ta ethne

A Heart Hungry To Worship part 4

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The next chapter from the book A Heart Hungry To Worship (available on Amazon) – Dinah’s Story

Before there can be fullness there must
be emptiness.  Before God can fill us with Himself, we must first be emptied of ourselves.[1]

Chapter 3

Dinah’s Story

            The rapping sound on the door startled me. It was late in the evening and I wasn’t expecting company. I opened the door to find Dinah standing there, looking angry and confused. She asked if she could come in and ask some questions, so I invited her inside and we sat down in the living room. Dinah told me she just left a meeting with her church leaders, asking them to answer a couple of questions that I had given to her a couple of weeks earlier. She informed me that not only was she dissatisfied with the answers they gave her, but also that one question was answered with, “Well, technically, he is correct.”

            Dinah was facing a crossroads of faith. On one side was a belief system she had grown up with, embraced and taught to others that was now being challenged. On the other side were answers from Scripture that stood at odds with what she’d always believed. To change her mind meant admitting that she was wrong and that she had taught her family and other people wrong beliefs as well. This is why she showed up at my door, angry and confused.

            Dinah and I met some months earlier when she showed up at our church. Her daughter, in the military at the time, had joined a church affiliated with our denomination. Dinah took this as a personal affront, an abandonment of beliefs held by their family for generations. She came to our church seeking to know what we believed and how our beliefs differed from hers in the hopes of confronting her daughter and bringing her back to their denomination.

            What Dinah found was her own beliefs being confronted. I answered her questions about our beliefs on varying topics in return for her telling me what her church taught about them. I then suggested we take our church’s official statements of belief and compare them to Scripture and to each other. Where we found discrepancies, I asked her to go back to her leaders and seek understanding of why they believed as they did.

            For weeks, we met, going through doctrine after doctrine. Slowly, she came to an understanding that many of the beliefs she held did not match up to the clear teaching of the Bible. During one session with her leaders, Dinah told me that they said to her that their traditions held the same weight as Scripture. We then looked at verses in the Bible that addressed that issue as well. Dinah began to get frustrated with her leaders as answer after answer came back to “tradition” and not because their belief system was undergirded by God’s Word.

            Finally, there came the night when she appeared at my door. We both knew what it was costing her that night. Pride warred with truth. One of the big hurdles for her to overcome was the fact that by admitting the beliefs she had held for years were wrong, she was also admitting she had taught those wrong beliefs to her family and many others through her work for her denomination. The guilt she was feeling warred with her pride. I silently prayed that the Holy Spirit would cause her to understand the truth of Jesus’ statement, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”[2]

Sensing that she was close to making a major decision, I asked her to meet with me the following evening and bring her husband, Ted. A quiet man, Ted would sometimes accompany Dinah when we talked about beliefs and I wanted him to be there with her. While Ted had not participated in our discussions very often, I surmised from the comments that he did interject that he was also wrestling with the same doubts.

            The next evening, I sat down with the two of them and asked a simple, yet direct question. “Now that we have exhausted all your questions about doctrines and beliefs, what is keeping you from entering into a personal relationship with Jesus?” They replied, “Nothing.”

Dinah and Ted both gave their lives over to the Savior that night.

Dinah had read the Bible many times in her life. She never understood the meaning of the words she read until the Holy Spirit started illuminating them. She knew that the Bible contained truths. Her problem, like so many other people’s problem, was that she looked to human tradition instead of Scripture alone. When confronted with clear differences between the two, she realized she had a choice to make. Would she hold to her tradition out of stubborn pride, or would she yield to the teachings of God’s Word?

Dinah and Ted studied the Bible diligently from that night on. They began a spiritual journey that led both of them, in their sixties, to move to another community and help start a new church. Their hearts responded to God’s Word and they began to worship the Creator the way that He intended for them to worship Him. All they needed was for someone to explain to them the meaning of the Scriptures they were reading.

The Bible contains the story of a man who knew God’s Word held answers for his life, but who needed someone to explain their meaning to him. It is the story of the Ethiopian in the Book of Acts.

