Honest
to God

Revolution
through repentance and freedom in Christ

by
Henry Kriete

(Final Version, February 2, 2003)

Table
of Contents

• Introduction
• Crossroad
  and Crisis


• The
  London/UK Upheaval


• God Says
  Enough


• Epicenter
  of A Revolution


• How it
  Started


• Salvation
  Issues
• The Pharisees


• Apostasy


• Our System


• Apology
  and a Few Definitions
  • working definitions

  Four
  Systemic Evils

• Our
  Corrupted Hierarchy
  • On Discipling
  • On Church
    Authority
  • On Ministry
    Training and Practices
  • On Our Self
    Description

• Obsession
  with Numbers
• Our
  Shameful Arrogance
• Our
  Seduction by Money
• All or
  Nothing
• Wide
  Scale Problems and Concerns
• Now What?
• The
  Free Flowstream
• A
  Personal Letter From Marilyn

---

Introduction

How the Lord has covered the Daughter
of Zion
with the cloud of his anger!
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel

from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool
in the day of his anger.

Without pity the Lord has swallowed
up
all the dwellings of Jacob;
in his wrath he has torn down

the strongholds of the Daughter of Judah.
He has brought her kingdom and its princes
down to the ground in dishonor.

Lam 2:1-2

An open letter to the elders, teachers,
and evangelists in our fellowship of churches:

Dear brothers (and sisters)-my fellow
servants in Christ:

Grace and peace.

God has been very good to us. He has demonstrated much love to all of us since
the beginning of our ‘movement.’ Countless miracles, signs, and wonders have
occurred before our eyes and the eyes of our sons and daughters. Many of who
are now disciples. Untold blessings have been spread at our feet. Who could
have imagined all that has been accomplished- the heroes, the sacrifice, the
answered prayers, all the churches and countries! Truly, much grace and power
has been lavished on all of us by God, as well as great patience.

However, at this moment in our brief
history, I have never been more alarmed, even ashamed of what we have become.
Or more grief-stricken for my own sins in helping to deepen our current problems.

Crossroads
and Crisis

Our movement is no longer moving.
This is no mere "awkward- teenage phase" that we constantly hear about.
Virtually every high-gate we have built, and every trophy that we have boasted
in- as proof to ourselves and to the world- that we are ‘Gods Modern Day Movement’,
has been effectively dismantled. The things we boasted in: our numerical growth,
our retention rate, our member to fall away ratio, the faithfulness of our children,
our never missing a Special Contribution, our consistent sacrificial giving,
and now, perhaps most painful of all- even our unity- all these have been leveled
by the hand of God. On what grounds do we now claim that we are "God’s
Modern Day Movement"? And on what basis, now, can we be sure? Is God even
‘with’ some of our churches and leaders anymore? Everything we trusted in has
been taken away. The ‘remnant chosen by grace’ and the baby saved from ‘kicking
in its own blood’ have grown up to become a very proud princess indeed! But
now what? In the prophet’s words, our skirt has been lifted over our head, and
our shame exposed. And so I ask again- are we- ‘THE ICOC’, ‘THE KINGDOM’, ‘THE
ONE TRUE CHURCH’- still the remnant chosen by grace? Or was that claim itself
simply too much for God? I know this is painful to hear, and you can be sure
I am crying with you.

Brothers and sisters, as leaders
in the kingdom, as servants of Christ-we have reason to pause and deliberate,
deeply. We are at a crossroads, a crossroads that will soon become a crisis
if we do not act courageously. Fallen elders and evangelists; countless other
leaders who have resigned or stepped down-staff and non staff alike; questionable
practices and teachings; serious concerns over finances; the heart-ache, disappointment
and even disgust from the mouths of faithful but weary disciples who are now
‘allowed’ to talk openly (some in great anger); the quarter million who have
fallen away; the tens of thousands who have walked away or been pushed away;
and the enormous sub-culture of critics that constantly challenge us (and lets
be honest, several of them are sincere and conscientious) - all of these things
and more- have damaged our integrity, deepened the mistrust between ‘clergy’
and ‘laity’, and given reason for many to question our moral authority and even
legitimacy.

I am not denying the good and miraculous
things God has done, or the faith and sincerity of the rank and file believer.
Or even your love for God and zeal and personal sacrifice. But I am concerned
about what we have become as a movement-a movement that is no longer moving-
and why this has happened. That is my main question or thesis I suppose- not
what has happened to us per se (albeit extensive and serious), but more deeply,
why has it happened and, deeper still, why has it been allowed to happen?

