Believers – Divine Council

Believers

Nepalian Christianity: Church Evictions, Providence, & Online Exorcisms

By Theo Theo June 14, 2019

Jai Mashi from Nepal!

In my last two updates, we discussed a US lady being possibly deported from Nepal. That news has gone global and been reported in a recent edition of Decision Magazine. So, readers of this blog may be getting more up to date information from this “scholar on the ground” than mainstream sources. Bear in mind, however, that gleaning the truth from Asia’s version of “fake news” is no easy task. As I wrote in my last update, the lady has not yet been deported. Christians have rallied, and with prayer and support from around the world, the authorities chose not to pursue the case.

The same police official in charge of investigations in Eastern Nepal and the closing of a Christian school was the in charge of this case in Western Nepal. He had been transferred and is using his post to attack Christians. You can find all of this in my previous posts. God is good!

Spring Teaching Term Complete

I have completed my present teaching term and my students are now pursuing the secular requirements for their degrees. Upon completion of those exams, they will graduate in August. My students are concerned about how they will share what they’ve learned with their local village churches. Please keep this in mind in your prayers for them.

During the break, I’ll be continuing my Ph.D. Studies, which need lots of attention. I’ve also been taking courses to train myself up in many new tools to meet the growing need to get content out both here and abroad. These are truly is exciting times!

God’s Providence: An Ever-present Reality!

God’s providence continues to make itself known as an ever-present reality. For example, I’ll have a conversation with someone only to find out that another has been secretly working on a project to address the same need! Also, the Lord keeps putting people in my path at just the right time to assist in learning the things I need to move forward.

Fledgling Nepalian Christianity

Christianity is still a fledgling faith in Nepal. Christian academics must be vigilant to properly serve the church in the wake of many cults from Korea and the US. Many believers here have a limited understanding of Christianity and are challenged by new ways of thinking, especially within Christian scholarship. It is essential to help guide them towards the best ways of thinking and those ways are not always well-received. Those of a simplistic mindset resist the vastness of the content in which they’re engaged.

The pastors in the villages are often merely those who can read Nepali and translate it into the local language. They have little to no formal training and my teaching on Christianity is inevitably more profound than what they were previously led to believe. This makes it especially urgent to make content available to fight heresy within and outside of the church. Also, the youth of my students is a cultural barrier to the acceptance by their elders. Previously held doctrines are held in high regard despite obvious inferiority to modern scholarship. Elders tend to think my doctrinal clarifications require them to deny some aspect of Christ. It’s hard for them to let go of wrongful or imprecise thinking to embrace the greater riches within our faith.

Churches Being Evicted or Destroyed

Land is extremely expensive in Nepal, most churches cannot afford it and it’s especially difficult for Christians to find a place to rent for worship. In the wake of the Easter 2019 attacks in Sri Lanka, a nearby church was evicted when pressured to do so by locals and police (who were afraid that what took place in Sri Lanka could happen in their neighborhood.) The church is now meeting in separate small groups spread among rental houses also subject to eviction should landlords find out they’re being used for worship. Many pagans here find Christian worship offensive and will use any means available oppress minority religions.

Another land-owning church is under consideration to be forcibly razed. With the new constitution, and subsequent laws and amendments concerning preserving Nepalese culture, any property that was formerly, at any time, temple grounds can be “redeemed” (especially if any competing religious institution has been erected.) Therefore, a local church, one of the oldest in Nepal, had purchased land nearby a temple but that land had also initially belonged to a temple and had exchanged many hands subsequently. The church bought the property from private owners decades ago. Now people are deeming it worthy of “redemption.” The church in question will be forced to leave, receive no compensation and lose their entire investment.

This anti-Christian attack, ironic considering the mandate of the preservation law, is a blow to Christian morale. How does one preserve history by destroying one of the hallmarks of Nepalian Christianity? The message is clear: State forces in Nepal are as willing to destroy the historical roots of Christianity as their counterparts in the Middle East.

Nepal is doing the very thing they say they are opposed to: destroying Christian landmarks while claiming to have a policy of preservation. It is how the current party in power in India began when the same issue over a Hindu temple was raised concerning a Muslim mosque.