[1] A.W. Tozer, How to be Filled With the Spirit

[2] John 8:32

A Heart Hungry To Worship part 3

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We continue with the next chapter from the book A Heart Hungry to Worship (available on Amazon).

Without worship, we go away miserable.[1]

Chapter 2

The Samaritan Woman

            The interaction between Jesus and the woman at the well in the New Testament book of John, chapter 4, is amazing. Its relevance to our modern world is worth looking at in detail. This woman is one who is desperately longing to worship God but she is confused as to what worshipping Him should be. The result is that she has given up trying to find God. Let us look at this encounter so we can discover how to relate to people searching for hope and truth in God.  

What a story! It is the story of a miserable woman going through the motions of an ordinary day. She was a failure at relationships – not so much in finding them, but at keeping them. She has been married and divorced five times, and is now with man number six. This shows us that having relationships is important to her. She does not want to be alone, and yet, we see that her choices in life have left her very lonely, indeed.

            She does not come to the well in the cool of the morning with the other women. I am sure that she cannot stand to hear the snide remarks and malicious gossip the other women directed at her. She would rather draw water up from a one hundred foot plus well by herself than be subjected to humiliation.

            Outcast, rejected in love, and with her self-esteem shot, she arrives at noon to retrieve her water. She is not alone like she had hoped. A stranger is there; worse, a Jewish one. Jews hated Samaritans. They called them half-breeds, false worshippers, and a people accursed by God. They charged the Samaritans with changing the sacred writings of Moses, intermarrying with pagans and setting up a rival place of worship. All true charges, by the way.

            This Jewish man politely asks her for a drink. Now she is wary. The only time men are polite to her are for illicit favors. “What does He really want from me? She decides to cut right to the chase. “Why are you, a Jew, asking anything from me?”

            Notice the reply of Jesus. It is really somewhat weird, especially to her. “If you only knew who I was you’d be asking me for living water.”

            She is not impressed with whoever this man, this Jew, thinks he is. Therefore, she decides to get rid of him by insulting him. She claims kinship with Jesus by appealing to “our father” Jacob. No Jew would stand for that. No Jew would even begin to admit they had a common ancestor, much less a revered one, with a Samaritan. Jesus should have stomped off in a huff leaving her alone, but he does not.

            Instead of leaving, he starts speaking gently to her and as he speaks, the Holy Spirit starts drawing her. As Jesus explains that his living water is eternal life, the Spirit illuminates her understanding. Her spiritual blindness begins to lift. Her yearning for eternal life explodes.

“Eternal life for me, God’s eternal love is for me? Is it really possible?”

            His words connect. She is so thirsty for real love. She is so hungry for a real relationship. Could God care for one like her? One who failed so many times? One who has failed so often? Eternal life, for her, did she hear that correctly?

            Oh, listen to her in verse 15. “Sir, give me this water, this eternal life, so I’ll never be thirsty again!”

            Do you hear the longing in her voice? She was just going through an ordinary day, one filled with the same misery and drudgery of countless days before and now hope is being offered to her. The hope of a lasting relationship with her Creator has been offered to her. Hope is a powerful thing. She has been given a hope that her future will be better than her past failures. In fact, hope in Jesus operates as both the evidence and proof that her sins are forgiven and her past no longer defines her. Nevertheless, she still needs to deal with one big issue in her life; is she willing to give up everything to receive this eternal life, this living water? How desperate is she?

            Jesus, knowing all about her, asks her a sharp, pointed request. “Go, get your husband, and come back.” The woman then reasons to herself, “Get my husband? I don’t have a husband. I’ve had five but none now. Why does he want to speak to him, anyway? I want to talk about eternal life, not about the part of me that I’ve failed at the most. Why is he changing the subject?”

            Jesus knew that this woman had been trusting in men, in relationships, for her security. He had to get her to admit that she was looking for security in the wrong places. She has a choice. She can change the painful subject he has brought up. She can also avoid it altogether and walk off. She could lie or she could tell the truth. The Holy Spirit continues to call her, to work on her heart. To her own surprise, she blurts out the truth to this stranger, “I have no husband.”

