicole, Kaleigh, Dave, Becky

2. Pray for the Burji & Alaba churches as they prepare for our coming, and for the translators…that our orderly God will arrange all things according to His perfect will.

3. Pray for the needed financial resources for material things needed for the ministry.   Ethiopian Bibles: $5,000; Solar power/loudspeakers/lights for 2 rural churches: $6,000; Clinic building: $11,000.  If you want to help, make checks payable to Bethel Hill Baptist Church, send to Dave Black, 2691 White House Rd., Nelson, VA 24580.  Call 434-374-0492 for questions.

4. Please give special prayer to technical preparations.  We are ordering solar supplies now; ask the Lord to give special wisdom in these choices & to go before us in this need.  There are no Wal-Marts or Lowes in Ethiopia.  The whole project is jeopardized if supplies are incompatible or missing.

5. Pray for Dave & Becky Lynn as they go to Ethiopia March 17-April 7.  Pray for good communications with Ethiopian church leaders, and with His blessing upon the work that needs to be done.  And pray for good heart-to-heart fellowship with precious people.

Jesus said to His disciples:  “Until now you have not asked for anything in My name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24)  Living as His representatives on Earth, we have great “pull” with the Lord of the Universe.  Let us live holy, obedient lives, and then ask Him for the Kingdom!  It’s the only way to a joyful life.  It’s the only way to see His glory!  Will you join us?

March 4, 2010

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

The Post-Political Church

 David Alan Black  

Over the span of 31 years of teaching my understanding of the Christian faith and theology has changed in several significant ways. One of the most important is that I have come to identify myself not so much with the Reformers of the sixteenth century but rather with the Anabaptist dissenters whom they opposed (often to the death) – those simple men and women who believed that the church needed, not reforming, but rebuilding from the ground up.

This process of rebuilding involved more than merely insisting upon believers (or adult) baptism as the only legitimate form of baptism. Of far greater significance was the fact that the Anabaptists of the sixteenth century, precisely because they held to believers baptism, taught that it was necessary for the church to be completely separate from the state, since the state included all members of society. (Today, of course, the principle of religious freedom has been written into the federal Constitution of the United States.) Moreover, because in their theology the church consisted only of believers, the Anabaptists were convinced that every Christian was a Gospel missionary and therefore must preach and evangelize in order to bring people to faith. Indeed, since Christ had commanded His followers to love even their enemies, it was impossible for a Christian to restrict love and service only to fellow Christians.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the Anabaptist tradition was the belief that to be a Christian implied giving up everything in radical obedience to Christ. This emphasis has great relevance today. If modern believers accept the responsibility thus laid upon them by their Lord, they must continually be asking the question: What does radical discipleship mean for a modern Christian? How can we obey in every situation Jesus’ command to love God and our fellow human beings? Here again we are confronted with foundational concepts of discipleship. The claim of the Christian Gospel is that God, because of His unfailing mercy and love, offers to mankind forgiveness and reconciliation in the person of Jesus Christ. The church, therefore, is the community in which God’s transforming love is known and translated into the world on His behalf. In this sense one could argue that early Anabaptism was the first modern missionary movement, prior even to the one launched by William Carey – which may help to explain why the Anabaptist movement spread like wildfire in its earliest years. As heirs to the Anabaptist tradition, Baptists likewise believe in missions and world evangelism. But while this may be our belief, our practices are frequently inconsistent with it. Many churches have forgotten that it is only through self-sacrificing love that God works to bring people into His kingdom. All of this, I think, is more-or-less self evident, but we have not taken it very seriously in fleshing out our ecclesiology. I think it is time we thought through our theory on this question anew, not to bring it into conformity with our practice, but to bring it in line with the Scriptures.

It is precisely this responsibility to witness and minister in the world that is avoided in our staid, bourgeois memberships, with their comfortable adjustment to laissez-faire capitalism and their unwillingness to question the political status quo. I wish we could sense how closely interwoven our religion and politics have become. For many evangelical Christians religion has become the principal justification for political involvement. Thus everything that carries a “Christian” message is legitimized and justified in terms of political commitment. This is the new ecclesiology. No matter how biblically uninformed or banal the thought, any religious stance is legitimized thanks to the political message behind it. Has anyone failed to notice just how deeply “God-and-Country” nationalism has come to permeate American society? This is nothing but pure idolatry. I can understand our mass media allowing itself to be commandeered for propagandistic purposes. But as an evangelical who values highly the authority and inspiration of Scripture and the sole Lordship of Jesus Christ, it is disturbing to see the church co-opted by the state for the same purposes.

