Our friend and brother Edwin Crozier preached a sermon recently on life-changing bible study, and I believe the ideas will be helpful to all of us in our efforts in our 2018 emphasis on the spiritual disciplines and especially in our daily Bible reading through the psalms this year.

He pointed his hearers to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." From the profitable aspects of Scripture mentioned, here are four simple guidelines for studying the Bible in a way that will change our lives for the better.

• Scripture is profitable for teaching. So when you read the Bible, ask and answer the question, "What do I learn from what I've read?"
• Scripture is profitable for reproof. So when you read the Bible, ask and answer the question, "Where does what I've read show me that I fall short?"
• Scripture is profitable for correction. So when you read the Bible, ask and answer the question, "What do I need to change because of what I've read?"
• Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness. So when you read the Bible, ask and answer the question, "What habits will I develop because of what I've read?"

They're not complicated at all, and they were hidden in plain sight in 2 Timothy 3. And perhaps those are the two greatest things about this little method: 1) That it is beautifully simple. 2) That it is already a demonstration of the very thing it aims to teach: life-changing Bible study.

- Dan Lankford, minister (with gratitude to my friend, Edwin Crozier)

“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:2-5).

Well, that sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? Just preach God’s word and don’t turn aside to other things that would keep you from speaking the truth. Anyone who thinks being a gospel preacher is an easy job has never done it. It is a highly rewarding pursuit, but an extremely challenging one as well.

We are discussing, in this series on Strengthening the Local Church, some things that will help Jesus followers to grow, spiritually in our personal lives and numerically on the congregational level. Preaching is vital to both spiritual and numerical growth.

Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation” (Romans 1:16). We must learn to preach God’s word always, in its purity, without apology and without reservation or compromise.

Luke also records Paul’s words for us, in Acts 20:27, in which he reminds the shepherds from Ephesus, that he had preached “the whole counsel of God” while in their city. We must preach the Bible in its completeness, both popular and unpopular subjects.

A church will only be as strong, or as weak, as the preaching it receives.

And the pulpit, through the messages that emanate from it, will determine the “tone” or “culture” of the local church. Strong, solid, faithful gospel preaching can raise the commitment level of the entire church, from the weakest disciple to the strongest. It is said that a rising tide raises all ships and that principle applies spiritually as well as nautically.

Paul told Timothy to convince, rebuke and exhort with patience and careful instruction. He was not suggesting, as some have said, that our teaching should be 2/3 negative and 1/3 positive. Paul was reminding his young preaching friend, and it is preserved by inspiration for us today, that there will be a need for both tearing down false ideas and teachings and for building up the truth of God’s will among the members of every local church.

Timothy was also encouraged by Paul (1 Timothy 4:16) to watch both his life (how he conducts himself day by day) and his teaching (what he says in the pulpit and the classroom and also as he teaches from house to house). Much of the success or weakness of a congregation can be traced directly back to the preaching the church receives.

An evangelist must be friendly and outgoing. That doesn’t mean he has to be the life of every party and the chief entertainer of every assembly. It means that guests must feel welcomed when attending our services and told repeatedly by the members that they are glad the guests came. And while you and I know that the preacher is not really more important to God than any other member of the church, those who visit our services will often think he is and if he doesn’t project warmth and friendliness, many will not feel comfortable returning to hear more. This is just a simple matter of understanding human nature.

Is the preacher evangelistic in his own life? A non-evangelistic preacher is not going to be able to motivate others to really get out there and save the lost, if they know he talks about it a lot but does little in this area. (Frankly, is there really even such a thing as a non-evangelistic evangelist? Maybe he should be honest enough to call himself something else if he is not really doing the work of an evangelist.) There must be an emphasis on evangelism that begins in the pulpit, but everyone must see that it reaches beyond those who enter our facilities to include those who have never attended a service or a study. This is one of several areas where the preacher really must practice what he preaches or no one else will practice it either.

Does the preacher show an interest in young people, older members and everyone in between? Often a preacher has a natural tendency to spend more time with those his own age and with whom he shares similar interests. But sometimes this can make others feel unimportant, more like an outsider than a real member of the spiritual family.