The
London/UK Upheaval

As many of you know, in London we
are in the midst of a spiritual upheaval. I would even call it a crisis or an
unraveling. Please continue in your prayers for us. The London and UK churches
have had an incredible history and as a movement we owe them much. Unfortunately,
over the years, because of harshness and legalism and systemic problems I will
soon identify, the churches have suffered dearly. The Templers have now resigned
because of oppressive leadership. To quote Mark’s own letter, ‘The church has
not been bearing spiritual fruit, and many people have been hurt. The environment
of accountability, pressure and negativity was not inspiring, and Christ was
not lifted up. Many souls have been saved. But many have been lost.’

And the response from Adrian Hill,
‘It has at this stage become apparent that Mark and Nadine Templer do not enjoy
the confidence of the full time ministry staff. Due to an authoritarian style
of leadership, and the harsh administration of accountability, an environment
was created which was oppressive. We commend the Templers for taking responsibility
for what has taken place.’

However, and this is vital, the problems
in London as expressed in the current crisis, and the depth of feelings now
being openly shared are hardly just about the Templers leadership, but are historic
to the 20 year life of the congregation-especially the last fifteen or so.

God
Says ‘Enough’

A backlash from years of ‘not listening’,
insensitivity, abuse, coercion and legalism -as well as cowardice from the full-time
ministry leaders to stand up for the truth- is now under way. We are in the
midst of excruciating openness and pain right now. The credibility of much of
the ministry staff is now being questioned .We are having open forums- and years
of suffering, questions and concerns are pouring out. Some of it is hostile;
some of it, unspeakably sad; and to be sure, some of it unfair. However, every
last word is useful.

In short, what has been sown is
now being reaped, and those practices and sins that are systemic to our movement
are being exposed by God. It is that simple. This dramatic turn of events, how
they unfolded, their speed and intensity could not have been orchestrated by
a man- it is just too painful and unnerving to be of human origin. The presence
of God seems overwhelming at times-his dread, as well as his grace. And even
though most of the outpouring has settled quite a bit, some of the biting and
devouring continues. Hearts are still breaking, and hearts are being crushed.
Even among the full time staff, anger and hurt and mistrust have taken hold.
(But is being dealt with decisively and graciously). The church has demanded
several resignations, and several have been tendered. In fact, the majority
of full time ministry staff have offered to resign pending future ‘commendation’.
Some have stepped down permanently already.

In spite of all this, the Christians
are feeling liberated, emancipated even. And in spite of the hurt and anguish,
they generally believe that God is faithful to His promises, that He has come
to rescue His people and provide them with shepherds who fear Him, and who will
love His flock above themselves, and who will no longer lord it over them. In
my view, in answer to the cries of many, God is answering with thunder. In short:
He has had enough. His sheep are being saved. His ‘leaders’ must now give account.

Epicenter
Of A Revolution

It is not necessary to go into the
specifics of the issues that are being raised in London. Let me just say that
what has been vocalized by the Christians here, by and large, are similar to
the concerns many of our critics and ‘fall aways’ have voiced over the years-
some with equal intensity. What is so painful is that these sentiments are coming
from the faithful, the persevering, the good and noble hearted, and even from
best friends we are ‘over in the Lord.’ These are things that have been in their
hearts for years. Only now, collectively, have they been emboldened to speak.
And this should not have surprised any of us.

To my knowledge, this is the most significant event ever to happen in one of
our churches. It is much more significant than what occurred in Indianapolis.
In fact, there can be no comparison made to anything since our beginning. I
also believe that this is going to make an impact all over the world. London
is the epicenter of a ‘new movement’ of God that I am convinced will make huge
waves around the world. For this very reason I am writing about it. An incredible
door of opportunity has been opened for us by God- a new passageway for repentance
and rediscovering our freedoms in Christ. But I also believe that God is commanding
us to enter, not just asking us to, or we will forfeit His grace and pleasure.

Of course this is intensely personal,
but in reality, it is not specific men who are under attack per se, but our
‘religious culture’. In London, the upheaval is against systemic evils that
have gone unchallenged for too long. Resistance, if not rebellion, is always
the fruit of conformity and coercion, and rightly so-’You were bought at a price;
do not become slaves of men’. And ‘Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves
be burdened again by the yoke of slavery’ As JFK once said, ‘If you make peaceful
revolution impossible, you make violent revolution inevitable.’ Please pray
for a peaceful revolution.