Years ago Jacque Ellul warned us that the greatest danger to liberty in Western society proceeds from the military-political state born of a dream of utopian perfection on earth. It seems clear to me that Ellul has touched on something of very great importance. As one who rejected out of hand the para-Marxist realism of my practical theology professors in Basel, I find it just as easy to part company with those on the theological right who argue that evangelicals should inject Christianity into politics. A close reading of the Gospels would show that the opposite is true. Neither Jesus nor His disciples ever engaged in or showed any interest in politics. Our Lord refused to be the political liberator of Israel. I therefore fully agree with the Anabaptists that the state is meant to be secular and that a dualism exists between church and state, between political power and the proclamation of the Gospel. There is in my opinion neither “Christian” liberalism nor “Christian” conservatism. Equally valid (or invalid) perspectives can be found on both sides, but there are no Christian grounds for preferring one side over the other. If Jesus was a capitalist (or a socialist, or a Republican, or a Democrat, or a Libertarian), I fail to see anywhere in the Gospels where He has made that known to us. The fact is that political loyalties are always relative and determined for purely individual and conscience reasons.

Now, to state that the church should reject any form of allegiance with politics does not imply the separation of church from society or that Christians should not hold or express political views. Quite the opposite is true. Acknowledging Jesus as Lord over all things means that we will seek to be biblically informed about our political decisions and discussions. But it does not mean that a Christian politician can claim to support distinctively “Christian” policies any more than an auto mechanic can claim that he practices distinctively “Christian” car repair. It is the duty of the church to penetrate society as salt and light – this is acknowledged by all – but it fails in that duty when it rubberstamps the platform of politicians of any stripe. (This is one reason I do not support inviting a sitting president to speak at annual religious conventions.) According to the Scriptures, the church is not a political community at all. It is a brotherhood that proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord and that expects the coming of His kingdom – or, to put it another way, a brotherhood that lives with a view to the time when Christ will ultimately prevail over all earthly kingdoms. The church knows, therefore, that it lives in the midst of an eschaton that has not yet come, and that the polar realties of the church and the world are the twin sociological units within which it lives. We must be very careful, then, not to confuse the kingdom of heaven with the kingdom of man even as we love and serve the world in Jesus’ name. Whatever political differences exist between Christians can be transcended by the common ground of the cross and empty tomb.

August 28, 2007

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Politics and Guilt

Darrell Dow

The Apostle Paul tells us that God has written a certain rudimentary knowledge of God’s law on every human heart (Rom. 2:14-15). Human experience confirms this truth. But Scripture also warns that the conscience can be misinformed, even conditioned to regard evil as sin. Paul also cautions that the human conscience can become dulled or seared through repeated sin (I Tim. 4:2).

A troubled conscience is not merely problematic for individuals, but can become a powerful force driving social, cultural, and political transformation. A people plagued by guilt can either bring their behavior into accord with their morality, or they can adjust their morality to suit their behavior.

The first option is repentance. Paul writes that as Adam’s heirs we are sinners (Rom. 5:12) dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). However, as the new Adam, Jesus stared down the great tempter in the wilderness and lived a perfect and sinless life. He became our representative in obedience. Moreover, in His atoning death, “many will be made righteous” by the imputation of His righteousness to those who accept His work in faith and turn from their disobedience.

The ideal is a conscience freed from guilt that is Biblically informed and able to lead us toward holiness. Christ said that if we abide in His Word and know Him that we will know the truth. For “if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). In Galatians, that great epistle of Christian Liberty, Paul says that we are to “stand fast,” or cling tenaciously, to the liberty “by which Christ has made us free.”

Paul goes on to say that Christ’s death frees His adopted children not only from the curse of the Law, but from the yolk of man’s guilt. Paul says in Romans 8:1 that, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

As a culture becomes progressively de-Christianized, then, we should not be surprised if guilt becomes an important ingredient in the social milieu as more and more individuals are enslaved by it. As E. Michael Jones puts it:

This thing called guilt is an elusive but persistent commodity. If we repress it in one area of our lives, it pops up somewhere else. If we refuse to acknowledge the atoning power of Jesus Christ and the immutability of the moral law His Church propounds, we find ourselves, not free from guilt as the propagandists would lead us to believe, but enslaved to it, consumed by it, succumbing like the most ignorant and benighted savage to ritual acts of propitiation.