There must also be a focus on telling people about Jesus, the Savior of the world. He said of Himself, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). Of course, He was speaking of His crucifixion, but we must lift Him up in our messages and classes as well. Paul said that when he preached in the first century city of Corinth, “…I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). We need to speak constantly of Him. When I began preaching full-time, I decided that I would deliver a lesson about Christ at least once a month and often even more than that.

Often our preaching is centered around certain truths about the Lord’s church, the need for Bible authority, what constitutes Biblical obedience to the Lord (faith, repentance, confession, baptism), how to worship God correctly (especially no instrumental music and being sure to take the Lord’s Supper every Sunday) and other similar doctrinal issues. I believe what the Bible says about every one of those matters and we cannot be faithful to the Lord without a proper understanding and obedience to those important truths. They must be taught regularly.

But we are not told to simply teach people to accept the truth on an important group of items. We must teach them to love God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength and to be converted to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I believe that a person who is taught to love Christ will also want to know all of the truth that can set them free (John 8:32). But it is also possible to only learn what the Bible says about some key, important issues and not really be in love with the Christ.

Gospel preaching must point people to Jesus who alone can take away their sins and make them right with God (John 14:6). And then when they become one of His, we can teach them “to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).

--Roger Hillis

RogerLeeHillis@gmail.com

Many churches do not have a deliberate evangelism strategy. Of course, there are notable exceptions. But most churches conduct services, including one or two gospel meetings per year, and just hope that members will bring guests (they often do not) or that prospects will just happen to show up on their own (this rarely happens either).

Nobody gets too overly concerned that the church isn’t growing, but will occasionally change preachers in the hopes that the new man will be just what the church needs to start saving the lost. That is rare also.

Do you know any other area of life where good results just accidentally happen? Where nobody has to plan and organize and promote but great things happen anyway?

If you want to raise a nice garden, you have to work at it. You have to prepare the soil, use good seeds, water the growing plants and pull some weeds along the way. You don’t just pick a plot of ground, throw out a bunch of seeds and then come back in a couple of months ready to eat. It doesn’t happen accidentally.

A sports team has to practice, exercise, discipline themselves and work on plays together in order to have a winning season. It doesn’t happen accidentally. And the examples could be multiplied.

But sometimes, when it comes to evangelism, we expect results without much effort and without a plan to work. We may occasionally convert someone without a strategy but we will not experience the kind of growth that we read about in the book of Acts.

One of the jobs of leadership is to give guidance and motivation to those in the group. This is being written primarily for elders, preachers and men and women of spiritual conviction who have the ability to influence others to do better in the Lord’s service. What is your strategy for evangelism? What kind of leadership are you providing in this vital area? What does your example teach?

A deliberate, intentional strategy will include two things: a plan for study and a plan for getting studies.

A plan for study must cover at least three basic truths – a standard for determining what God wants from us, an understanding of sin and how it separates man from God, and the Lord’s solution to this sin problem, including our response of obedience. There may be other important lessons that you will want to include or at least study as follow-up material with those who are converted, but those three principles are the essentials to know before obedience. There are many different study series available which teach these truths, or you can arrange your own. As long as the truth is taught, people will respond. (Not everyone, of course, but many will.)

And we must have a plan for making opportunities to study those principles with the lost. Some have held neighborhood Bible studies in their home and invited everyone who lives close to attend. It helps if you have established a relationship with your neighbors over a period of time. They are more likely to come to a study if you have been friendly and helpful to them in other ways.

Some have mailed out Bible correspondence courses to everyone living in a certain zip code. Follow up is required to visit them and try to set up future opportunities to study with them.

One of the best ways (it is also the most effective and profitable and inexpensive method) is for members to simply invite their friends, family and acquaintances to study. Many of them will, if we will just ask.

Others have set up booths at county fairs and even the state fair, if you have enough available funds. Give them something to study and something to send back in (like a correspondence course) that will give you their address and phone number to follow up with.

