Christian Discrepancy, Disputes, Disservice and Devious Behaviour:‘An Evangelical Perspective’

Christian discrepancy, disputes, disservice and devious behaviour: ‘An Evangelical perspective’

"For the time has come that judgment

must begin at the house of God… ."

1 Pet 4:17

Rev Anthony George Small

Copyright © 2012 by Rev Anthony George Small.

ISBN:                   Softcover                     978-1-4691-9166-9

ISBN:                   Ebook                          978-1-4691-9167-6

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Contents

Dedication

Fore-worded by the author:

General Introduction

A Definition of an Evangelical

Chapter 1 Discrepancy in Christian Government

Chapter 2 Dispute on Christian doctrine

Chapter 3 Disservice and believers attitudes towards others

Chapter 4 Devious behaviour among Christian Leadership

Chapter 5 General Conclusion

6. Bibliography

7 Appendix A

About the author:

END NOTES

Dedication

It is my privilege and honour to dedicate this book to all those who contributed in their special way to see the progress of this book during the time of my writing. Special dedication go to my daughters Joslyn and Janine who may not have had all the privileges they needed during the time of writing, compiling, collating, and the completing of the book.

This book would not be a success without dedicating it to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for affording me the wisdom, knowledge and insight of the corrupt trends that are plaguing our churches. Last but not least this book is dedicated to all those Christians who have been discouraged, disheartened and distanced from the church because of their desire to stand up for the truth.

Fore-worded by the author:

As a scholar and writer I would recommend anyone to read this book. It touches the hearts and minds of people to review their thinking in the 21st century, in accordance with some of the corruption that has overtaken the church. I was prompted to write this book when someone approached me and said, ‘let’s make money’. These words came from a prominent business man who further stated, ‘the church is a financial institution, I will erect the building and you preach on prosperity and finance.

Rev Anthony George Small

General Introduction

Introducing such a subject in this book is never easy, but is of paramount importance to address in the 21st century. My aim in writing this article is to make Christians aware of corruption that is crippling the church and some of the latest trends that have overtaken it. Believers should still stay focused on Jesus and pray that God will give them wisdom on how to handle these emerging issues. This book deals with the evangelicals and there are some definitions given to explain who they are. The reader will come across some things in this book that may blow his/her mind, but they should not lose heart and allow this to destroy their faith, trust and hope in Jesus. Therefore, those who read and understand the contents of this book will be amazed how denominations and local churches are controlled by man/woman. These people exploit the poor, ignorant and the gullible with gimmicks, lies, fabrication, pseudo healings, money making schemes, overnight prosperity and heaven on earth experiences. Some reasons for the mess in the church are outlined in this book, which gives a crystal clear perception that as long as man is building his own kingdom, there is no need for the king of kings to establish his kingdom. Woman/ man will always want to be above God and eventually destroy themselves when they acknowledge some of the limitations that God gave them.

This book will give the reader a better understanding as to why there are different organizations/denominations, one Bible but so many interpretations, conflicts and warfare among believers and corruption that is filtered down from leadership to the congregation, as a spark that can either set off a fire, or cause financial, material and wealth gluttons to follow and pursue their devious ways of deception.

Overview of the contents in each chapter:

Chapter 1—looks into some of the discrepancies found in the denomination/organization forms of government, constitutions and governing body.

Chapter 2—deals with some of the disputes that are found in Christian doctrines and covers subjects such as: salvation, the Holy Spirit, dispute on divorce, including divorce and remarriage, woman’s place in ministry, the second coming of Christ and healing.

Chapter 3—helps to view some disservice and believers attitudes towards others unpacked from 1 Corinthians 13:1-7.

Chapter 4—discloses devious behavior in leadership in areas such as: devious behaviour among pastors, devious behaviour among prosperity preachers, devious behaviour among leaders involved in financial schemes, devious behaviour among leaders transparency with church funds, devious behaviour among leaders to lead by example and devious behaviour among leaders to maintain their humble beginnings.

Chapter 5—gives a general conclusion of the entire book with special emphasis on the discrepancies, disputes, disservice and corrupt behaviour.

Chapter 6—indicates the sources used in the research.

Chapter 7—outlines additional information that was not included in the main section of the book.

For the benefit of the reader the main section that is excluded from the appendix has many Biblical scriptures and passages that are utilized as the main source of reference. Therefore, I have used the New International Version (NIV 1984) unless otherwise indicated.

1 Timothy 4:1-2—The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

A Definition of an Evangelical

1)   What is an Evangelical and who are some of them?

This section will be concentrating on what is an evangelical and who are some of them.

Firstly, I will consider what Clive Calver and Ian Coffey et al. (1993:3) has to say, and try to decipher some data from them as to the definition under examination. According to these writers they state that an evangelical is a person who believes the historic truths of the Christian faith, as set out in the Bible, and is committed to living out their implications. At the time of the writing of their book, they estimated that there was at least one in five in the world who call themselves Christians, who are evangelical Christians. This one in five brought an estimation of 300 million evangelicals worldwide. They mention four things that mark someone out as an evangelical. This, however, has nothing to do with the church they attend, or the way they worship God.