Guilt will thus become an engine driving the political train as the non-believer seeks redemption through the messianic state. Rousas Rushdoony foresaw this in a prophetic little book called The Politics of Guilt and Pity:

The reality of man apart from Christ is guilt and masochism. And guilt and masochism involve the unshakable inner slavery which governs the total life of the non-Christian. The politics of the anti-Christian will thus inescapably be the politics of guilt. In the politics of guilt, man is perpetually drained of his social energy and cultural activity by his overriding sense of guilt and his masochistic activity. He will progressively demand of the state a redemptive role. What he cannot do personally, i.e., to save himself, he demands that the state do for him, so that the state, as man enlarged, becomes the human savior of man. The politics of guilt, therefore, is not directed, as the Christian politics of liberty, to the creation of godly justice and order, but to the creation of a redeeming order, a saving state. Guilt must be projected, therefore, on all those who oppose this new order and new age.

Thus we have so-called “liberal guilt,” driven by the fury of secularism.

But Paleoconservative writer and historian Paul Gottfried has identified another source as the wellspring of social guilt – Protestantism. In Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt, Gottfried argues that Protestant cultures “stress individual redemptive experience and giving witness thereto.” Moreover, says Gottfried, while Catholics ritualize repentance, the Protestant practice is done in public. “It is a means of showing the righteousness of the redeemed sinner and underscores the power of divine grace in a fallen world,” says Gottfried.

Gottfried largely identifies guilt-mongering with liberal Protestantism. And, indeed, one will find a great deal of hand-wringing about “racism,” sexism,” “homophobia,” etc., among liberal Protestant theologians and in the public statements of various denominations. He argues, in effect, that Protestantism has inherent theological tendencies toward guilt and the rejection of social hierarchy and authority in favor of individualism. But what Gottfried identifies isn’t so much liberal Protestantism as liberalism itself.

Unfortunately, the overweening guilt Gottfried identifies is not merely confined to the PCUSA or the United Methodists. Indeed, plenty of emoting about slavery, racism, and anti-Semitism has come from conservative Protestant denominations, such as my own Southern Baptist Convention, and parachurch ministries such as Promise Keepers.

Not to be outdone, Pope John Paul II has done plenty of groveling in recent years, too. He has apologized to Protestants for the Inquisition, Jews for the Holocaust, Muslims for the Crusades, and even the Greek Orthodox Church.

In effect, liberalism as an ideology has infected all Christian sects in the last century, and blame for this should not be laid solely at the feet of Protestants. This liberalism has been employed by the managerial elite as an instrument to bludgeon any and all opposition to the ruling class. Indeed, virtually every anti-Christian political movement (statism, feminism, egalitarianism, homosexualism, internationalism, etc.) is driven by the politics of guilt.

Here as elsewhere, so much of the blame for our current plight must be laid at the feet of Christians and an impotent Church. As Christ’s ambassadors, we must preach a Gospel that liberates rather then enslaves and live in the freedom that Christ died to give us. We must not seek our salvation in the arms of an omnipotent, idolatrous state, but in the loving arms of the Lamb of God who died to reconcile us to the Father.

September 12, 2004

Darrell Dow writes from Jeffersonville, Indiana.  He is a sinner saved by God’s grace, husband of Kathy, and father to Andrew and Joshua.  In his spare time, he maintains a website and a blog. He can be reached for comment here.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Politics: The Art of the Ought

 David Alan Black

The “lesser-of-two-evils” philosophy is a completely pragmatic approach to politics. Of course, such an approach is congruent with the prevalent understanding of politics as the “art of the possible.” And therein lies the problem.

Throughout most of our nation’s history, politics was considered a part of ethics, not philosophy. Consequently, people sought to take seriously the teachings of Scripture in reference to the sphere of civil government. Their thinking was, “Duty is ours, and consequences are God’s.”

William Einwechter, editor of the Christian Statesmen and vice-president of the National Reform Association, has devoted an entire essay to the theme of politics as ethics. He writes: “The National Reform Association does not see politics in the pragmatic sense of the ‘art of the possible,’ but rather, sees politics in the ethical sense of the ‘art of the ought.’” He adds: “The National Reform Association firmly believes that the ethical standards that govern politics are found in the revealed word of God, not in public opinion or human reason” (see his essay “The Judgment Is God’s,” in Explicitly Christian Politics, p. 61).

Let me exhort you to take this seriously. Our woes in America began when God was forced out of the central shrine of our hearts, and “philosophy” and human reasoning were allowed to enter. Politics is not to be understood as mere expediency to be toyed with in an election year. We dare not try to bypass ethics if we would see righteousness restored in the land.