State News

In the past week, we’ve had a series of bomb blasts in the capital; a sad reminder of the decade long civil war that plagued Nepal after its recent overthrow of the monarch. Maoists continue to be a problem: their leader is honored by the current administration for “maintaining peace” despite the thousands they’ve killed in the process.

Indian elections have concluded and, despite media predictions, the Hindu party in power has prevailed. Nepal wants to follow the same trend. The majority are Hindu; however, the communists won the majority and have formed the new government.

An Online Exorcism?

Lastly, a recent attempt to rape a 7-year-old girl (while asleep in our church) was thwarted and the girl was unharmed. The father is Hindu and has been known to be demon possessed. He had turned to Christ to be set free but returned to his Hindu roots shortly after that. After this incident with his daughter, he was repossessed. After many prayer meetings, we were able to coordinate several believers, both here and in the US, and engage in a “real time” exorcism. Amy “Beth” of Hesed Place, a former guest on the NakedBible podcast, and the indigenous pastor here who translated Supernatural into Nepali worked together to help the victim in finding meaningful peace and deliverance. We also consulted with Doug Overmyer from Seers See Ministry for guidance as the event lasted over several days. Doug is part of Mike’s Peeranormal Podcast and also was featured on the Bible Over Brews Podcast on episodes 36 & 38.

The father has joined our church to be alongside his family and be discipled in the faith. They’ve moved closer to the church to get away from the place where the rape attempt occurred. I also conferred with Fern & Audrey of Discovering MErcy for some further advice and will coordinate with our own local pastor to see he gets further assistance in his journey. We hope to get Mike’s next book translated, as well, to assist us until I can devote time to producing much-needed content upon completion of my doctoral degree in Biblical Studies. We are also planning a conference here in conjunction with the release of the translation to get the book out to the people. Thanks to everyone who supported us behind the scenes.

Thanks to all who continue to support us in the work we do here. It is exciting to take the light of Jesus into the dark kingdoms of this world as a beacon of hope! As we get the time, we hope to be keeping you abreast of the new avenues of content production with which we presently have in the works. God continues to confirm our present trajectory.

Believers

Christian Arrests in Nepal, Hindu Nationalism, and How Young Believers in the East are Affected by those Older in the Faith in the West

By Theo Theo May 28, 2019

Those arrested recently in Western Nepal have finally been released by the authorities. Earlier it was reported that the US woman was deported and had pledged to return. I’m not sure if she’d be allowed. As I mentioned earlier the attacks of Sri Lanka (a new article with more understanding) and how it has affected many in the region by empowering some to rise against Christians and causing others to be wary. Here’s a good article to catch you up on all the recent ramifications. It additionally tells of the release of all involved in those arrests after a week. It seems to report that she was not deported after all. It is hard to get proper details at times, even in the media. I try my best to document what I report, but my sources are not failproof. Nepali press is reporting that the consulate/embassy actually intervened. I find that quite doubtful. Apparently, though, she is still in Nepal regardless. It would seem as this article reports that locals demonstrated and paved the way for a better outcome. It would also seem the earlier reports were not entirely accurate.

Muslims in Nepal

Someone asked me about Muslims in Nepal, so I’ve posted the above video on Hindu Nationalism. Here’s a more recent article on Muslims in Nepal. Hopefully, this article and a few of the earlier ones can help anyone interested to see what it is like to be in the minority here. You can see how Muslims are affected and how it compares with the treatment of Christians. Religious freedom in Nepal is tricky at best.

Bird Flu

Also, here is an update on the bird flu situation. People have now died. We are still avoiding chicken. If everything tastes like chicken, I suppose one just should eat everything else until the flu flies because the chickens can’t fly all too high. Go figure!

Cat 4 Storm

Additionally, this morning, a category 4 storm hit India named Cyclone Fani and has sent more rain our way. Nearly 100 million appear to be affected in India. Many of those had to be evacuated. They have been doing well at these pre-storm maneuvers recently as I recall. We sure didn’t need any more rain and certainly are in no danger as compared to those in India.