Newspaper articles that teach the truth can often result in Bible studies. Include some material that challenges people’s thinking religiously, even to the point of upsetting them because you have touched on some area especially important to them. They may call you or write you just to defend what they believe.

Special services with an important and vital theme lesson that is widely advertised and announced can sometimes draw people in.

Some disciples have used the website called Meetup.com to set up community Bible studies and Scripture readings in places like restaurants, libraries, and other public facilities. These sessions usually cover a chapter of the Bible per week, or something similar to that. It is a way to introduce interested people to New Testament Christians and the word of God.

Some of these ideas will work better in some areas than in others. In some places, newspaper articles are too expensive; in other areas, they are quite affordable. Do something that will be helpful in your particular part of the world.

If you develop a strategy and it doesn’t work, try something different. Maybe you will need to keep the parts that work and modify the parts that don’t. But do something. Do not quit trying.

What it all boils down to is this: Are we going to be intentional and deliberate and steadfast in our efforts to teach the lost or are we going to be satisfied with doing very little until the church we worship with eventually goes out of business?

Is this our evangelism strategy? “If somebody accidentally wanders into our services, we are ready to teach them.” Really? Do you think that is what God meant when He told us to be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord?” Brothers and sisters, think on these things.

--Roger Hillis

Biblical Insights

November 2010

Several years ago, I was asked to preach for a church that had just experienced a division. Many members had left and it was heartbreaking for those who remained. A wise and experienced elder told me, “I’ve never known a church to grow that didn’t emphasize the basics. If a church is struggling, they just need to get back to first principles and preach them like the people have never heard them before.” That good advice helped the church to recover and continue to grow.

If Christians do not have a basic understanding of the elementary principles of the gospel, they have no solid foundation on which to build and grow. One of Christ’s parables spoke of the need of making certain that we build on the right foundation (see Matthew 7:24-27). That reminds us of the importance of teaching some of the same lessons over and over again.

There are several reasons for this.

First, there are always young people growing up who have heard these lessons from the time of their birth. But, at a very young age, most of these studies do not sink in. At some point (and really, only God knows when it will be), a lesson that young people have heard numerous times finally takes hold and they understand an important truth for the very first time. We should never assume that our young people know and understand Bible subjects just because we know they have heard them before.

Secondly, we can never be sure when a guest will show up and, perhaps, hear a vital Bible lesson at a crucial time in his life. It may be the first and only time that person will ever have the opportunity to understand an important doctrinal point, one that could make the difference in his eternal destiny. That’s also why we should make certain to explain the plan of salvation during a lesson, every time. You just don’t know who may be listening carefully and seriously considering obedience. He might have listened many times in the past and have done nothing about what he was learning and still be receptive this time.

Also, we must not assume that our older members (those who have been around a while) can always remember everything they’ve ever heard. It might have been a long time since they have studied a particular subject. Or they might be aware of the truth but not know where the verses are found that teach that truth. It is always helpful to be reminded of things we know to be true so that our convictions are deep and not easily shaken. These things help to mature and stabilize us spiritually. “…till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:13-14).

Here is a sample list of the types of sermons that we need to preach at least annually. Of course, we must work hard to present them in a fresh, interesting way, taking a different approach to the same lesson each time.

*Baptism

*Instrumental music

*Distinguishing the covenants

*Bible authority

*Organization of the local church

*Worship of the church

*Work of a local church

*Significance of the Lord’s Supper

*Evangelizing the lost

*Strengthening the family

*Silence of the scriptures

*The power of prayer

*God’s grace

*The one, true church

*The cross of Christ

There are probably other topics that should be added to this list. These are merely some of the Bible topics that disciples must be firmly grounded in. “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).

There are certain subjects that we will never outgrow. We must never be afraid to preach lessons that members have heard many times. When someone has been a Christian for several years, there is almost no way to preach something new to him. As people have said, “If it’s new, it isn’t true and if it’s true, it isn’t new.”

