Shifting Focus

This morning during prayer, I believe the Lord would have me make a major change to the way I blog and why I do it. Last night, I was listening to Paul Chappell online as he was preaching the opening message of the Leadership Conference in Lancaster. He was speaking about making a difference from Jude and how that we are to be about the work of "pulling people out of the fire". At the end of the message, he strongly emphasized the need for us as preachers to be like firemen who work together to pull people out of the fire. Firemen who are outside of a burning building debating about how to hold the hose and using the right kind of ladder or fighting over where they went to college would be a travesty. As I was thinking about that, it was like the Holy Spirit used his words to encourage me to just fight the fire, not the firemen who are not fighting the fires right. I have not been shy to declare that we as fundamentalists have been fighting the fire with the squirtguns of easy believism, weak preaching, weak theology and such things. However, as one of my friends recently told me - "I am going to make a difference by simply having a different kind of ministry". You know, his words also have been making an impact on me and I believe God would have me simply declare truth that will build people up and encourage others to be God centered, rather than point out the things that are man-centered, and tearing them down. In the process of tearing down man-centered ideas, people can also get unnecessarily torn down and hurt as well. I don't want them torn down, I want them built up, matured, helped and encouraged to do what's right. Of course, this doesn't mean that I won't speak up against false doctrine; we cannot afford to shrink back from doing that.

I believe this will be a more profitable focus for our church members, for others who read my blog and for my own spirit. As a result, I am going to mine through previous posts and delete many of them that I do not believe agree with this focus. I hope that in the long run, my blog will be a more profitable tool that I can use for God's glory.

Seven differences between growing and declining churches

Next week is Leadership Conference at Lancaster Baptist...I won't be going. But I will be reading the rest of this new book.

The recent research shown in this book tells us that IFB churches as a whole have grown 20% in the last four years which is good news since Southern Baptists and other Evangelical groups are in decline. Of course, not all IFB churches are growing. So a comparison was done between the churches that grew in the last three years and churches that declined in attendance in the last three years. Growing churches increased by 28% and declining churches decreased by 20%. After asking questions about both church's practices, there were seven things being done differently that seemed to cause the growing churches to grow; they're listed as follows:

1. Generate Guests through Effective Outreach
2. Create Positive First Impressions
3. Connect God's Word with Hearts
4. Follow Up Biblically and Strategically
5. Use Effective Tools and Technologies
6. Compel Spiritual Commitments
7. Develop Devoted Disciples

Part two of the book takes whole chapters on each one of these key elements. The book is claiming that all of these differences are Biblical principles, but when they use scriptures to prove some of them, sometimes they really have to stretch the scripture to make it apply. However, this doesn't mean that any of these methods are wrong. They are really just common sense. If you're not out trying to reach people, don't expect to grow. If they come to your church and it stinks, it's dirty, unfriendly, and just has a bad atmosphere, people won't come back. If you don't care to follow up on people, they won't feel cared for and will find another place where they do care and so on. So far, the kinds of things that I believe are most important are missing from the research or results. I have not seen anything that tells us that prayer made any difference. More than how many hours a day a pastor goes soul winning; I'd like to know how many hours a day a pastor is before the throne of God. More important than how nice the church's tracts and media ministry are; I'd like to know how long the pastor is preparing for his sermons in study. More than making people "feel" like they have made a "connection" I want to know if the preaching is faithful expository preaching or is it just felt needs preaching that is dressed up in fundamentalist lingo. Most of the preaching I hear of IFB's is woefully weak and unbiblical, so connecting God's Word with hearts doesn't seem likely in a true sense, although I believe the principle is true if the Bible is truly being preached.

Anyway, I'll blog through the book as I keep going. There are some very helpful, practical and common sense instructions or advice that any church can benefit from. We could use some more practical tools in our tool belt, so far I've been helped in that way.

The ? of Suicide and Salvation

This is a very sore and sensitive subject, but after last week's news of a somewhat famous preacher's suicide, I have been very troubled in spirit about the situation. It's not my wish to talk about this man, but about the subject of suicide in relation to eternal security.

First, I ask myself: "Can a Christian who is truly born again, commit suicide?" A Christian can commit any sin or work of the flesh, but when he does Proverbs 24:16 states that the just man gets back up again. There is no chance of "getting back up again" after this sin is committed and if a person is contemplating suicide, he knows this and must already decide that he does not want to repent of his sin.