They have not been hit by such a storm for almost two decades. In the wakes of severe persecution and the death of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons, a similar storm belted the same area back then. Here are two updated article revisiting those events two decades ago, and this one. While visiting the region myself during the 2008 persecutions, I was told by an Indian pastor that a member of parliament while in session begged for Jesus’ forgiveness for the persecution seeing the storm as some form of Biblical judgment. I could not find anything to document that claim.

How Young Believers in the East are Affected by those Older in the Faith in the West

As you can begin to see, what affects neighbors in the region here has a significant impact on Nepal. What happens to Christians in the world affects Christians here to a much stronger degree than per se those in the West. Even what happens to Western Christians significantly impact those in the East here. Conversely, what other groups do to Christians also affect what others end up doing to believers here. It is quite a relationship and sets a strong measure of responsibility on those “older in the family of the faith” to act wisely as those “younger” are watching and deeply affected.

Christians here look with “honor” upon others in the family all across the globe. They also connect to any “shame” and share it more than Westerners can imagine. I can only point to David deSilva’s book on this topic to advise one on how to better understand such connections that are still very much alive here that go all the way back to antiquity. It is crucial to understand the world here and also the worldview and culture of the Bible as a whole.

There is a certain amount of this idea of momentum, whether up or down that affects people in general over here. It is to a much larger extent here than I realized when I lived in the West. It seems to me to be much more inherent here. People here are well communal.

It carries even beyond Asia. I cannot discern if I’ve changed personally by living here. Or, perhaps my studies of authors like DeSilva has made me aware that it’s the same in the West. Maybe people here are just that much closer to the Biblical worldview and the West is more removed. It was reported in India that 19 students committed suicide over their exam results. I cannot fathom if the shootings in the West are somehow similar in some sense that people keep doing this because they feel connected to those who did such violence in the past. Many see suicide as their only option to tell the world here that it needs to change. Apparently, they feel that they have no other way in which to express the need for that change to come. Let’s hope their deaths matter in bringing some sort of change.

This incident here shows the communal nature of Asians in their thinking. This is only a recent example. Each felt the need to end their own life because the pressure they would face ended any chance of a proper life. Stereotypes had already made them out to be failures before the truth could be known. They also now have made them as a statistic.

As I stated in a previous update, it is akin to what one sees in a game where things seem to work for or against a particular team, and it carries or drags on the rest of the members. Sort of an ebb and flow type atmosphere that seemingly is ingrained in thinking in those religious over here that drives them positively or negatively into their actions. They are in “communion or fellowship” with all those of like faith across the planet. In the West, we tend to stereotype. Here in the East, they join in any group whom they feel indebted because of the kind of patronage DeSilva describes in that same volume. They also very much stereotype others based upon any group that others share in.

Art

Art of Salvation

By Terence Gillespie April 5, 2019

“Art of Salvation” is the Art section of DivineCouncil.org’s new online store!

Believing Artists celebrate the wonder of salvation in art. By their gifts — through the eyes of the Spirit — God is glorified. And with the work their hands find to do, another view of the Art of Salvation is revealed.

Our first offerings are from Angel (Isaiah McCann) with her “Eden Tree Collection” and J9 who’s been able to “realize on canvas” some long-held visions by working with Angel.

Click Here to View Everything in the Store!

Eden Tree Collection

Mark 8:24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
“It may be that my imagination gets carried away on this verse, but it inspired me to create people who look like trees.

Another inspiration for my trees, was an article titled “Sacred Trees in Israelite Religion”, that was later put in the book, “The Bible Unfiltered, Scripture’s Sacred Trees”, by Dr. Michael S. Heiser.”
— Angel Isaiah McCann

(NOTE: There are 14 available sizes for each work and please make sure to see the preview for your choice before ordering.)

Collaborations with J9

J9 describes how the collaboration with Angel came about:

It was in early 2017 that the Lord led me to what has become a very fruitful relationship with an Artist Lady, who co-incidentally goes by the name Angel.