            Jesus reveals to her that he already knew the truth. He already knew her lifestyle and her life history. He knew all that and still offered her eternal life. Do you see how powerful that is? So many people think they have lived such a terrible life, that they have made too many wrong choices for God to desire a relationship with them. Nothing could be further from the truth. God, who knows and sees everything, offers eternal life, living water, to every person. Despite what we do, He still offers it to us.

            Now she is excited! He knew all that and still offered her this gift! He must be God’s prophet. What a wonderful day!  This is why a Jewish man is talking with her, a Samaritan woman. He must be on a mission from God with a message for their town. How fortunate for her that she was able to meet with him, privately.

            Now many people look at her next statement and assume that she is trying to change the subject. This is not the case. She desperately wants eternal life. She craves it. Her heart is hungry to worship God because it is responding to the work of the Spirit who is bringing it to life! Let me paraphrase her response.

            “You are God’s prophet! I see this now. You can tell me where to find God. You just said as much. Where do I go? To which group do I need to belong? What holy place is correct? What ritual must I perform? Please, sir, where do I go to find God? How do I get this eternal life?”

            Can you hear the desperation in her voice, the hope against hope springing up inside of her that she might possibly find a relationship with God after all these years? Do you hear it in the voices of those with whom you interact? People desperately want to believe that they can have a relationship with God but they’ve lost hope of actually finding one. Especially, when God’s people have been quick to judge and cast off as unclean those who have made major mistakes in life. If you listen closely, you can hear her words echoing through their voices.

            “Could it be true that I could be offered eternal life? With my lifestyle, my life history, are you seriously telling me that God is calling to me, wanting a personal relationship with me?”  Yes, I am; In fact, God loves you so much that He sent His only Son for you.

            “Where would I go to find this? To what church do I have to belong? What rituals do I have to perform? With all the different groups claiming to be the way to God, how will I ever determine the truth? Please, sir, where do I go to find God?”

            Jesus is so gentle with her. “Lady, the place is not important. God can be found anywhere. If you worship in spirit and in truth, the physical location is not important. The relationship with Him is important. He can be found right now, right here, through Me.”

            She is confused. She still does not quite grasp what he is saying to her. Hear the wistfulness in her voice as she makes the next statement.

            “When the Messiah, God’s Anointed One, comes, He will clear up the confusion. He will explain things to us. How I wish He were here.”

            Jesus says to her, “I am He.” The last blinders fall from her spiritual eyes. She sees and understands. She accepts what He says. How do we know this? She goes and gathers her neighbors to come and hear Him. Verse 41 says, many more believed. Many more than just this woman comes to believe in Jesus Christ and worship Him. Listen to their words in verse 42 – “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

 He is not just a teacher but also a Savior. He is more than just a prophet; He is a Savior. He is more than just a Jewish Messiah; He is the one and only Savior of the world.

            Notice in the story how she gets a crowd to come to Jesus. She goes and tells the townspeople, “come see a man who has told me everything I have ever done.” The men came to see if Jesus knew they had been involved with her sexually. The women came to hear if their husbands were among the adulterers named. The servants came to hear scandal and gossip. They whole town comes to hear Jesus speak; they are so impressed that they ask Him to stay for two days. It is after spending time with Jesus that the Bible says that many of them believed.

            Their hearts were hungry for worship because the Holy Spirit was already working in them, drawing them to Himself. There are people in every town of every country whose hearts are hungry for worship because the Spirit is calling them. They long to worship God, they long to enter into a personal relationship with Him but they simply do not know where to start. That is our job. Those of us who are in a relationship with God are the ones qualified to explain to those desiring a relationship with God how they can have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ.

            We need to be quite clear that this relationship does not depend on which church or to which denomination one belongs. We need to be quite clear that it doesn’t depend on a ritual or one’s moral, ethical or religious performance. Jesus explained that a relationship with God is based on worshipping in spirit and in truth.  Before we explore that statement in more detail, I want to introduce you to Dinah.