How
It Started

Mark and Nadine are true heroes in
the kingdom, and rightly so. They have served and sacrificed for the gospel
well beyond what most of us would dare to. I have no doubt that Mark and Nadine
would suffer martyrdom for Christ, they love Him so. In spite of their mistakes
and sins, few would question whether they have lived and lead from a clear conscience.
Nevertheless, they have sinned and have fallen hard- if only temporarily. We
believe they are repentant/repenting and that their decision to resign is crucial
to bring much needed healing to London. Mark is a very dear and longtime friend,
and what is so excruciating for me personally is having to see another good
man fall hard to ‘the sins of our system’.

After the so-called LA Unity meeting,
Mark opened himself up to honest feedback from the full-time staff and faced
a one-way barrage of hurt and questions and concerns, sometimes in anger. It
then carried on in private for several more weeks. It was devastating for them,
and hard on all. In my view, it was one of the most courageous decisions I have
ever seen a man make, but was the right thing to do.

Mark has taken responsibility for
his sins. Now the rest of the staff, who have also suffered from abuses of authority,
are having to own up to their own misguided pressures and practices over the
years, the whole process falling like dominoes all around the UK. Whether from
commission, omission, cowardice, bad theology or irresponsibility-our sins needed
to be exposed and acknowledged for repentance and healing to take place, and
for the crucial restoration of trust.

Why am I telling you this? Specifically, why tell you about the sins and shortcomings
of one man in particular, Mark? Because Mark has become one of hundreds of leaders,
if not thousands, including myself, who have been or are currently trapped in
the same kind of sins. And the same systemic evils that entangled him, have
also entangled multiplied thousands of us as well. That is the stubborn reality
and nature of our hierarchy. As you will see, many of the issues I am going
to raise in this paper are endemic to our ‘culture’ as a movement - the corruption
of power, selfish ambition, the continuing climate of fear and cowardice, the
bravado and rank duplicity from our ‘top leaders’. Why I am so ashamed and saddened
is that I have been as much to blame as any one. But really, whether more or
less is beside the point, because almost all of us are guilty to some extent.

Salvation
Issues

My criticisms and concerns are not
merely about one’s personal style of leadership, and cannot be dismissed as
the actions of a few rogue leaders or overly zealous, but immature evangelists.
These are the sins and weaknesses we all share- movement wide. They are not
small gripes and criticisms about our methods or even a few glaring shortcomings.
In fact, I have come to believe that these are salvation issues- yours and mine-
and as a natural consequence, the salvation issues of many of our hearers as
well. I am saddened to say this, and I choose my words carefully- but the integrity
of ‘our gospel’ is at now at stake- the gospel of Gods grace- as well as the
future relevance and power of our churches. And just as in London, unless there
is a ‘kingdom-wide’ admission of guilt and repentance where necessary, a clear
denunciation, and perhaps hardest of all, a sincere public apology, I believe
we may become heretical in just a few more years.

The
Pharisees

The sins of the Pharisees were endemic
to their religious culture. What I mean is, once ‘in the group’, there was no
way to be immune from its evils. They simply could not escape from ‘within’
the system. Even if somehow they could objectively see through it all, they
could not remain a Pharisee and exclude themselves from its corruption. The
demonic values and pervasive influences of their party would touch every last
Pharisee to some extent. Their pride and arrogance; their exclusivity; their
elitism; their outward vanity and bravura; their titles of respect and authority
and personal renown; their heavy burdens that crushed so many, their devouring
of widow’s houses to maintain their system; and their ’sneering greed’- albeit
hidden - were something that a Pharisee could not be immune from if he remained
‘one of them’

The Pharisees, or ‘the separate ones’, had misguided but noble intentions to
begin with. They wanted to protect the law from law-breakers and so imposed
a religious system of rules and regulations and traditions to be a ‘hedge’ around
the law of God. They reasoned: ‘If they don’t break our rules, then they will
not be able to break the Law of Moses’. We all know this. And we all know the
sorry outcome- freedom denied, individual integrity diminished, the Sabbath
becomes a tyranny, the weightier matters of the law-justice, love and mercy
are neglected, and ultimately, the eventual slavery of men to the powers that
be.

Once their religious system was firmly
established, it then only needed to be stabilized and maintained. Overtime,
naturally, the Pharisees as an institution became systemically evil. Therefore,
what they came to represent ‘as a whole’- what they evolved into- needed to
be exposed and vigorously denounced by Christ. What an offence that must have
been! In fact, has the world ever witnessed such a sustained and unsparing attack
on religious leaders? I don’t think so.