Needing a way to describe the vision which I had in my mind for over a decade, I drew a rough sketch and, after some email exchanges containing “what-if’s” and “tweaks,” was presented with the finished product as you see it here.

Stay tuned for more inspiring and useful things to be added to the Store!

America

‘American Gospel’ Exposes the Destructive Lies of Prosperity Gospel Hucksters

By Terence Gillespie March 1, 2019

I just finished watching a fantastic documentary, American Gospel – Christ Alone, contrasting the Gospel with its predominant portrayal in American culture, today. The filmmaker, Brandon Kimber, did a masterful and thorough job on this 2 hour and 19-minute film.

The buzz around American Gospel is how it defines and addresses the problems of the prosperity Gospel. While it does accomplish that vital task (something I’d hoped for, but didn’t find in “Blessed”), it does much more than that. It first presents the authentic Gospel (first 40 minutes), contrasts it with faith vs. works fallacies, what the Bible really says about suffering and evil, and highlights some of those associated with the NAR controversy though none of these things are its primary focus.

Some ‘Blessed” Questions Answered

In my review of “Blessed”, I posed questions about prosperity and the Gospel the author did not address:

What is the relationship, if any, between the Gospel and human prosperity? How could salvation of the lost have nothing, whatsoever, to do with human flourishing?Every believer with a heartbeat might have an opinion on such questions. But, what is the truth contained in the Biblical text?

What might a believer seeking the whole counsel of God, conclude? Have some, or all, of these prosperity gospel preachers been fleecing the sheep or does the fulfillment of one or more of the missions of Jesus Christ involve prosperity and believers?

“American Gospel” solidly answers the last question with scriptural references that will leave the viewer inspired yet with no doubts about the spiritual crimes of a half-dozen or so of these gospel hucksters.

Soon to Become a Handy Video Reference

Given its quality and thoroughness, I’ll likely be referring to American Gospel as a resource for illustrating, if not altogether resolving, many of questions and issues that come up on forums and in conversations. Therefore, I’ll need to re-watch this documentary and capture timestamps and summaries of the many problems this film handles and illustrates so well. That will take some time since the work, while quite entertaining, is rather comprehensive in its coverage.

If you’re looking for a one-stop resource to clearly delineate many of the ways the predominant modern portrayal of the Gospel in the American culture differs from the Biblical Text, this film is the best single resource I’ve seen on the subject.

Modern Money Changers

There’s plenty in the film that may have you relating to Christ’s anger at the money changers in the Temple. But it’s the trail of needlessly ruined or impoverished lives and the thwarting of those genuinely seeking God that’s probably the greater cost.

The hoarded and fraudulently gained earthly wealth of these hucksters is the best demonstration and proof of their genuinely held values: that the Gospel is just a mesmerizing tale that keeps the attention of believers long enough to separate them from their wallets and purses.

For the benefit of Benny Hinn’s $20k nightly stays in Dubai, the un-healed believer with cerebral palsy spends a lifetime questioning why his faith is not strong enough to convince God to heal him. Too bad he doesn’t know that Benny’s handlers screen out the hard cases before they get too close to the stage.

Pentecostal Lunacy

Kenneth Copeland plagiarizes his loony mentor (Kenneth Hagin) and takes “Ye shall be as gods” to the next level claiming he has Jesus’ DNA. With such exalted genetic street-cred established, it’s perfectly natural to demand another $60 million for a second jet for his private airport. After all, the contributing believers would be entitled to their own earthly empires if they only had the “wisdom” to ask.

Here’s an episode in Copeland’s apprenticeship with Hagin, his psychopathic mentor:

Passing the Baton

Here’s Copeland “passing the baton” to Todd White. Can we look forward to subsequent references to this episode described as Todd’s “anointing?”

In “American Gospel,” Todd White demonstrates what is apparently his schtick: a super slow manipulation of the ankle to make it look like he’s called the power of the Holy Spirit down to even up the lengths of a seeker’s legs and putting an end to chronic back pain.

