Trailblazin Ministries Blog

Faith

Spark a Reformation

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Filed under: Faith

Of late, I've been playing nothing but lyrical theology (aka that Christian rap that is chock full of the Word and biblical teaching) and yesterday I decided to give an album a spin that I hadn't listened to in a minute. The album is Christcentric's Reformation and it really began to get a lot of thoughts and ideas bubbling within my spirit, especially concerning the current state of the church. I had planned on writing about this last night, but I'm pretty glad I didn't as today gave me the perfect opportunity to further expand on this and give me more of a reason to write. Today, I was chatting with a friend of mine, and the topic came up as to why I wasn't feeling a particular "hot" album and was choosing to not review it, which then turned into a discussion on hermeneutic and other areas of biblical interpretation. Coincidentally, I had had a discussion yesterday with the artist whose album I chose not to review, and that conversation seems to fit into this writing as well.

The summation of all of these events have brought me to the conclusion that the American church, the black church in particular (at least in my summation), needs a reformation, much like in the days of Martin Luther when he opposed the Catholic church with his 95 theses. Let me take a moment to explain, if I may. For many, the black church experience, especially in the Bible belt, is very much focused on prosperity (read: self), emotionalism, and placing the Christian experience above the authority of the Word. Being a black myself, I understand that the good majority of us are lacking in the area of finances and education, and a lot of churches/preachers have taken the gospel and twisted it to include financial abundance and well-being as a promise of God and a benefit of salvation. In other words, if you pay your tithes every Sunday, give a bountiful offering, and sow into ministry, etc. then God will bless you and increase your finances or get you a new house or vehicle. I won't get into the specifics because most know what it's all about, at least those who read this blog (if not, hit me up). I remember one church that I attended while in college (and unfortunately ended up joining) where the pastor spoke on money, wealth, and financial prosperity every service, without fail; and if it didn't directly relate to money, it was telling how to put yourself in a position to receive that "blessing." Hmm, I guess that teaching must have come from the Gospel of Peter or some other foreign gospel.

Nevertheless, I feel that overall, the black church has a very poor hermeneutic and understanding of Scripture. Taking into account my African-American and Religious studies courses during college, I wonder how much of this problem has to do with our history and lack of higher education in black America. Back in the 19th and early 20th centuries, blacks couldn't get an education and were lucky if they could read, so how did that translate to black preachers? I would assume that most would repeat what they had heard prior, which inevitably lends itself to both biblical error and a very poor exposition of the text. Fast forward to today and you still have a great number of preachers who are not attending seminary or Bible college, so are basically preaching from a very limited understanding of Scripture. Even still, those that do, they end up getting taught at schools where these prosperity/word of faith are accepted (because, of course, why attend a school that doesn't believe in such things). Put all of that together and throw in a congregation who takes what the pastor says as "gospel fact" without studying for themselves and you end up with a wicked recipe for disaster. Now granted, a lot of what I just said is assumption, but I feel it does paint a pretty accurate picture of what's happening.

Tying right into this is the fact that most, or at least many, black churches are very energetic and emotional, which doesn't help with getting across sound teaching from the pulpit. What do you expect when everyone is shouting, "amen"-ing everything, and the choir singing is basically a trimmed down concert that is all preparation for an energetic sermon from the preacher. With all that happens before the sermon, it's hard for the preacher to not do the same while preaching because if not then you haven't had "church." In other words, if the preacher can't get resounding amen's and shouts during the sermon, regardless of what message (or lack thereof) is coming across the pulpit. This is to say, high emotions do not help to setup an environment where the Word can accurately come across. This is not to say that we should be emotionless drones concerned with knowledge only, but we should be of a sober mind. From my own experience, I've been to so many churches where the choir was bangin' and all that, people were amening the sermon, but then I walked away with absolutely nothing because there was no substance or meat, yet people got their "breakthrough" or "deliverance" (not to say that they really didn't, I'm just saying).