Certainly, there must have been sincere
Pharisees- Paul for one. And a few more we can assume from reading the gospels.
But together-as a system of religious authority- they were ’sons of hell’, ‘fools’,
‘blind guides’, ‘whitewashed tombs’, ‘a brood of vipers’, and finally, a barrier
to the truth of God’s goodness and grace: ‘You shut the kingdom of heaven in
men’s faces’.
They were lawyers and teachers of the law; sharp and prominent and well respected
(at least to their face). They sat ‘in Moses’ seat’ and so needed to be ‘obeyed’.
They were men of extreme dedication and zeal- missionaries to distant countries
and fanatically ’separated’ from all outward sins. Nevertheless, in spite of
their sincerity and zeal for God- every convert to the Pharisees in the words
of Jesus, became ‘twice as much a son of hell’ as the one who converted them.
That is how powerful a religious system can be. It will ignore the voice of
conscience, the voice of reason and even the voice God.

In light of this, should we as leaders not pause to reflect on our own leadership
values and doctrines? Should we not humble ourselves, and even tremble before
God when we realize how extensive this battle between Christ and the religious
leaders of his day became? Why such rigorous denunciations and warnings? Why
so many written heated exchanges in the gospels? Why would Jesus- who was meek
and lowly- publicly berate them and insult them and constantly expose their
hypocrisies to public shame? My answer is this-they were to be an example and
warning to you and me, the religious leaders of our own generation. This demonic
tendency towards pride and control, ostracization and greed, no matter what
name it goes by or in what century, will keep on waging war until it has once
again infiltrated and ruined the integrity of God’s leaders. And through us,
into the church.

Apostasy

Apostasy is a word we all know and
fear. We have warned each other repeatedly over the years, ‘we are only one
generation away from apostasy’ This is a true statement. In just a few years,
all of the Galatian churches, an entire geographical region, were about to fall
from grace. That is why, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul is so urgent and
even angry in his defense of the gospel and personal liberty in Christ. His
apostolic authority, and therefore his gospel, were under attack. As a consequence,
their salvation and the integrity of the ‘true gospel’ were at stake. The legalists
who poisoned them were anathema.

Again, within just a few decades,
five of seven churches in Asia Minor had or were in the process of apostatizing.
(Revelation 2-3) How quickly a religious movement can be corrupted! Even within
the lifetime of eyewitnesses to the resurrection, even with living apostles
at the helm!

For the most part, we as a ‘movement’
have succumbed to several evils that are systemic-and are bitterly difficult
to admit, let alone see our way out of. We need ruthless and courageous honesty,
as well as brokenness before God and His Word if we are to regain what has been
lost or surrendered or corrupted. I believe that many of our sins and practices
will continue on forever unless we attack our entire religious culture head
on. Or until God strikes the shepherds and scatters the sheep for good. We must,
without sentiment, identify what is systemically evil, and what is bad theology,
then publicly denounce them-to our churches and to the world if necessary.

‘Our System’

By and large, as a movement, and
by that I mean the sum total of our global congregations, we have slipped into
serious error, if not apostasy. The devil has his fangs deep in our neck, and
I am afraid that unless we repent-many of our churches and thousands more of
our Christians will be devoured.

Although there are a few exceptions, and only a few, we also have become another
religious ’system’. At least that is a word I hear more and more each year,
perhaps one hundred times this month alone-a word that frightens me and nauseates
me at the same time. Again, the devil has being lying to us, and for whatever
the reasons, we have not fought back tooth and nail. We have become proud and
blind, just like the Pharisees. And being blind without knowing it is the most
frightening kind of blindness of all. This paper is an attempt to open our eyes
before it is too late. My goal is not only to break our heart, but in a sense,
to slap us in the face as well.

I, for one, refuse to belong to a
system; any system that is not clearly of divine origin. I was baptized into
a kingdom and into union with the God/Man, Jesus Christ, but not into a system.
That is all I have ever wanted. That is all that I need.

Failure Is Not An Option

In my opinion, London, as one of
our first plantings, with so many seasoned evangelists who have come and gone,
and with so much kingdom-wide exposure and influences (good and bad), is a microcosm
of our movement-for better or for worse. That’s why this process must succeed,
but why I am so afraid it might fail.