The Beginning of the End, Hopefully

Is walking to the head of every line and claiming to be first proof of “God’s plan for your life” or just common lousy behavior? Is a graceful walk through the long process of sanctification only necessary because I don’t understand what my Bible really says, like Copeland or White?

For all “American Gospel” does to clarify the true Gospel and expose the false, it also does a wonderful job in championing God’s word and its role in fostering and deepening a relationship with our Creator. Let’s pray that “American Gospel” is the beginning of the end of the horrible spiritual destruction that follows in the wake of the false prosperity gospel.

Believers

37 Ways to Love One Another

By Guest Post February 19, 2019

by Paul Tautges

A local church is not built by one man, or even a few men, but by every believer being actively involved in ministry through evangelizing the lost people in their lives and serving their fellow Christians. A quick glance at the practice of the New Testament church reveals that they thought very little about programs and very much about relationships.

Consider the disciple-making that would naturally take place in the life of a local church if every believer would practice the loving, one-another ministry that the early churches first read about in the instructions they received from the apostles:

Be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10).
Give preference to one another (Rom. 12:10).
Be of the same mind toward one another (Rom. 12:16).
Accept one another by withholding judgment (Rom. 14:1).
Accept one another by showing deference (Rom. 14:1–5; 15:7).
Esteem [highly regard] one another in love (Rom. 14:5; Phil. 2:3).
Build up one another (Rom. 14:19; 1 Thes. 5:11).
Counsel one another (Rom. 15:14).
Serve one another by showing deference in matters of liberty (Gal. 5:13).
Bear one another’s sin burdens (Gal. 6:2).
Be gentle with one another (Eph. 4:2).
Be kind to one another so as to preserve unity (Eph. 4:32).
Speak truth to one another (Eph. 4:25; Col 3:9).
Submit to one another (Eph. 5:21).
Show compassion to one another (Col. 3:12).
Bear with the inherent sinfulness of one another (Col. 3:13).
Forgive one another (Col. 3:13).
Use Spirit-filled, Word-saturated music to teach and admonish one another (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19).
Comfort one another with the hope of Christ’s return (1 Thes. 4:18).
Encourage one another (1 Thes. 5:11).
Live in peace with one another (1 Thes. 5:13).
Seek good for one another (1 Thes. 5:15).
Encourage one another to forsake unbelief and hardness of heart (Heb. 3:13).
Stimulate one another to spiritual growth (Heb. 10:24).
Encourage one another by faithful participation in your local church (Heb. 10:25).
Confess sins to one another (James 5:16).
Pray for one another’s spiritual and physical healing (James 5:16).

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Theology

We Are All Theologians

By Guest Post February 1, 2019

by Dax Swanson

Humility is so not something we work on. It really is what we are, what it means to come to trust Jesus, to need Jesus, because our own works are a crumbly mess.

Thinking that the church at Corinth had the same basic theology as Paul. He calls them saints. He says that they have all things, that they are Christ’s, and that they, like him, have nothing they didn’t receive. Basically they both have received the gift of the gospel. They are Christ’s people, his church.

But then he really goes after them for not living it out. For what kind of theologians they are. He paints this incredible contrast in chapter 4. The “Corinth-way” of being theologians is that they are rich, they have all they want, they are wise in Christ, they are strong, they are held in honor. They are leveraging the gospel to affirm their self-righteousness, their standing.

I’m struck by how amazing this is. You can hear the gospel, believe in Jesus, and live it out in a way that doesn’t go to the core of what the gospel is. You can, as a Christian, see the Christ and the cross as a means to self-improvement.

Against that way, Paul illumines another way of living out the theology of the gospel. He calls it the apostles’ way. They are a spectacle to all, sentenced to death, fools for Christ’s sake, weak, held in disrepute, considered scum of the earth, refuse. No leveraging, no honor, no climbing some ladder to self-improvement through the gospel.

I’ve never seen this passage used as support by Forde or Luther, but this passage fits right in with the contrast of being a theologian of glory or being a theologian of the cross. Do you see through the cross to a grander purpose for yourself, to be honorable, strong, improved, and not to die? There you are, the way of Corinth, the theologian of glory.