[1] A.W.Tozer, Worship: The Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church

A Heart Hungry To Worship Part 2

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Years ago I published a book, A Heart Hungry to Worship, (available on Amazon) that focused on relating the stories of Biblical characters to people I have encountered in my ministry. For 2024 I would like to upload a chapter at a time to encourage people. Below is the first chapter from the book. Yet, if he would, man cannot live all to this world. If not religious, he will be superstitious. If he worships not the true God, he will have his idols.[1]

Chapter 1

Sheila and Maggie’s Stories

            Sheila is a creative, vibrant woman in her mid-twenties who is the new owner of her own art gallery. Response in the first few months has been better than expected, but her expectations were not high to begin with.

Sheila is grateful for a chance to start her life over, given that she almost ruined it during her high school years. Known as a wild party girl, Sheila led a life filled with alcohol, drugs and numerous boyfriends. Finding herself pregnant after graduation shocked her. She got an abortion before anyone knew she was pregnant. To her surprise, the experience was not as easy or painless as she believed it would be. The scarring caused by the procedure rendered her incapable of bearing children; nightmares still haunt her sleep two or three times each week.

Her parents are distant. Her mother is an alcoholic, wrapped up in her own miseries, while her father, disgusted by her behavior in high school, has pretty much disowned her. Sheila knows her lifestyle has to change, but the pull of friends who still view her as the party girl is strong. So is facing the continual scrutiny and gossip in her small town.

For the first time in her life, Sheila is contemplating spiritual things. She tried reading an old family Bible a few times, but she could not understand the Victorian-era English. Twice she even tried attending church. Since she had no idea what any of them believed, she tried the large church downtown first. Sheila reasoned that she would be anonymous in a large crowd.

She came away disappointed. She felt as if she had stepped into a cold marble vault. Everything was very solemn and the service was spoken in a foreign language. She did not know when to stand, sit, or when to respond. She could see that for many people it was a meaningful experience, but for her it was just confusing.

The next week she chose a nearby church that had a more modern feel about it. The atmosphere in this church was different: vibrant and alive. While the songs were unfamiliar, at least they were upbeat and the people singing them seemed happy. Then, unexpectedly, multiple people started talking loudly in what sounded to her like multiple languages.  When it reached a crescendo, Sheila was out the door, shaken and confused. Maybe a person had to learn another language to be a Christian. If that was the case, she was out of luck. The one semester of French she took in high school had been a spectacular failure.

It will be awhile before Sheila ventures to church again. Maybe, if she could go with someone who could explain what was going on, she would try. Which church would accept someone with her past, though? The people at the churches she visited already looked like they had their lives together.

Sheila feels guilty about her abortion and believes God will punish her for it. While she longs to know Him, she is deathly afraid of meeting Him because of her past actions. She has reached the point where something has to change in her life. She wonders, “Is there any hope for a person like me? Is there any way to bury the demons from my past that haunt me?”

Sheila has one last straw to which she is clinging. She has a Christian friend that has been supportive and willing to listen to her pour out her heart during late night phone calls. She has kept him at a distance because of her fear of being too vulnerable. He has offered to take her to his church sometime or even hold a Bible study with her.

Maybe, just maybe, Sheila thinks, she will be able to find answers to her questions. While she is not yet ready to visit another church, she is willing to study the Bible with someone who knows and accepts her as a person. Perhaps there is hope for someone like her. There needs to be because she does not think she can face fifty more years like her first twenty-five.

Maggie has just turned forty. A hard working single mother, Maggie has struggled with finding meaningful relationships all of her life. Maggie experienced sexual abuse, as did her older sister, by a distant relative. As is all too often in small communities, where just about everyone is somehow related, very few believed her story and those who did wanted this dirty secret covered up so as not to bring scandal or embarrassment to the family.

            Maggie married young and had two children with a man who turned out to have a problem with drugs. Not wanting to have her children raised around a drug addict, it was not long before she filed for divorce.  After their divorce, she married again, this time to a person who promised her the world but who crushed her spirit by cheating on her. After moving, with three children, to a new town in order to start over, she attempted marriage number three. This marriage started fine but quickly soured due to the suspicious and jealous nature of her husband. Verbal and emotional abuse took its toll and this marriage collapsed after only a few years.