Evangelical religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that voting “pragmatically” makes a man a responsible citizen. The Scriptures are almost totally ignored. I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not only a book that was once spoken, but a book that is now speaking.

To a people caught in the fog of “public opinion or human reason” God says, “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s” (Deut. 1:17). As Rev. Einwechter says (p, 87), “We advocate an approach to politics that is explicitly Christian. Some may call us fools for such an approach, claiming that we are out of touch with ‘reality.’ But we reply that any other approach is out of touch with reality, because the primary political reality of today, or any day, is that ‘the judgment is God’s.’”

August 18, 2004

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. His latest book is Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Please Don’t Call Me an Evangelical!

Matthew R. Gamel   

As the election came to a close, there were many individuals who praised and extolled the election results as a victory for “conservatives” across America. However, as Dr. Chuck Baldwin pointed out, those that voted for Bush out of a concern for social issues have already been stabbed in the back by Mr. Bush’s new attorney general and his continued effort to give free amnesty to a plethora of illegal aliens currently residing here and those that will soon follow.

Personally, I probably would not have voted in the election were Mr. Peroutka not running. On second thought, it is quite conceivable that I would have arrived at the polling location to vote for Skippy the Superhamster (he’s a lesser known Jeffersonian and was, unfortunately, not on the ballot in any state) or some random inanimate object such as a radish or a hair dryer to protest the godless stranglehold on our government.  In general, I don’t particularly believe in legitimizing the fraudulent elections held every four years by the Empire.

However, with this being said, I was extremely disappointed and angered with the election results and the same mindless partisan loyalty that professed evangelicals and conservatives proudly put on display. In fact, I was so upset and angered by this that I did not even want to speak about the election for fear that I would end up saying something that I ought not. Perhaps it was wrong of me to believe that the slumber of modern Christendom would cease and that evangelicals would actually, for once in an incredibly long time, engage in obedience to Christ by failing to associate with a political party that was literally conceived in the hatred of our Constitution. The term “republican” in Republican Party is an excellent example of Orwellian “double speak” as this party was formed with malice towards constitutional governance that continues to this very day.

It is rather frustrating to live around so many doctrinaire evangelicals who seem to be more content with subscribing to erroneous views about the Republican Party and President Bush than they do truth. Evangelicalism in America has unfortunately embraced the same position on truth as the majority of the leftist pathologies that strongly embrace vacuous humanistic philosophies such as relativism and pragmatism. Your average evangelical Christian does not even want to hear anything that is contrary to his or her perceived notion that the Republican Party and its current messiah personify conservatism. Hence, truth is merely a secondary matter to such an individual. Yet we must confront these issues directly.

Unfortunately, reality and perception often fail to coincide. I found it incredibly comical (in an ironic way), for example, that many evangelicals became upset with Arlen Specter’s victory in Pennsylvania yet directly supported one of Mr. Specter’s most vocal supporters during his campaign: George W. Bush. This was one of the queerest forms of irony about the whole election, in my opinion. It demonstrates the ignorance and the foolishness of those that supported Bush merely to prevent Kerry from becoming elected. In fact, the perception that Kerry is one hundred times worse and shoots flaming balls from his eyes is merely just that: a perception. Both Bush and Kerry have similar, if not identical, positions on the issues that are relevant.

The only thing that mattered to the majority of professed Christendom this past election is keeping the evil, bad Democrats out of office so they voted for the opposite side of the same establishment coin. Apparently, to your average professed evangelical, it doesn’t particularly matter if the Republicans have the blood of millions of innocent children on their hands so long as the Democrats are not allowed to get away with it. After all, they have an “R” by their name and everybody knows that “r” is a vastly superior letter of the alphabet compared with “d.” I mean, the word “rabbit” starts with an “r” and rabbits are cute and fluffy so we ought to vote for anybody that has an “r” by their name. Just think of all of the awful words that start with “d”: dirt, dirge, devil, Democrat. This random chain of logic appears to closely resemble the arguments used to justify the actions (the unbiblical and unchristian actions, I might add) of this administration in addition to several others.