Or do you see the cross… and stop. The hidden mystery of God in suffering and death. It proclaims our total unworthiness. And we identify with this Jesus, and we await the resurrection from the dead that brings no status here, no strength that the world is attracted to.

Being a theologian of the cross, it seems to no small degree, is essential humility, because it is being struck with the suffering and death of Jesus for me. All is him, naught is me. And in my own suffering, in my own death, in the insufficiency of all I do, is not futility to be railed against, but a trust that, in Christ, I will be raised. There is no hope in me; there is no hope but Christ.

I’m coming to see you, Paul says to the church in Corinth, we will see. The issue is, where is the power? Is it in us, seeing through the cross, stronger and better now? Or is it in our identification with Jesus, because the power is the resurrection? May we all be theologians of the cross.

by Dax Swanson, Pastor – Grace Church Bellingham

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Church

Where Did All This Pentecostalism Come From?

By Guest Post January 25, 2019

By Tim Challies

It is impossible to consider the modern history or contemporary state of Christianity without accounting for the sudden rise, the explosive spread, and the worldwide impact of Pentecostalism. To that end, I’ve been reading several books on the subject, focused especially on the Azusa Street Revival, which most historians consider the setting in which Pentecostalism began. Here are a few key points I’ve learned about the Azusa Street Revival and the Azusa Street Mission that housed it.

Its roots were in the Holiness Movement. The roots of the Azusa Street Revival and the Pentecostalism it birthed are entwined with the Holiness Movement of the late nineteenth century. This was a renewing movement within the Wesleyan tradition that emphasized complete sanctification and taught that moral perfection is available to Christians. It was marked by a heavy emphasis on personal holiness, most often displayed through a close adherence to the law as a means of drawing near to God. In general, early Pentecostal theology took Wesleyan theology as its starting place, then added to it certain new elements.

It was led by William Seymour. The Azusa Street Mission was led by William J. Seymour, an African American son of former slaves who was born and raised in Louisiana. In his early twenties he traveled to Indianapolis where he had a conversion experience at a Methodist Episcopal church. He left that tradition, though, after becoming convinced of premillennialism and special revelation. He likely migrated to a group called Evening Light Saints where he was exposed to their policies of non-sectarianism, non-creedalism, and equality between races and genders, all of which he adopted and promoted. Though he felt the call to ministry, he battled it until he contracted smallpox and came to believe this was God’s chastisement for his disobedience.

It built upon a previous movement. Though it’s fair to say that the Azusa Street Mission marked the beginning of Pentecostalism, William Seymour had based much of his doctrine and certain of his practices on Charles Parham. Parham had become convinced that Christians needed to rediscover the miraculous spiritual gifts, especially that of tongues. These tongues would allow mission work to advance in foreign lands and help usher in the Lord’s return. Parham founded a Bible school in Topeka, Kansas, where in 1901 one of his students received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. Though Parham was an unabashed racist and unorthodox in many key doctrines, Seymour studied at his college for a short time—enough to absorb his view of the ongoing spiritual gifts. Seymour was soon called to a church in Los Angeles and left Parham, whom he was soon to eclipse as the father of Pentecostalism. Parham seems never to have forgiven Seymour for this.

It began near Azusa Street. The Azusa Street Revival actually began in a small house on nearby Bonnie Brae Street. On April 9, 1906, Seymour was three days into a ten-day fast with several other people (all of whom were African American), when he laid hands on one participant and prayed he would receive the Holy Spirit. That man fell to the floor, then began to speak in tongues. They hurried to the house of Richard and Ruth Asberry on Bonnie Brae Street where others were waiting. Soon many of them had a similar experience of Spirit baptism and also spoke and sang in tongues. This drew the interest of neighbors and within days the house became so packed that they were forced to move to the nearby vacant building at 312 Azusa Street. (That building has since been torn down, but the house on Bonnie Brae Street remains as a museum.)