            Maggie vowed not to marry again. She threw herself into her work and her children’s lives. After the oldest two graduated high school, she began to think about herself. She felt she deserved love but was scared and hesitant to make herself vulnerable again.

When an old boyfriend from high school came back into her life, she wondered if he was the love she had been looking for all along.

            The first month flew by. So much for taking it slow, she was falling head over heels in love. He seemed to care about her and her children. He was attentive and caring. Then he got drunk and physically abusive one night and her world shattered, again. “Never again!” she vowed, would she allow herself to open up to anyone who would hurt her. Deep down, though, Maggie still desired to be loved and to love back. Her fear is that her desire for love will open herself up to hurt again.

            Maggie has one philosophy that she believes in: “Everything happens for a reason.” She just cannot grasp the reason behind what has happened to her. “Why was I abused?” ” Why has every marriage failed?” “Why have all my relationships fallen apart when I try so hard?” “When will I ever find love?”

            Maggie thinks of God from time to time. She believes in God, at least the little she has heard about Him. She has only been to church a few times in her life, mostly for funerals. What she believes about God is that He is a person worth knowing, someone who is perfect and holy and who expects His followers to be that way. She doesn’t feel she would qualify to be a follower because of her past failures. She doesn’t believe that God would want anything to do with her. Maggie lives without hope and truly believes she will spend life after death in hell; “After all,” she thinks, “It cannot be much worse than the life I am living now.”

            Deep down she would like a relationship she can count on, but she is so terrified of being disappointed again that she is not even willing to give God a chance to initiate one with her.

            Maggie and Sheila’s stories are not unique. In fact, their stories are of people I know and work with who have had similar life experiences. I count them as my friends but I have yet to penetrate the shields they have erected around their lives.

            I long to offer them the hope they so desperately need but are afraid to accept. We talk often, especially when crisis happens in their life. They know they need help beyond that which humans can offer, but they are not ready to ask God. Their reasoning is simple: “God is my only hope and if He lets me down, I truly have nothing and no one left.”

            The Bible contains the story of a person just like Maggie and Sheila. With a past that haunts her, this woman finds herself constantly entering one failed relationship after another. A woman who is desperate to find love, who wants to believe that God can love her, but who struggles to make sense of the world she finds herself in. Let us look at her story.

[1] Theodore Parker, The Transient and the Permanent

Sabbatical Over, Gearing Up for 2017

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Refreshed, invigorated, ready to roll. These words sum up how I feel after taking a sabbatical over this last year. While still speaking in churches and serving in the community, a much needed break has allowed me to refocus on potential avenues of service.

One such opportunity has presented itself just recently. Berean Bible Baptist in Binalbagan, Philippines has invited me to come and speak at a youth event in April of 2017. This is a great opportunity for Ta Ethne. I have been friends with Pastor Janel Vergara Nemeno for 5 years now and he is doing a fantastic job in Binalbagan.

In keeping with the mission to provide teaching and discipleship resources at little or no cost to churches worldwide, we will be going free of charge to this event, God willing. Because of the sabbatical, I have started a Go Fund Me account to help offset the cost of the trip. Normal channels of funding will take time to re-establish due to the long period of relative inactivity from this site, but I believe that God will provide.

Should you desire to help fund this trip, there is a paypal button on our site or you can go to .gofundme.com/th-mission-trip-to-the-philippines and donate through there.

Keep us in your prayers and know that 2017 is shaping up to be an exciting chapter in the history of Ta Ethne.

 

Voluntary Sabbatical Nearing The End

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For those wondering why no new content has been published in the last several months, wonder no longer. While the Twitter feed has been constantly updated, this website has not. The main reason was a self imposed sabbatical.

During this time away from blogging, I sought to determine what direction Ta Ethne needed to go in. While blogging is fun and there are many issues that need to be addressed, I realized that the main calling of this ministry, to teach and train Christian leaders worldwide, was suffering from a lack of focus. With many things clamoring for attention, the purpose of providing training materials was being lost.