I’m not suggesting that a preacher should just get one lesson together on baptism and preach it with exactly the same approach to the same people every 3 or 4 months. In order to stay fresh and vibrant himself, a preacher needs to restudy, rethink, restructure his lessons. I have been told that, after he had preached for more than 40 years at the Haldeman Avenue church in Louisville, Kentucky, brother M.C. Kurfees was just as fresh in his sermons as when he started. Think about that. To preach for forty years for the same congregation, one would have to continually study and learn new insights from the Bible. If he had four years worth of sermons and preached them all 10 times, people would have grown weary of hearing the same things every week and would probably have left in large numbers. Instead, the church grew, Christians matured and the lost were brought to Christ.

No matter how much “strong meat” of the word people can handle, those who are the most mature spiritually will never grow tired of hearing these basic principles of truth, because they know how important they are. They love all truth and do not have to be entertained with “some new thing” all the time.

It might also be helpful for a local church to purchase or write a set of “Bible Basics” material that is taught to all new members. A class like this could be repeated at least one quarter per year (more often if the church is really growing) and use it to help ground new converts in the first principles.

Of course, not all sermons should be basic material. Those more mature saints deserve, on some occasions, to hear lessons on some of the more challenging subjects that aren’t preached or taught every week. But in a year when most people hear approximately 100 sermons, there are plenty of opportunities for both milk and solid food to be taught.

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (Hebrews 5:12). If people are not growing spiritually, if the church is struggling with carnality and division, if souls are not being saved, look first at the preaching. Maybe we need to just get back to the basics.

--Roger Hillis

Biblical Insights

September 2003

“I just don’t get poetry, and I really don’t like reading it.” It is a more common statement than one might expect. For many, poetry conjures up the mental image of coffee shops, overly dramatic expressions of emotion, and words used in ways that seem entirely incorrect at a first pass. Some poets seem to be deliberately confusing their readers. In fact, many of them are doing just that. And for those among us with a more analytical, literal, and legal-oriented personality, all of this can present some major challenges when it comes to reading the Psalms (our daily Bible reading path for the year 2018).

So what can be done about this? Are those personality types just destined to struggle forever with the Bible’s largest book? In some measure, the answer to that is “yes.” You may always have some struggles with the Bible’s poetry, but here are a few things you can do to enjoy them more:

1) In this year’s daily reading program, just buckle down and do the readings each day. As the days pass, you will get used to the Psalter and grow to like it more and more. Just don’t give up on the daily habit of reading.

2) Read out loud. Many of the Psalms were written for public worship assemblies, and many of them were written for private devotions. Both settings are good places to read the words of God aloud.

3) Look at how Jesus & the apostles read the psalms. Look for places in the New Testament where they emphasize the Psalms, and you will see their value alongside all of the Bible’s stories, teachings, and laws.

4) Even if you do not love poetry, continually look for the God whom you do love in every single Psalm. What do learn about him? How can you worship him better than ever before? Work through that filter, and the Psalms will inevitably begin to grow on you.

- Dan Lankford, minister

A general assessment of the current situation among conservative churches of Christ reveals some widespread problems.

*Many churches are shrinking with no plan or prospects to reverse that trend.

*Many Christians are discouraged.

*A lot of churches are growing older and smaller and, after a few more funerals, will soon be out of business.

*We face an increasingly secular and immoral society. Moral standards seem to be suffering, even for those who are in the church.

*Young people are leaving the church in large numbers.

*Far too many seem to expect the church to go backward and often look with suspicion on those churches that growing as though they must be doing something wrong.

*Many local preachers feel overwhelmed and realize that they just cannot get the job done alone.

Let me state that there are many churches that are doing quite well and we are grateful to them for their positive example and influence on the rest of us. Keep up the good work.

The churches I have worked with that have grown the most are those that have had the most people in the church working to teach their neighbors. It is just that simple. If it is all left up to the preacher, some growth will occur, but many of those preachers have worked so hard and been appreciated so little at times, that many of them are ready to give up if they have not already done so.

An important business principle teaches us that the more contacts we make, the more sales will occur. This same principle applies to gospel work. The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are well aware of this and are willing to endure ridicule and persecution to serve the Lord as they believe they should.