In London, it will not be enough
to simply change the long-term leadership structures, or merely acknowledge
and apologize for specific sins and abuses, however sincere. The Christians
deserve so much more, and rightfully, are demanding so much more. In general,
they are fed up, disgusted and angry because of the sins and widespread abuses
of leadership and now have what you might even call, through the Spirit, a ‘forehead
of flint’. There is simply no going back.

What is essential to our success
is this: not only must the sins and abuses be radically repented of (and there
are many), but also, more importantly, the structural evils that helped foster
them must be theologically exposed and denounced. I am afraid that without this
vital step, there will be no profound or permanent change; let alone true forgiveness
and healing. This is a very painful time for us in London, but not as painful
as the outcome if the process is minimized, rushed through, covered over or
spun.

That said, I don’t believe it needs
to take long to recover, if we are thorough. It will be ’scary’ of course, but
we must assume God is accomplishing a deeply gracious and purifying work. Jesus
stated, ‘I know your deeds’ to the seven churches of Asia Minor, and then, just
as simply, ‘Repent’.

In a nutshell, London is all of us.
Our entire religious movement- our culture and belief system, our spiritual
abuses, the way we train our Christians, and our control mechanisms are so widespread
and invasive, that unless they are officially, uniformly and publicly denounced,
they will continue on forever. Sweeping evils and bad theology can only be rectified
by exposing and opposing. That should be the urgent agenda for the next ‘LA
meeting’, and maybe five months from now is not urgent enough. Movement wide,
we have no choice but to admit and apologize, expose and expunge, denounce and
dismantle.

Apology
and a Few Definitions

Apology

‘Let God be true and every man a
liar’

Before I continue, let me say, I
am not resigning or even remotely interested in leaving our churches. I am deeply
in love with our fellowship of churches, and am grateful to God for all he has
done for us and through us. But you must understand, for me, this is much more
than a lovers quarrel. I was called to be an evangelist and so it must be. I
am called to proclaim and defend the whole counsel of God-no matter the consequences.
And so I have chosen to fight back, hard.

· I am more ready than ever
to discuss, debate, renounce and dismantle. That said, I am also prepared to
disown if I have to, be disowned if it comes to that.

· The reason I am writing
this paper is simple - no one else has. Or if they have, nothing of substance
has come of it. I started writing this 18 months ago but let it sit because
I was intimidated. However, because of recent resignations, (and in my opinion)
the ‘failed’ LA unity meeting, and the spiritual crisis now unfolding in London,
the timing could not be more appropriate. I have been strengthened in my resolve.

· I am asking each of you
to weigh my words carefully. If I am wrong there is nothing to fear. If you
disagree, then you must defend.

· I realize that many of you
have good and noble hearts and that you have spoken up and tried to resist what
is wrong. Several of you really are champions of grace and freedom. However,
to one degree or another, all of us have been caught in the cross- fire. That
is the nature of systemic evil. And only a full on assault by all of us will
prevail.

· My comments are based on
the uniform and universal experience of thousands of Christians, hundreds of
private conversations, ‘late night’ conversations, and the public statements
and sentiments expressed by full time staff and non-staff alike.

· My words cannot not be easily
dismissed. We first visited Boston in 1981, and moved there in the spring of
1982. The third couple to do so, I think. I have been discipled by all these
men: Bob Gempel, Kip McKean, Al Baird, Jim Blough, Mike Taliaferro , Mike Fontenot
and others. Douglas Arthur has been a major influence in my life for more than
thirteen years, and Douglas Jacoby as well. Before moving to London (our second
time), we served in the American Commonwealth Region under DA from 1994 till
2001. In various capacities, Marilyn and I have lived and served on four continents,
in six countries, two world sectors, ten churches and about 15 different ministries.
I say this for one reason: we have seen enough, experienced enough, heard enough
and done enough in the last twenty years to believe, with great agony but deep
conviction, that we are entangled in several systemic evils. Evils that are
all encompassing, affecting our entire fellowship of churches.

· I am sorry about the length,
but felt it was essential to prove my thesis. I have tried to make it as organized
and readable as possible. Although rarely referenced in full, most of the Scriptures
I am sure you can identify. A few I have quoted in full.

· The intensity and number
of examples is not intended to overwhelm, although I am sure they will, but
to prove more convincingly my foundational arguments.

· Of course this is extremely
personal, to all of us. But I have endeavored not to use ‘personal examples’
as such so you can focus on the issues, and not the men.