1.1 Evangelicals believe the Bible as the word of God—to be trusted, believed and to be acted on.

This makes the Bible:

a)   The only reliable means to know who God is; what he is like; and what he expects of us.

b)   The ultimate authority over all that we believe and all what we do.

1.2 Evangelicals believe that the death of Jesus and his coming alive again are at the heart of true faith.

In essence evangelicals believe:

a)   God is a trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who created all human beings to be his friends.

b)   All people are sinners by nature and behaviour.

c)   Sin both breaks God’s law and offends his character.

d)   The result and penalty of sin for each person is to be separated from God.

e)   Jesus, as God’s son, died to pay the price for our sin, a price we were unable to pay ourselves.

f)   Only through the death of Jesus can anyone be forgiven and become a child of God.

g)   This new relationship cannot be earned. It is a free gift to be received by faith.

1.3 Evangelicals believe that each person must turn from their self-centred way and ‘be converted.’

A follower of Jesus Christ, according to the New Testament, is someone who has experienced a personal and internal miracle. Within their spiritual nature, a dynamic God inspired change has taken place.

1.4 Evangelicals believe that the Christian faith is to be lived out day by day.

Evangelicals believe that faith in Jesus is all that God asks in order for us to be forgiven and reunited with him. a) We do not earn forgiveness from God through the good and worthy things that we do. b) Our own acts of goodness do not need to be added to all that Jesus achieved through the cross in order for us to be forgiven. (1993:4-5).

2) These writers further state (1993:11) that according to a leading observer in the United Kingdom, there are twelve distinct groups or tribes-into which it is possible to classify evangelicals, namely:

2.1 Anglican Evangelicals—About one in four who attends the Church of England is evangelicals. Their focus is in the Anglican Evangelical Assembly and the Church of England Evangelical Council.

2.2 Pentecostal—The three largest Pentecostal denominations are the Assemblies of God, Elam and the Apostolic Churches.

2.3 Ethnic Churches—A major force are the so-called ‘black churches’ of African or Caribbean origin. Mainly Pentecostal, they include an extensive number of denominations and churches in association with each other. There are many other ethnic churches in Britain including Asian, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese and Iranian.

2.4 Renewal Groupings—Charismatic evangelicals are a significant sub-section in all denominations. Some have their own identity, as with Anglican Renewal Ministries in the Church of England. According to the English Church Census, around 7000 English Roman Catholics would see themselves as ‘charismatic’ or ‘evangelical.’

2.5 Separatists—These are mainly Reformed (Calvinist) in their theology. They are not willing to be part of a denomination that includes non-evangelicals. Some also separate from evangelicals who are part of such mixed denominations. Key groups of separatist evangelicals include the Evangelical Movement of Wales, the Free Church of Scotland, the Grace Baptists and the British Evangelical Council.

2.6 Reformed Evangelicals—Evangelicals of reformed (Calvinist) persuasion exist within some major denominations. For example, the (Anglican) Church Society and, more recently, the Proclamation Trust.

2.7 Evangelical Majorities—These are those in a denomination where the vast majority are evangelicals. This includes the Salvation Army, the Presbyterian Church of Ireland and the Baptist Union.

2.8 Evangelical Minorities—Some evangelicals are part of denominations where they are in the minority. This includes the Methodist Church, the Congregational Union and the United Reformed Church (URC). Several have their own organizations within the denomination to foster their identity and objectives. These include ‘Headway’ in Methodism and the Group for Evangelism and Renewal (Gear) in the URC.

2.9 Evangelical Non-Denominational Groups—These are independent churches that are loosely affiliated together, but denying denominational structure or identity. Wholly evangelical, these include the Christian Brethren, the Assembly of God churches and churches within the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches.

2.10 The New Churches—The title ‘New Churches’ has replaced the ineptly named ‘House Church Movement.’ In the main, these are groups of churches linked under the leadership of someone they regard as an Apostle.

2.11 Independents—Many evangelicals are in churches which maintain a total independence, but are often happy to co-operate with fellow evangelicals elsewhere.

2.12 Evangelical Denominations—Some small denominations are totally evangelical-including the Free Church of England, the Churches of Christ and the Independent Methodists.

3) Secondly, I will consider what Peter Beyerhaus (1975:3078) has to say, and try to decipher what data he has in store pertaining to evangelical groupings. According to him evangelicals do not constitute a monolithic block, but he believes that there are no less than six distinguishable evangelical groupings:

3.1 ‘New Evangelicals’

3.2 ‘Separatist Fundamentals’

3.3 ‘Confessional Evangelicals’

3.4’Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements’

3.5’Radical Evangelicals’

3.6’Ecumenical Evangelicals’

4) Lastly, I will consider what John Stott (2003:21-24) has to say concerning evangelicals and what they believe:

4.1 In relation to human thought—Authentic evangelicals acknowledge that all truth is God’s truth, that our minds are God-given, being a vital aspect of the divine image we bear, that we insult God if we refuse to think, and that we honour him whether through science or scripture.

4.2 In relation to the nature of the Bible—Evangelicals believe that whatever the Bible affirms is true, add that some of what it affirms is figuratively or poetically (rather than literally) true, and is meant to be interpreted.

4.3 In relation to Biblical inspiration—Evangelicals emphasize that the double authorship of scripture, namely that the divine