An insurance salesman once approached my father and said, “You don’t want to buy any insurance, do you?” If we approach prospects for the gospel with the same attitude, we will end up with the same results. (I understand that we are not “selling” the gospel. This is said to illustrate the Biblical principle of sowing and reaping.)

So what can we do about the situation?

Perhaps the best place to start is by doing what Jesus suggested we do. (That’s always a good idea, don’t you think?)

“Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:37-38). Is it a regular part of your prayers to God that He would send out more laborers into the harvest? I confess to you that it has not been my consistent practice.

If that’s true of you also, why is that? Is it because we don’t really care? I don’t think that’s the case. Is it because we don’t believe that the Lord will do what He has promised to do? I don’t believe that’s it, either. Is it because that kind of prayer would have helped in the first century, but now it won’t do much good? We know that is not true as well.

In my case, I fear it is because I have grown weary in well doing (Galatians 6:9). I’m afraid that many of us have lost heart that much will ever change, no matter what we do. I’m convinced that we don’t pray for more laborers because we have believed the lies of Satan that have told us that churches just aren’t going to grow much anymore.

We have invited family, friends or acquaintances to study and either they haven’t been interested or they have not obeyed and so we have concluded, “Nobody is interested in the gospel these days.”

We have worked with weak Christians and poured blood, sweat and tears into their lives only to have them fall away and we have despaired and said, “What’s the use?”

We have tried to encourage other Christians to get to work in personal evangelism or at least to set up studies and, when they haven’t responded, we have just quit asking.

When we quit trying, the devil wins and we lose. Is that acceptable?

Is the gospel still the power of God for salvation or not?

Is the God of the gospel still in control of the world?

Are there still souls out there who want to be right with the Lord, but just don’t know where to turn?

Have you prayed for open doors to have more opportunities to preach the truth to lost souls looking for hope?

Have you prayed for more workers to enter the harvest field, both locally in the congregation where you worship and worldwide in areas where the gospel still needs to go?

Do you agree that things could be better? Do you agree that things can get better? Will you agree to do your part to make things better?

Let’s begin by praying for more workers every day. If several thousand Christians began to really pray that prayer in faith (James 1:6-8), do you believe the Lord will answer us? Brothers and sisters, it is time to rebuild.

--Roger Hillis

Biblical Insights

September 2010

While we need to resist the temptation to be smug on these occasions, it can be good fun for believers to see our secular-minded world realize the value of Biblical truth. Such is the case with the recent story from the Perspective section of the Washington Post bearing this title: Divorcing sex from love hasn’t made sex more fun, more safe or less complicated.

The article explains that while so-called "science" (often a code-word for the philosophy of naturalism) has told us that sex is nothing more than a biological process and should therefore be unfettered, behaving like that has proved incredibly disappointing for men and women. The risks of continually changing sex partners, in the writer's words, has "turned sex into just another social interaction and emptied it of any supposedly sacred or taboo elements." The result is sex that lacks any emotional fulfillment at all, which inevitably leads to a decline in the physical pleasure it brings. The article cites a 2012 study which found that "78 percent of women and 72 percent of men who had 'uncommitted sex' reported a history of feeling regret after the encounter." Because God has designed sex as an activity fully engaging the soul, the mind, and the body (see 1 Cor. 6:12-20); it makes perfect sense that if we fail to respect it one of those areas, it will lose its glory in the other areas.

The most fascinating (and most tragic) aspect of the article is that while it acknowledges the failures of much modern ideology, it doesn't even come close to proposing monogamous, faithful marriage as the solution to these massive problems. The best it offers is this assessment: "those with freer, more casual sexual lives can miss out on something: the joy of intimacy with someone who knows them deeply and well." So let's go ahead and remember the full solution to the problem: "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous."  (Heb. 13:4)

- Dan Lankford, minister

Lord willing, I plan to write a series of blog articles that I hope will be helpful for the church. It will be titled, Strengthening the Local Church.