It was distinctly egalitarian. From its very beginning, the Azusa Street Mission permitted both men and women to fill all positions of leadership, including preaching. The revival was also racially egalitarian, so that whites and minorities worshipped together in a way that many at the time considered scandalous. Some of the early critiques of the movement ooze with malicious racism as onlookers express their revulsion with black men worshipping alongside white women. The multi-ethnicity of the earliest Pentecostals contributed to what would become Pentecostal worship, which absorbed elements of various cultural traditions. (Seymour would later amend his views to allow only men to hold certain leadership positions.)

It was a revival of a particular view of sanctification

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Community

Find Believers Near You Interested in The Divine Council with the New Miqlat Network!

By divinecouncil January 16, 2019

If you want to find believers near you interested in The Divine Council, the Naked Bible Podcast, and other Biblical material produced by Dr. Michael Heiser, check out the new MIQLAT Network!

The link to join the network is published inside each issue of Dr. Heiser’s newsletter so you must be subscribed to the Miqlat Newsletter to join.

It’s up to you to exchange contact info with those who contact you via the network. If you don’t want to give out your email address feel free to resume your conversation on the DivineCouncil.org forum via private thread, private message, or live chat.

I’ve already found four local people I would not have known about, otherwise!

Church

Dallas Willard on The Basis of Authority for Spiritual Leaders & Teachers

By divinecouncil January 2, 2019

Today’s devotional from Dallas Willard’s “Hearing God Throughout the Year” struck me as worth sharing. As the title reveals, the devotional is 365 Biblical insights into fostering a personal relationship with God. Here’s Dallas on, “Led by God”:

There is massive testimony to and widespread faith in God’s personal, guiding communication with us—far more than in blindly controlled guidance. This is not only recorded in Scripture and emblazoned upon the history of the church; it also lies at the heart of our worship services and our individualized relationships with God, and it actually serves as the basis of authority for our leaders and teachers. Only very rarely will someone profess to lead or teach the people of God on the basis of his or her education, natural talents and denominational connections alone. Credibility in any sort of spiritual leadership derives from a life in the Spirit, from the person’s personal encounter and ongoing relationship with God.¹

Meditate: Read Proverbs 3:5-6 and consider the ways you are a leader in a friendship, family, church, neighborhood or workplace. (Being a leader means that people listen to you and value your opinion regardless of whether you fill a role or hold a title.) Read the verses again and ask God to show you in what ways you need to listen for God to speak in those relationships and circumstances.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. —Proverbs 3:5-6

Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson, Hearing God through the Year: A 365-Day Devotional (Westmont, IL: IVP Books, 2015). ↩

America

Legal Threats to House Churches & Bible Studies

By Terence Gillespie September 21, 2018

Those who would attack the church require only the slightest pretense. Where no basis in law exists, a legalistic pretense will be created as illustrated in two recent examples (with thanks to WND for reporting on them.)

Town Changes Rules to Ban Church

The first occurred when a town changed their rules to ban a church from the civic center.”

In this case, a misguided fear of “violating the Constitution’s establishment clause” led the city council to ban church worship services.

The case is not yet resolved, but will likely go in the church’s favor (with no help from the constitution’s establishment clause.) The city was inconsistent when implementing their policies: they let other groups use the civic center for similar events and rented office space in the same building to a Lutheran church. But that didn’t stop “their fears” from making up ad hoc rules to exclude the church.

If cities should implement their policies consistently, or cleverly revamp them from scratch to exclude the church, protection from the constitution’s establishment clause will be revealed to be merely rhetorical. Practically, only those with the resources to press the issue will be heard in federal court. In the meantime, ministries will be shut out or shut down until the local domains excluding them have a compelling reason to relent.

‘Constitutional’ Protection?

The federal constitution doesn’t prevent a city from making policies and ordinances. There is no agreement between these entities (fedgov and city). The state constitution might have a clause to which churches may appeal, depending on the state. Such will only be tested if churches in their domain have the will and resources to protest.

The church in this first example protested to local authorities and will likely prevail. Their victory will stem from the inconsistent policy implementation by the city.

Retired Pastor Threatened With Eviction Over Bible Study

The second case hits close to home when a “retired pastor is threatened with eviction over his Bible study meetings.