Working
Definitions

‘Now the Lord is the Spirit; and
where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’

1. Liberty: Gk. eleutharia; freedom,
generosity, independence. A distinctive blessing of the economy of grace, in
contrast to the Old Testament’s legal restrictions and rules about life.
Opposite: deouleria; slavery or the state of dependence or having to follow
a prescribed course.

2. Systemic: ‘Of, pertaining to,
or affecting the whole body’

3. Endemic: ‘Widespread, peculiar
to a particular area or people’. As in, diseases that are endemic to the tropics.

4. Apostasy: ‘Abandonment of a former
allegiance, as to one’s faith’

Four
Systemic Evils

If movements begin in caves and die
in cathedrals, here are the four main
Pillars in our cathedral that must be denounced and demolished:

Our corrupted hierarchy
Our obsession with numbers
Our shameful arrogance (the cause/by-product of 1 and 2)
Our seduction by mammon

1.Our
corrupted hierarchy

Ah, sinful nation,
A people loaded with guilt,
A brood of evildoers,
Children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
They have spurned the

Holy One of Israel
And turned their backs on Him

Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
Your whole heart afflicted

From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness–
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with oil. Isaiah 1:4-6

By and large, intentional and unintentional, we have become a religious hierarchy
that has created, fostered and sustained a culture of control and dependence
on men, rather than freedom. As leaders in this hierarchy, we have become a
band of conflict-avoiders, cowards and men-pleasers, rather than God-pleasers.
This is the only way to explain not only what we do, but why we keep on doing
it.

That we have become a top to bottom
hierarchy is not in question. The truth is we are. Why we have chosen this model,
and sought to crystallize it, when the apostolic church has no such model, is
the big question. Even with other models to pattern ourselves after; even with
so many teachers in our churches who surely know better, the fact is that we
have chosen and systematically enforced this one. The reason I use the word
‘enforced’ is simple: we have become what we’ve wanted to become; what we have
insisted on becoming.

How did this happen? I am not entirely
sure. Why we let happen is the more radical question. We began with good intentions:
to structure ourselves, to create a framework for our message and our mission,
and to foster unity and cooperation. Over time, however, we’ve evolved into
a culture that has not respected the dignity of human freedom, but instead has
sought to control the lives of those under us and around us. Well-intentioned
or not, we have failed to become a people pleasing to God. I believe that God
is now opposing our cult of personality, and our abuse of spiritual authority
in the strongest possible way.

What do I mean by a culture of control?
Consider these facts: We are a hierarchy, and have been led by one man at the
top. We have had a ‘founder’, complete with personal and ‘kingdom-wide’ authority
that we were expected to respect and follow. We have had World Sector Leaders
and Geographic Sector Leaders - to consolidate the grip of power and establish
a global network of control over every last congregation. We teach ‘one church,
one city’, not always in the pure interest of unity, but as a means of tightening
control.

Local church autonomy is practically
viewed as heresy. Intimidating statements have been made to keep us all in line.
We’ve been told to ‘get our Boards on board’, undermining the very purpose of
having a board in the first place. As ‘lead evangelists’, we have routinely
forced our administrators to ‘get in line’ or be ‘loyal to us’ - as plans and
programs and pet projects are railroaded through to the dismay of all. Administrators
have admitted to deceit in the name of compliance, and to ’smoke and mirrors’
with the finances. Some of the more intimidated, have been involved in wholesale
financial mismanagement.

We have universally maligned our
critics, and tried to protect our members from reading ’spiritual pornography’.
Other materials are also censored from widespread circulation-brilliant and
Scripturally insightful papers from some of our own teachers among them. Papers
that have gone against the party line.

We have routinely humiliated and
marginalized those members who speak out as ‘critical’ and ‘disloyal.’ Many
of our churches have autocratic leaders. We give perks to the compliant, and
bigger pay checks to those higher up the chain of command. We reward outward
conformity.

‘Official Kingdom’ issues include
an enforced Special Contribution every year, the collecting of monthly statistics
worldwide, and the recognition of KNN and UpCyberDown as our ‘official’ media
sources. (Some of these issues are the same as those brought up by Ed Powers,
resulting in his being dis-fellowshipped and marked by us. While not endorsing
his approach or commenting on his integrity, I wonder how many other members
and leaders have questioned these same practices and pronouncements?)