This time of reflection and seeking direction is nearly at an end. Soon, in the next few months God willing, Ta Ethne will begin offering training courses online. While the courses are under construction, one main decision is still to be made. There are lots of e-learning course management systems available and picking the right one is a labor intensive project.

With systems ranging from Moodle to Blackboard, MyICourse to Schoology, picking the right one for this project is a challenge. Any thoughts anyone has on formats can be emailed to me at taethne@outlook.com.

Here’s to a great fall as we get back to re-focusing on our calling to train and equip Christian leaders worldwide.

Reflections on 20 years of service

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This year marks the 20th anniversary of Ta Ethne. From humble beginnings in 1995 using Prodigy dial-up to start what was then called Discernment Ministries to partnerships across the globe, God has blessed us with many opportunities. We started by offering Personal Investigative Bible Studies free to any who wanted one and writing articles on the dangers of heresies in the church. Growth was slow and while many audio and written resources were produced and distributed we seemed to struggle just to stay afloat. 2004 saw the lowest point of our existence. Grand were the plans that year, with the biggest being a Bible Institute. Courses were prepared, instructors lines up, a building secured and a launch date was set. An online option was offered and we enrolled our first students from India. Then the wheels came off one by one, the institute never materialized,  and we had to see where we missed God’s leading.

From that soul searching moment came 2005 and a new direction began. A trip to East Asia unexpectedly led us to work with the underground church and started a partnership that is still running. That was followed by training opportunities in Malaysian churches and the rest was history. Books started to be written and made available, speaking engagements started happening and our role of helping to train church leaders across the globe was cemented.

A couple years ago we relaunched with the name Ta Ethne, feeling it better fit our purpose. A move to the Southeast US was also accomplished and new resources continue to be developed.  God willing, in the coming year, we will begin production on an audio version of The 180 Project and begin work on some new resources.

Continue to lift us up in prayer as we look forward to serving another 20, 30, 40 years or longer. Partner with us and spread the word. Have us come for a seminar or conference or help donate so we can continue to offer resources free to churches in other countries. We have invitations to go and speak in India and the Philippines and simply are waiting for the funds to come in. God has blessed us these many years and we are confident He will continue to bless us in the future.

Excerpt from The 180 Project

/ taethne

The following is an excerpt (unedited) from the second chapter of our work in progress, The 180° Project. Please be in prayer as work continues and the final chapters are being written: 

Riding on a carousel is great fun for thousands of children. Brightly painted horses, enchanting music and shining lights all add to the experience. One can climb on a gaily decorated pony and go up and down while revolving around and around or sit upon a horse transfixed on a pole, forgoing the vertical movement. No matter which one you ride upon, when the carousel stops its spinning you are back where you started. It is a pleasant ride, but one that takes you nowhere.

For many people, a carousel ride is an apt description of their spiritual life. If you have attended the same church regularly for a long time, you have probably observed such people. As a pastor, I have lost track of the number of people caught up on a spiritual carousel, a merry-go-round of misery that they cannot stop.

Week after week, the same individuals are at the altar pouring out the same confessions. “God, I’m sorry I got drunk again Friday night. I won’t do it anymore.” “Lord, I am ashamed of looking at pornography. I promise to never watch it again.” “God, I’m going to clean up my language this week.” “Lord, I’m sorry for…”

There they kneel, pouring out tears Sunday after Sunday, and yet their lifestyle never changes. At the altar they seem so sincere, so broken-hearted but there is no different in their life after they walk out the doors of the church. For many people, coming to the altar only has a placebo effect, the spiritual equivalent to a sugar pill. Their sincerity is short lived because it is emotion based and emotions change mercurially.

They have confessed, but not repented. The difference between the two is enormous, as we shall see in more detail in chapter three, when we break down the elements of biblical repentance. Confession is the first step; it is necessary but it is not biblical repentance.

They are sorry, to an extent. They are sorry that their sin has been exposed, sorry for the repercussions that are following them, the consequences they must now face. They may even want to reform, to stop their destructive habits, but not so much that any real effort is expended. Should God take away their desires for their sinful habits they would be well pleased. For them to exercise self discipline and take responsibility for their actions – well, why should they do that?