Second, I asked myself: "Are there any examples of believers who committed suicide in the Bible?" There are four cases of suicide that I can recall. The first was Samson in Judges 16 who said: "Let me die with the Philistines" but yet right before he did it, he called on God to strengthen Him to destroy the Philistines in his one last act of war against them for the sake of Israel. Would God give him supernatural strength so he could kill himself? It seems from the tone of Samson's final prayer, that he was putting his trust in God for one last fight in which he knew he would die. I have to conclude that Samson's death was an act of self-sacrifice for his people. This would be akin to a soldier throwing himself on a grenade in order to save the men in his unit, knowing that it would cost him his life. Later on in Hebrews 11:32, we see Samson mentioned in the hall of the heroes of the faith.

The next people I see who commit suicide is Saul and his armor-bearer in I Samuel 34:4-5. I don't know much about the armor-bearer, but I do know about Saul's pattern of continual rebellion, unrepentant stubbornness and disobedience to God. Even though Samuel said that he would be with him the night before his death, this does not necessarily mean that he would be with Samuel in Paradise, but more likely with him in death. Saul never submitted himself to the Lord after the incident in 1 Samuel 15. I cannot conclude that Saul was a believer. His act of suicide was his last ditch attempt to keep himself in control of his own life and even his own death since he never let God be in control.

Then in 2 Samuel 17, we see Ahithophel, David's chief of staff, betray David and turn to Absalom as a means of attempting to kill David. When his counsel was not heeded by Absalom, he knew that all would be lost and that he would die at the hand of David for his treachery, and ends his life b y hanging himself.

The last person I can think of in the Bible who killed himself was Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ and "went to his own place" (Acts 1:25) No need to explain here, that Judas was the ultimate example of an unbeliever and traitor with Ahithophel as a similar character. So, I don't see any believer in Scripture committing suicide.

So, the question comes down to believing in eternal security or perseverance of the saints. Those who believe in eternal security leave open the option of apostasy and unrepentant sin as a condition in which a person can finish his life and still go to heaven. This would be the only way to believe that someone who commits suicide goes to heaven. Can a Christian die in unrepentant sin or apostasy? Some may turn to:

1 Corinthians 11:29-30 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Claiming that those who took of the Lord's supper unworthily were Christians whom God judged and took to heaven pre-maturely. However, I can't square with that based on the previous verse that says that they have eaten and drunk damnation to themselves.
The Bible says that there is no damnation/condemnation to those in Christ: Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Maybe one can say, that if the person who committed suicide was "In Christ" then he is certainly in heaven. But the person who is "in Christ" according to that verse is the person who walks not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

Now, I know you might ask: "well, are you not saved when you sin and walk in the flesh?" No, I'm still saved, but the mark of the believer is the one who repents and like Proverbs says: "Gets back up again". There is no getting back up after suicide, it's certainly not walking in the Spirit.

On the other hand, perseverance of the saints teaches that God upholds the faith of the believer so that he can never fall ultimately (Jude 24) and that he his kept by the power of God through faith unto final salvation (I Peter 1:5). It is God's power that upholds our continued faith so that we finish our course, finish our fight and keep the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).

So, in conclusion, I cannot see how a person who commits suicide can be a truly saved person. Ultimately, I will leave that judgment in God's hands for the souls of those who do this, but I can't find any substantiation for it in God's revelation. Let me just admonish you who read this with this verse:

Hebrews 3:12-13 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

New Book Reveals Some Important Stats

In a few days, a new book by Paul Chappell and Clayton Reed will be released which will be about the current state of the independent fundamental Baptist movement concerning it's churches, their growth and decline. I am very interested in reading the analysis and data, so I pre-ordered my copy here. In the video interview with Bro. Chappell, one of the stats of concern that they found, was the disproportionate rate of salvations to baptisms. The graphic of this statistic is shown above. What got my attention was that this statistic is about what we should expect Biblically. What we have reported is that the average IFB church sees 74 converts per year and after baptizing only 20 of them, only 13 actually stick with the church. Take a look at the parable of the sower in:

Luke 8:5-8 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. 8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.


There are four kinds of soils on which the gospel is given, the first one flat out rejects the gospel but the other three appear to accept the gospel and are saved. So, Jesus interprets this parable by showing us that only one of these soils actually produces fruit that remains and therefore, the good soil is the the only true conversion. This is interesting...if the average IFB church wins 74 people to Christ per year (that is the seed falls on these three kinds of soils that give immediate appearance of salvation) and only 20 follow in believers baptism, that's not too far off of the statistic given by the parable: 74 / 3 = 24.67 So out of those 74 salvation professions, there are probably only 20-25 real, genuine regenerated conversions who will continue in the faith as the Bible shows us as genuine evidence of true conversion (1John 2:19).

I will need to read the book before I can comment on what their interpretations of these figures are , but it seems to me that these statistics are in line with what Jesus told us to expect. The biggest mistake that can be made is to try to assure the 2/3 of shallow professors that they are truly saved and that they must never question their decision. I don't know if Bro. Chappell has considered this; I guess I'll have to wait until I read the book.

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