We have also exerted ‘influence’
or suppressed suspicions by the use of ’spin’, non-transparency, and double
standards. For example, we are very open about the sins of those underneath
us, but not those ‘above’ us, because ‘it will hurt the church’.
We have given our evangelists an authority greater than our elders, when clearly,
the elders have higher moral and spiritual requirements for leadership as ‘overseers
of the flock’ Men who are specifically commanded to guard that which was purchased
by the blood of Christ. How can this be?

And just why do we have so few elders
among us? I believe it is not always because of family or maturity issues, but
because we have not found many men who are willing to commit completely to our
party line, or who have not come up through the full-time ranks as it were.
Their local churches would trust and commend them, but we do not. They have
not proven if they will comply with ‘the system’, therefore we cannot be sure.

We have seen almost all criticism
of the movement to be sinful. We accuse people of having bad hearts or bad attitudes
or independent spirits, when very often, they have every right to feel as they
do. When anyone does leave the church, they are automatically categorized as
a ‘fall away.’ But why? Many have left because of conscience issues, or harsh
treatment, or from feeling trapped and guilty by the way they’ve been led. Is
it fair or right to declare that they have left God because they’ve decided
to leave our ranks? Others choose to stay, but live in constant fear of being
branded as divisive or disloyal if they disagree, and will routinely follow
bad advice for the sake of submission. Others simply go numb, suffer in silence,
sit at the back or just roll over and play dead.

Return
to Table of Contents

On
Discipling

We have assumed, wrongly, that the
sheep are stupid. We have trained them to depend on men, on us in fact, and
not on Christ. ‘Did you get advice’ for the most part means ‘Did you get permission.’
Yes of course, they are vulnerable and open to attack, but they are not stupid.
It is we who have been stupid, Biblically and spiritually. Should we not assume,
rather, that a true, Spirit-filled Christian desires to please God, not to rebel?
Ezekiel 36: ‘I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will
remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will
put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep
my laws’.

Through our discipleship partner
theology, we have attempted, like modern-day Pharisees, to put a hedge around
God’s law. In trying to protect or control the Christians, we have routinely
violated their liberty in Christ. We have not trusted disciples to live by their
own convictions and decisions (and mistakes), and have fostered in them an unhealthy
dependence, rather than freedom to grow and mature. Many of our discipling guidelines
are nothing more than ‘rules taught by men’, condemned by Jesus as burdensome
and legalistic. No control mechanisms, or traditions of men, or rules and culturally
accepted regulations will keep anyone faithful who does not want to be faithful
in their heart. But they will create rebellion and criticalness among sincere
and liberated Christians. We did not become new creations to be controlled by
men; rather, ‘it is for freedom Christ has set us free’

On
Church Authority

In the N.T. there is not one mention
of one congregation ‘over’ another, or of ‘pillar churches’. In our misguided
zeal to make certain churches the biggest and best, we have plundered the ranks
of sister congregations. This man-made, humanly engineered ‘growth’ formula
is just not Spirit led. It has resulted in bad feelings and cynicism, by those
affected directly and those merely observing. (James 3)

Our lack of autonomy and freedom
has blunted our thinking. There is very little ‘thinking outside the box’ in
the ‘ICOC’ in terms of diversity in leadership structure, women’s role in ministry,
the collection of contribution, and even our teaching (e.g. the ‘official studies’)
All of this contributes to the control of our members and ministry staff, a
putting out of the Spirit’s fire.

On
Ministry Training And Practices

In the N.T., there is no control
of one leader over another. We have no rulers or lords. That is what the pagans
do, Jesus said. But ‘with you it must not be so’. The Bible says all of us,
from apostles to ‘men of little account’ are free in the Lord. But we dare not
challenge our leaders!

Why not? In the N.T. leaders were
criticized, abandoned, disagreed with, questioned, challenged, and made the
object of bad (or good) report. They were put on the defense by their own ministries-
and to a large extent, this was surprisingly tolerated (Revelation 2) Sure,
most of the time an enemy may have stirred this up, but the Christians were
not uniformly condemned for it. Why should they be? There were many false apostles
and deceitful workmen among them, and they needed to be alert. Those leaders
and apostles who were truly accredited by God appealed to their life and doctrine
as their defense. That is all. No one enjoys dealing with a strong willed or
contentious opponent, especially a brother in Christ, but forced compliance,
out of fear of being shut down or shamed, is just as evil. We have not cultivated
an environment where there is freedom to question, challenge or confront the
‘leadership’. Shame on us.