As with abortion, it also doesn’t appear to matter that the Republicans have the same global driven foreign policy as the Democrats. At least the Republicans pretend to be anti UN while at the same time staffing their administrations with plenty of folks from the Council on Foreign Relations. I mean, Bush makes Empire fun – just look at that cowboy hat he wears! It’s far better to go around “defying” the UN when deciding which country to invade than it is to get their permission before totally reconstructing every nation we stick our filthy hands in. This takes time and places an obtuse wedge between our military and the fun it has blowing stuff up, torturing prisoners, and other war-type activities.  I suppose to compensate we’ll let the UN handle the reconstruction efforts while we decide whose next! After all, we’ve reconstructed enough nations to the point that the task is now boring and routine.

On the other hand, if Kerry were president, Empire wouldn’t be nearly as fun; I mean, he would make sure that the world actually likes our Empire and we’d probably end up getting the French and Germans in on the killing which means we’ll have to let them have some of the loot (i.e. the foreign influence). Its far better to decide who gets to do the reconstruction on our behalf, even if the list of officials comes from the desk of Lakhdar Brahimi.

This may actually sound incredibly satirical, but the more I think about it, this is precisely how several individuals I know have justified the Bush War doctrine! And, what’s even better for the Republicans is the fact that they can get away with more globalist or totalitarian maneuvers without anyone raising a finger (as was the case with the McCain Amendment to the 911 report or the GPOI). So basically, we now have a guy in office whose policy is similar to Kerry’s with the exception that he can pretty much do as he pleases and he pays lip service to his mindless constituents by occasionally mentioning something that is quasi-conservative. This is necessary to ensure future political support by the evangelical church.

I would contend that these individuals have, in an exemplarily fashion, been made associates to murder concerning the millions of unborn children that will continued to be murdered under this administration. Hence, those who voted for George W. Bush are just as guilty as the abortionists themselves. Not only this, but they are associates to our godless federal judiciaries that are staffed primarily by Republican appointees. The argument that we must vote for Bush due to the judicial appointees seems nebulous as best – when I first heard this argument I became incredibly confused. At worse it actually shoots the arguer in the foot as the majority of the Supreme Court has been appointed by Republicans!

Moreover, these evangelicals are now associates to the torture and the murder of innocent civilians in foreign countries that the United States has imperialistic interest in. We talk about abortion in disgust be we apparently don’t have the guts to talk about the actions that our government performs to innocent civilians worldwide or to those who believe their homes are being invaded and actually have the gall to resist the American Imperial Regime. Why does the majority of the evangelical church look at war as if it were a football game, cheering for our side and turning a blind eye when our government wrongs other people in hideous ways?

These people are part of the problem as they continue to nullify their words with their actions thus demonstrating their sheer lack of knowledge and the cowardice they boldly profess by allowing fear to impact their actions. These folks go to extreme lengths to give convoluted (which is to say unbiblical) arguments concerning the just war doctrine of the Bush regime and the excuses that the Republicans continue to deliver as a reason for failing to do that which they promised. Then they wonder why we have a generation of cowards as our leaders continue to cowardly concede one battle right after the next to the enemy.

Perhaps this might explain the sheer lack of influence that modern evangelicalism has had on our nation. Our enemies refuse to compromise and this soft, shallow social gospel that is now being disseminated in our churches has led to one compromise right after the next. The godless humanism that the church has embraced for some time now (most notably the pragmatist ideology) has become wrought in every decision that is supposedly made within the confines of Biblical truth.

These are the same evangelicals that continue to fail to pass resolutions calling on Christians to withdraw their children from the government ‘schools.’ In all honesty, we probably wouldn’t need these kind of resolutions if professed Christians would actually read their Bibles every now and then and spend more time with their spouses and children instead of spending time at the movies or in front of the television. They continue to prostitute their children to these godless social engineers whose Marxist ideology, they naively claim, may be remedied. Then, they gawk in awe when they loose their children to secular philosophies and when their already shallow faith is thoroughly made useless by the godless schools they continue to legitimize. As one would not hand a ten year old an M-16 and tell this child to go fight (although I really wouldn’t put it past Bush to use our children as cannon fodder), why then do we continue to send our children to a battle where they will become engulfed and eventually slaughtered by the enemy? They wonder why we have a generation of lazy men who care more about sports than they do the welfare of their families. They wonder why we are so entrenched in narcissism and materialism. They engage in state worship to the point that ‘Christian’ is no longer an adequate adjective to describe the modern evangelical church. For the modern church has traded Scripture for liberal hermeneutics and has placed wicked politicians on pedestals so high that one often wonders whether or not Christ or the Republican Party is lord over all. With its shallow views of God and practically non-existent views of the sovereignty of God, our churches might as well be shrines to the most pagan of gods because failure to acknowledge God for who He really is can be considered to be a form of idolatry. For we no longer worship the revealed God of the Bible but rather a man made conception of God.