If God really cared, they reason, He could heal them, cleanse them, make them strong enough to conquer their demons. God is entreated as a magic genie or cosmic vending machine instead of a holy, righteous, jealous God who expects His followers to grow and mature in faith.

While God can pick you up off the spinning horse and throw you off the carousel the simple reality is that He rarely does. Never in Scripture is complete victory over every temptation instantly granted to anyone. Instead, we are required to submit daily to His Lordship, learning how His grace is sufficient, how His power is more than adequate for any battle we face. One is more likely to hear God say, “Go, and sin no more,” putting the responsibility back on us.

Mankind is called upon to endure as a soldier of the cross, not to ask for wings to fly over the troubles of the world. We are to pick up our cross and follow Jesus daily, not to ask for the cross’ removal.

What we desire is instant sanctification, not on-going reformation. God is at work transforming us day by day into the likeness of His Son. What we want is a short cut devoid of any hard work on our part. Scripture teaches us that God works in us and through us, as well as for us. Until we decide to come aboard the process His way, we will remain frustrated by our lack of spiritual progress.

For far too long, churches have taught a false definition of repentance. As a result, whole generations have grown up without the slightest clue as to what biblical repentance truly is.

Richard Blackaby once made this astute observation:

“The problem with (an altar call for rededication) is that it is not biblical. The crux of the gospel message is not a call to rededication, but a call to repentance. John the Baptist preached repentance (Matt. 3:2). Jesus preached repentance, both in His earthly ministry and as the resurrected Lord (Matt. 4:17; Rev. 3:19). If one’s previous commitment did not keep him walking in obedience, a re-commitment is no more likely to make him faithful. The proper response to disobedience is not a commitment to try harder, but brokenness and repentance for rejecting the will of Almighty God. God looks for surrender to His will, not commitment to carry it out. Rather than asking church members to repeatedly promise to try harder, churches must call their people to repent before Holy God.”

The concept of repentance gets muddled up with sorrow, regret, remorse and penance. While elements of each of these things can be present in biblical repentance, there is much more to this concept.

Saying one is sorry (showing remorse) and promising to never do an action again is commendable, but it falls 90̊ short of biblical repentance. Feeling sorrow or regret over the pain or loss one has caused by their actions is a necessary component of biblical repentance, but by themselves they fall completely short of the biblical idea. Doing penance, or making restitution for a wrong is commendable but it doesn’t necessarily include the elements of sorrow or regret. By the same token, one may be sorry they were caught or sorry for the consequences of an action and yet make no attempt to give restitution to the one injured or stolen from. They may also have no remorse over the action itself.

Biblical repentance is a 180̊ change. Not only is one regretful over causing the grievance and ceased the offensive action, but they will replace that action with doing good in its place. Even beyond that, this good will have at its core the desire to serve God through that action.

For example, Scripture tells us not to have coarse or vulgar language coming out of our lips but to speak those things which are edifying or that build one another up in the Lord.

  Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 NASB

Merely cleaning up one’s language isn’t enough, that is only a 90̊ change. A change for the better, to be sure, but far from the 180̊ change which includes uplifting and encouraging words that the Bible commands us to do.

Another example would be the command to refrain from stealing. Not only are we told not to do this in Ephesians 4:28, but we are told to go to work and provide for others so that others will not be tempted to steal.

 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. NASB

In our two examples, then, biblical repentance looks like this:

Old Habit: Replaced By: For this Purpose:
Vulgar Language Edifying Language Building up others
Stealing Work Helping others

The Dangers of Fideism

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One of the most subtle dangers presenting itself to the church today is that of fideism. Fideism is, in a nutshell, a subtle rejection of learning, reason, knowledge and logic in preference to that, “simple, ol’ time religion.” Those who subscribe to fideism will tell you, ‘I believe what I believe, don’t confuse me with the facts.” Faith and knowledge are held as enemies towards one another. This attitude flies in the face of such Scriptures as 2 Peter 1:5, which tells us to “make every effort to add knowledge to our faith.”