A company that runs a senior-living center in Fredericksburg, Virginia, has decided that a Bible study is a “business” and consequently has threatened to evict a retired Lutheran pastor and his wife for conducting one in their residence.

From the start, the retired pastor characterized his Bible study as a “book review” to avoid friction with the management company. Then we see another example of a private entity making ad hoc changes to their policies to justify an eviction. In this case, they recategorized the Bible study as a business.

As in the first example, the company ’s mistake was inconsistently implementing their policies. Other groups were permitted to meet in the same space to engage in activities ostensibly identical to those of the pastor’s Bible study. The company would have to show that holding a Bible in your hands when meeting others somehow makes it a business meeting to justify their eviction of the pastor.

The legal defenders of this small group say the federal housing act (FHA) may be the remedy for the pastor:

The actions by the Evergreens “violate the Fair Housing Act and its accompanying regulations,” First Liberty contended. “The FHA prohibits discrimination ‘against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection therewith, because of … religion.”

Private Homeowners in HOA Domains

The FHA might be a remedy for church activities under its domain. But what about private homeowners? 40 million households (53% of households in America)¹ are in the legal domain of a Home Owners Association and bound by the agreement that defines it.

Fortunately, four small groups recently prevailed when an aggressive atheist brought suit against the HOA of a retirement community in California to put an end to four Bible studies.

HOA agreements control the use of the home. Could the language in those agreements be changed, after the fact, to restrict Bible studies or house churches?

Of course, they could.

What if the atheist in the previous example was on the HOA board of your community? What would prevent him from making up an ad hoc rule as was done in the first two examples in this article?

Most of those who’ve signed HOA agreements have little knowledge of their contents. After the fact, homeowners may object to their restrictions. But those restrictions are clearly outlined in a document bearing an essential legal feature: the signature of the homeowner. Indeed, participation in this domain is entirely optional.

As faith-based attacks on homes in the domain of an HOA increase, believers must be mindful about their voluntary consent into these domains.

First Line of Defense

A believers first line of defense is prayer and God’s supernatural protection. However, Christians should take notice of Walter Williams’ description of the first line of defense in secular terms.

A civilized society’s first line of defense is not the law, police, and courts but customs, traditions, and moral values. Behavioral norms, mostly transmitted by example, word of mouth and religious teachings, represent a body of wisdom distilled over the ages through experience and trial and error.²

The “customs, traditions and moral values” Williams refers to came directly from the foundational document of western civilization: The Bible. So did common law, although the current legal system in America is commercial.

In other words, whereas the Bible, itself, was the primary legal document in Christendom, Americans must now appeal to its faint echo filtered through society and commercial law.

Recommendations

While not possible or righteous to avoid all persecution, we are sent out “as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Mt 10:16.)” As hard as dove-like innocence may be to some, and serpentine-like wisdom to others, the fulfillment of the great commission requires both. Where one is lacking, believers are compromised.

Any justice received by Americans is limited to what they can or will afford. For ministries already entangled by legalistic pretense, it will cost money to break free. More often, what’s required is the wisdom to navigate the various domains of the territory to remain on task.

Pray for God’s supernatural guidance on every premise and decision of your ministry.
Look for states, counties, and cities with widely shared Christian beliefs; without a history of making ad hoc ordinances to quell irrational fears or provide temporary convenience.
Disabuse yourself of the false mindset that your first line of defense is the law. The legal system is the last line of defense and available only to those who can afford it.
Look for protection from the inconsistency of your opponent’s policy implementation or the customs and traditions of the domain of your ministry.
Think carefully before signing a home owner’s agreement that might one day be used as a lever of control over your Bible Study, ministry, or house church.
Where they don’t “receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.” (Matthew 10:14)
Where escape is impossible, stand your ground for the truth and God’s glory. Bear your cross with steadfastness and joy and “consider this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Co 4:17–18).

https://hoa-usa.com/about.aspx ↩
Walter E. Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University. Copyright 2009 Creators Syndicate ↩