May I second the notion that this blind state worship is heresy? Yet, this ought not to be surprising. After all, as I have repetitively mentioned, this is the same evangelical church that embraces every theological fad and humanistic philosophy that gains popularity within the secular realm. Evangelicalism would not know sound doctrine if it continually slammed our ecclesiastical leaders in the face. What the church is in dire need of is heaven-sent revival where Christ and His Word are esteemed more than worldly fad. It is shocking how many individuals profess to be evangelical Christian and hold such a sorry view of God such as the notion that He is this jolly clown that does not care about sin who serves as a vending machine in the sky to meet everyone’s “felt” needs or the more popular notion that God is like a drug, only a “good” one. Now, instead of being Lord over ones life, Jesus is merely a marijuana cigarette for the soul. One simply comes to Jesus whenever life becomes arduous and throws Him out when everything is peachy or when the notion that obedience might somehow be demanded by a claim to the Lordship of Christ.

I ought to write about this at some later time but many individuals find it difficult to be brought to the realization that the church teaches a form of humanism more than it does Biblical truth. For some time, I was unable to pinpoint the practical application of the Calvinist vs. Armenian debate until I realized one important truth: if God is not sovereign then man must be sovereign. This is a fundamental presupposition of humanism and why the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is so essential. Why, for example, is God’s Law binding to everybody? Why is everyone commanded to repent?  It certainly is not because it is man made or because God hath but little authority over His creation. The answer must readily be found in the doctrine of the sovereignty of God.

This also might help explain why church doctrine is so soiled in humanism. Not only is it Biblical truth but when one maligns a fundamental attribute of God to the point that the modern church has deconstructed the sovereignty of God, one essentially ends up with a god entirely different than the God revealed in the Bible. And once this occurs, it then becomes a rather trivial task to legitimize church growth theory (which is essentially a denial of the sovereign grace of God), psychology, and pragmatism (yet another denial of the sovereignty of God). Hence the current state of the church.

Thus, in accordance with my political convictions, not only do I have no desire to be labeled a conservative but I also have decided that I no longer wish to be labeled an evangelical as well. Just as the establishment media has redefined the term ‘conservative’ to refer to a neocon or a Republican, so the modern church has redefined the term “evangelical” to imply a soft, “cool”, worldly “Christian” whose theology has been watered down to the point that even a Muslim would have no trouble accepting the tenets of modern “evangelicalism” (this sounds an awful lot like “diversity” and “multiculturalism” to me – do recall that these are Marxist social theories). Much of the problem in the church stems from the fact that we let unrepentant unbelievers into the church to attempt to convert them with a non-effectual social gospel and in turn, these individuals pervert and completely malign the purity and holiness of the church. This, in addition to the false doctrines harbored then causes the church to behave in the manner that it has been behaving for the past several decades.

At the same time, the church neglects the needs of the true children of God by failing to feed them any real substance from the Word of God. Too many individuals seem to believe that depth in the Christian life is optional and it almost has to be because there are so few teachers that teach any real theology in our churches anymore – real theology and the entire counsel of God is in direct conflict with the majority of church growth theory, psychology, or pragmatism and it almost never focuses on the “felt” needs of an individual. How awkward a phenomenon it is when pastors occasionally quote men like Edwards or Spurgeon when it suits their fancy but I guarantee you that if men like Edwards or Spurgeon were here today, we wouldn’t be able to fill a congregation if we were giving away free seven course steak dinners! Modern evangelicalism is tending more towards Unitarianism faster than one might possibly imagine.

And, in the end, we ought to remember the ultimate fatality when a church embarks on the “down grade”: evangelicalism itself. Spurgeon was absolutely correct: the down grade of the church in England via the Modernist movement literally destroyed the church. What was demonstrated this past election was not merely a political statement. It was a theological statement of profound proportions that any serious Christian ought not applaud nor be proud of. This continued insistence with our current doctrine promises grave, yea, serious consequences if the root of these heresies is not promptly dealt with.

As the post-communist world becomes more like the West and the West more like the communist world, it won’t be too long before the Chinese are sent to evangelize us. It would be wise to hearken to the words of our Lord: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Rev. 2:5). May He grant us grace to do just that.

November 22, 2004

Matt Gamel is a graduate student at Texas A&M and eventually desires to go to seminary to study to be a biblical scholar. He may be reached for comment here or at his website.

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