I love the local church. It is an important part of God’s plan for the spiritual growth and development of His people. He has not left us to serve Him all by ourselves, but has put us into communities of like minded followers, who seek to honor and praise Him, to reach out to the lost souls in our lives, and to build up (the main Biblical term for this is, to edify) one another.

I do not travel extensively around the country, and certainly not, around the world, but I have been concerned in the last several years, when I have had the opportunity to visit Christians in other places, to see that many congregations are suffering losses of numbers, workers, and morale. Many have resigned themselves to just keeping house for the Lord and not to prospering and growing as the Lord intends for His people to do. That doesn’t mean, if I have been to the congregation where you worship that I am automatically talking about you. There have been many that are doing quite well and that I have learned some really good things from.

But many churches are struggling mightily. And nobody in those churches wants that to happen. But it is easy for discouragement to set in and for disciples to mentally give up. I want to give Christians something to work on, some ideas to try to incorporate in their collective activities and some goals to try to achieve for the glory of God.

I have developed a long list of ideas over the years through the experiences that I have had, both good and bad, that I believe will be practical and helpful for others to read about and consider. Everything I write will not work for every individual Christian or for every local church. But I have had my share of disappointments and failures in certain areas of my work for the Lord, as well as some successes, hopefully defined from a Biblical perspective, not a worldly one. I trust that I have learned from both success and mistakes and would like to share some of those lessons.

Over the years, I have written a few articles (not many, but some) for gospel magazines published by Christians, that people have responded to in a very positive way. They have written or emailed me to thank me for the things I have written and told me that they hope to utilize some of the ideas in those articles to help strengthen the local church they are a part of. That kind of feedback has always encouraged me greatly. Most of those articles were published in Biblical Insights, which is no longer in publication. A few of the articles I will include in this weekly blog will be a reprinting of those articles, but most of them will be additional thoughts and ideas that I would like to share with others.

I hope you will read the postings and I do pray that they will help you and the local church where you are a member. Please feel free to print these articles off of the blog and to distribute them to other Christians where you worship, if you are so inclined. If you know of preachers who might be encouraged by these articles, you can let them know about the series. The internet has been the source of much bad stuff that goes on in the world, and we hope to use it to accomplish some good.

The plan is to post a new blog article each Monday morning, for however many weeks it seems to be profitable. If you wish to be notified of each new posting, you may sign up for that notification on our website.

A few of the blog articles that I plan to publish include: Time to rebuild, A Deliberate Evangelistic Strategy, One Generation Away, New Convert Follow-up, Effective Teacher Training, Restoring the Fallen, Balanced Preaching, Tightening Up Our Services, Strengthening Our Young People, Effective Gospel Meetings, and many others.

In Ephesians 4:16, Paul speaks of Christ, “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” If each of us, as Jesus followers, will do his or her part, using our talents and abilities in every circumstance where God gives us opportunities, the local church will grow and prosper.

We often hear prayers that ask the Lord that our work of evangelism will “enlarge the borders of the kingdom” and I hope that we all believe that God can and will answer those prayers. That happens at the local church level, but as each congregation grows and is strengthened, the universal church will grow as well.

It is my desire that these postings will contain helpful information for preachers, shepherds, teachers and all faithful disciples who wish to serve the Master in an ever greater way.

Please understand that these articles will be my opinion about important Bible subjects. I don’t expect anyone to agree with everything I will write. That is fine and I would be happy to hear from fellow Christians about these writings, even if you don’t agree with what I have suggested. I don’t want to get into any on-going debates with those might have a different view of these ideas, however.

It should be the desire of every child of God to see the body of Christ grow spiritually and numerically as we faithfully serve Him who loved us and gave His Son to die on the cross for our salvation. May we all seek to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. If this series of blog posts will help us toward that goal, it will have been worth my time to write them.

May God bless each of us as we seek to love, serve and obey Him. And may we all assemble around His throne some day to praise Him for all eternity.

--Roger Hillis

RogerLeeHillis@gmail.com

The track continues repeat: a successful male public figure is publicly accused of sexual misconduct by a woman whom he encountered in years past, he is fired, he is publicly shamed by various media outlets, and his entertainment or political career is immediately declared dead. (Comedian Aziz Ansari is this week’s iteration of all this.) Then that’s it. And we move on to wait for the next spin of the same cycle.