Then toss in the fact that so many Christians want to place their own "Christian" or holy experience above what the truth of the Word says. This, almost more than anything, is what leads many down a path that I'd rather not walk down. Just because something is true and happened for you, that doesn't make it right, even if you can find a verse or two to supposedly back it up. Just because you diligently pay your tithes (I don't believe tithes are biblical for the NT church) and give a generous offering, then end up with a new job or bigger house, that doesn't mean that it was because you paid your tithes or had enough faith for it and because you "spoke it into existence." What about that person who is doing the exact same thing you're doing and is still broke with a dead end job? Are they doing something wrong? What about tongues (oooh! a touchy one)? Just because you say you can speak in tongues, does it mean that it's biblical, just because the Scriptures speak of speaking in tongues? Nah cuzzin! Not at all! That all brings things full circle to a proper hermeneutic because if they had that & were properly interpreting Scripture, then this probably wouldn't be the case.

Now, what about this artist I had corresponded with? He is one that believes and walks in all of the above, especially the word of faith type stuff. During our emails, he hit me with something that I had to think about for a moment. Basically, he said he holds to all the essentials of the faith (I don't deny that), but that he still feels that all the other stuff is an accurate interpretation of Scripture. After saying that, he challenged me to take a look at 1 Corinthians 3 where Paul talks about when we get to judgment and our sum total will be put through the fire and only those things that are precious metal will come out unscathed; he basically said that his essentials are that and maybe his word of faith believes may be wood or hay, but he's going to hold to them and find out when that day comes. In a sense, I can agree with that, but I still question, why take the chance? Why not work as hard as you can to study and make sure that everything you believe is that precious metal and jewels that will make it through the fire? I don't want to just have me (through salvation) come through the fire and nothing else; otherwise, what did I do with my time here on earth and what reward shall I receive? I'm the kind of person who wants to be sure of his faith and doctrine and do what I can to make sure that others do as well. Relating that to the church, it just seems that so many just want to get people "fire insurance" and never get them off the spiritual milk.

What does all of this have to do with sparking a reformation? In just a few words: we need a modern day reformation. Much like the idea of reformed theology, we need to get the church to a point where they are once again embracing the truth and glory of the Scriptures and the Scriptures alone, minus all of the extra stuff. We don't need a prosperity message to lure people in with hopes of being rich or give them a concert or anything else; we need to give them the pure unadulterated gospel. Get rid of the apostasy and unbiblical teachings and get back to sound doctrine that gives glory to God alone. We need people to fall in love with the Scriptures, slow down their busy lives and spend time with the Lord, and become all that God desires for us to be, delighting in Him.

How do we make this happen? I wish I had the answers, but all I have is a rant. I do know, though, that it's going to take those who do have a desire for proper biblical hermeneutic to lovingly show their brothers and sisters the way. It's going to be a battle, that's for sure, for no other reason than people hate being told that they're wrong (cuz flesh doesn't like that). Even when coming in love, there may be a sense of pride about us, so that makes things hard because we know we have the truth and giving it lovingly is a hard thing to do. But even with that, I'm reminded in Scripture that people will have an itching ear for what pleases them and seek after those teachings and abandon the purity of the faith. Unfortunately, we are in those days and it is happening all around us, which leaves me to believe that a very small number of those who are actually attending church on Sundays are truly born again believers and are growing in the faith.

I don't have the answers, but I do have a voice and the Spirit of the Lord within me. With that, I am going to use what I have, through the efforts of Trailblazin Ministries and personal contact with people, to preach a proper view of Scripture and help people to see that they need to know how to correctly study the Bible and remove themselves from what may be a place of no growth or unbiblical teaching. As far as new believers, it will be my goal to make sure they are properly rooted in the faith and know the basics so that can be planted in a ministry where they will grow and flourish by feeding on sound doctrine. Just like Christcentric says on their album, we need a reformation, and it has to start with us, those who know how to study the Scriptures. We have to make it our business to give 'em the gospel, the true gospel.