At the heart of fideists, is an unteachable spirit. I sat through one sermon not too long ago, where the pastor sidetracked towards the end of his message and said something to the effect of, “I just preach Jesus. I don’t preach “ism’s”. Not Arminianism, Calvinism or any other “ism”.” That sounds real good but is a stupid statement. Arminians and Calvinists also both preach Jesus. They just present Him differently. Even Jehovah Witnesses preach Jesus — just not the Jesus of Scripture. Anyone who has read through Romans, Ephesians and Hebrews would never characterize Christianity as a simple “religion.” This minister was not interested in understanding the differences, just in building a straw man on both sides while he stood as a third alternative, setting himself up as above all those who were putting “man-made” doctrines over Scripture. This, of course, is a poor argument, since both sides believe their interpretations come straight from Paul, not Calvin or Arminius.

It is hard for me to sit through what I call theatrical preaching. The kind of preaching where the volume and rhetoric overshadow any exposition of Scripture. The kind where “Amens” are elicited after every sentence instead of allowing them to be a spontaneous response from a convicted soul. The type of preaching where yelling, crying, laughing and whispering are masterfully orchestrated to bring the audience to an emotional decision instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to convict.  In my boyhood days we used to call this type of preaching “chicken-walking.” Whenever I hear someone stomping, snorting and stepping on their pant-cuffs and claiming they are more spiritual than a pastor who has labored long and hard to rightfully divide the Word of Truth it irks me.

Fideism is on the rise. It is infiltrating both city and country churches. There are many in today’s pulpits who sneer at those “television preachers” while they are doing the same thing on a smaller scale at their own churches. There is a suspicion of their brethren who have earned degrees in theology and ministry and this is passed on to their congregations and fostered to create a culture of ignorance. God wants us to reason with Him, He says so Himself in Isaiah. There were many things Jesus said He wanted to teach His disciples but they hadn’t yet spiritually matured enough to handle it. Discipleship is suffering in our churches because of fideism. It is a dangerous thing to let people study God’s Word in depth because it might make them question the interpretations they have heard from the pulpit for so long.

Roman Catholicism understood this. That is why they resisted their Mass and their Scriptures being in any language other than Latin for so long. It could be why so many pastors fight for KJV only also. Quite a large percentage of Americans cannot read at a 12th grade level (which the KJV is) nor understand Shakespearean English. If they could read Scripture easily (understandably) they also might question. And we all know that  a questioning mind is dangerous to those who value control over teaching.

It is far past time to to help our brothers and sisters add knowledge to their faith. That is what Ta Ethne is all about. Join us in bringing a greater knowledge of our faith to believers worldwide  so that they can be better equipped in sharing their faith.

A March of Giveaways

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This month (March) will see Ta Ethne making several Kindle editions of our books free for downloads. Each of the next three weekends will see at least one of our books for free. Included this month are Is Jesus Enough? (both the original edition and the expanded edition w/study guide), The Quest: Changing a Church’s Culture from Missions-minded to Missions-active and A Heart Hungry to Worship.

We are doing this to celebrate the release of Is Jesus Enough? Expanded edition with Study Guide in paperback form. You can download the Kindle version free March 22-23. Check out the great new cover design:

Is_Jesus_Enough-_Cover_for_Kindle

http://www.amazon.com/Is-Jesus-Enough-Expanded-Study/dp/1495381161/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394803480&sr=8-1&keywords=is+jesus+enough+expanded+edition

Is Jesus Enough? Expanded Edition Coming Soon

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Our very first resource, Is Jesus Enough?, which has been enjoyed by thousands worldwide, is getting an update. Expanded content and a study guide has been written and the book is now in the editing stage. Print release date is tentatively scheduled for early March, and Kindle editions should also be released around the same time. We are excited that this has remained popular since its original release a few years ago and have enjoyed the feedback from so many across the globe. Many have said they have used this in small group discussions and have requested a study guide be made available with it.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support of Ta Ethne. God is good and has continued to bless us so that we may be a blessing to church leaders around the world. Other resources will follow this year and we are excited about the opportunities that God is making possible.