But has anybody noticed the gaping hole in that narrative? Why is no one talking about the truth?

As a society, we should all be screaming for the truth in all these cases. Which party is telling it? And what IS the truth in each of these instances of accusation?

Instead, humanists and many believers cry in chorus: “Witch! Burn her!” (Or, in these cases, him.) This is, of course, not the first time this sort of thing has happened in our nation's history (note just the first line of this article). Which—far from being an excuse for the current behavior—makes the current matters far more shameful because we have not learned our own fatal pattern. Thankfully, these men haven’t suffered the violence done in a literal witch hunt, but the story continues with almost no mention by anyone of the need to investigate or validate what’s been purported.

I’m not saying any of this to defend either side of the story. My suspicion is that investigations and genuine pursuit of the truth would show the women’s accusations were well founded in the vast majority of these cases. But the reality is that no one party should be able to wield the power of accusation, judgment, and sentencing without thorough attempts to ascertain evidence and a reasonable verdict.

The Lord’s kingdom rule includes a demand for investigation of THE TRUTH in any criminal prosecution. The Law of Moses commanded, "Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established" (Deut. 19:15—pay special notice to the whole context). And the wise man says, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame" (Proverbs 18:13). We should all—especially Christians—be calmly and yet adamantly demanding that the truth be known, regardless of who it favors and who it convicts. We can’t be so fickle as to just parrot the mob’s demands.

And let me offer a humble yet serious word of warning to my fellow ministers who may read this: don’t choose a side to validate or invalidate unless you are certain you know the truth. Until then, continue to preach everything the Bible says. Firmly remind everyone of the biblical truth that men must respect women. AND preach the biblical injunctions against bearing false witness. AND preach the biblical wisdom of getting the full story in any conflict situation. AND preach the Biblical realities of repentance, mercy, forgiveness, and renewal.

This song wasn’t a pleasant one in the first place; let’s be sure we really know what we’re doing before we let the track repeat again.

- Dan Lankford, minister

This past week, USA Today published a report titled, Why Having Kids Isn't Necessarily the Best Idea, According to Science. It said, “Being a parent is supposed to be one of life’s great adventures…. But… According to a slew of new research studies, it turns out there are plenty of reasons not to have kids.” According to the report, children are bad for the environment, they affect a mom’s work life in negative ways, they cause strain on adults’ friendships and marriages, and parents are generally less healthy than adults with no children (research shows that parents get less sleep, less exercise, and less quiet time. That much isn’t shocking, is it?).

The last line of the report says, “But for all the reasons not to have kids, there are always a few reasons that make it all worthwhile,” but it does not say what any of those reasons are. And the implication of the whole thing is that “science” tells us that having and raising children is a bad thing.

First of all, should a society which ridicules the Christian sense of what people ought to do really be telling us whether or not we ought to have and raise children? Does this not entirely violate the stated rules of science—to observe the natural world; not to make moral judgments about that world?

Secondly, Christians cannot buy into this as though it had any merit of truth. Our worldview prevents us from seeing this as a valid conclusion. The Psalmist was not just speaking feel-good niceties when he said, “children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psa. 127:3). He was speaking the truth from God. Children are a blessing to God’s people, and we would do especially well to remember that in the midst of a culture that sets itself against the well-being of children with perverse practices from the murder of the unborn to poisoning children’s minds with concepts like “gender confusion” to sexualized expectations for youthful girls.

All of it reminds Christians that we have a responsibility toward those who are vulnerable—in this case, children. We have a responsibility to welcome the children whom God has given us in our homes, to defend the unborn, to protect children from the devil’s attacks against their bodies and their minds, and to make sacrifices for their well-being.

In this case (and unfortunately many others), the world’s “science” is completely bogus; the conclusions being drawn carelessly. It is a good thing for parents to have and raise children. In fact, it is very good, as it has been from beginning. “God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it...’ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Gen. 1:28, 31)

- Dan Lankford, minister