For the most part, we have surrounded
ourselves with loyal men - not those necessarily loyal to God or their own conscience,
but loyal to us - very much like tribal kings. Those who make waves are not
tolerated.

Another question: how can we be utterly
honest and live with integrity when those above us, ‘our best friend and discipler’
is at the same time our ‘boss’? If I, like Paul, may need to oppose my ‘friend’
to his face, or must strongly challenge a course of action that my ‘boss’ wants
to take, it is not just my job that is at stake, but all of my relationships,
friendships, future security, and the emotional well-being of my family and
their relationships as well. All of these loyalties and conflicts of interest
are twisted together in one huge knot - making it difficult to be honest and
true to our own convictions. This is another aspect of control that contributes
to conformity and ultimately, to apostasy and seared consciences.

The way we have moved leaders around
at will and altered the leadership of many churches is also questionable. So
many leaders have been moved or replaced for ‘not doing well’ even when their
local congregations love them and want them. Conversely, we routinely place
evangelists over a congregation without even consulting the members, or allowing
the leaders to be commended by those they will lead. And we expect these churches
to abide by our decisions without dissent or question. Alternatively, church
leaders have also remained for too long in situations where they were clearly
not commended by their staff or members- simply because they have the backing
and blessing of a higher power. But worst of all, several of our ‘higher’ leaders
have gone exactly where they wanted to, and have had others moved out of the
way just so they can take their city. It is difficult to imagine Paul or his
contemporaries operating like this.

On
Our Self Description

In one generation, we have gone from
protecting the flock to preserving our institution. What has been our agenda,
other than keeping control over our congregations? We have made incredible statements
about the ICOC that gall our critics and keep our members ‘committed’. We call
ourselves ‘God’s Modern Day Movement’, and say that we are ‘defining Christianity
for this generation’. We have equated ourselves with the ‘Kingdom’ as if we
are one and the same, and not merely part of the Kingdom - a Kingdom that belongs
to a King, and is known by God alone. When we call ourselves the ‘One True Church’,
our arrogance does several things. a) By implication, almost everything we say
must be right, because we are the right church. b) Therefore: comply, don’t
question, and don’t even think about leaving. Where can you go? It’s either
‘us’ - or the gates of hell.

Accept it or not-this statement
alone is our most powerful mechanism for ensuring compliance and ‘commitment.’
I am not going ‘liberal’ on the doctrine of salvation, or claiming that ‘other’
churches are saved- there really is only one universal church, and one way to
become a Christian. However, by calling ourselves by these names, and claiming
it with such exclusivity and superiority, many of our disciples will remain
‘faithful’, but also living in fear and misery.

Because so many of us have been conditioned to acquiesce, we just keep slipping
in more and more control mechanisms and unbiblical practices without discussion
or debate. The reason: ‘being unified is more important than being right’. Sometimes,
to be sure, but not more important than being righteous.

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Table of Contents

2.Our
Obsession With Numbers

‘Christ did not send me to baptize,
but to preach the gospel’ - Paul

‘Such "wisdom" does
not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where
there is envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice’
- James

‘So neither he who plants nor
he who sows is anything, but only God, who makes things grow’ - Paul

Publicly stated or not, but for all
practical purposes:

Numerical growth, specifically baptisms, has been our number one objective-even
at the expense of goodness and godliness.

Many of our leaders have become so obsessive about ‘the numbers’ it has retarded
them spiritually, made them neurotic, or even idolatrous. What started out as
a genuine and intense effort to evangelize the world in one generation has quickly
turned sour from false motives and selfish ambition. The motives for what we do
and why we do it have become so askew that I am afraid many will not be able to
recover Selfish ambition and humanism have led to the systematic abuse of stats
and stat- taking, goal setting and goal making. This has ruined countless lives
in the process, damaged our integrity and trustworthiness as ministers and leaders,
and has fostered a climate of manipulation, fear and men pleasing. The consciences
of thousands, especially new and vulnerable staff members and new Bible Talk or
Family Group leaders have been violated. And they in turn have compelled others
to do the same. This is systemic-a phenomenon that reaches from top to bottom.
This cannot be denied.

‘Stats are a tool’, we have said.
I agree, but what kind of tool? A hammer and a knife-for bashing and inflicting
pain on those we are over. They have become a means to satisfy the secret ambitions
of unscrupulous men. They are routinely used to cajole and threaten, or to appease
the anger of those over us. We have used them to lift up men and to boast and
brag.

Of course, stats in and of themselves
are only bits of information, nothing really, much like bits of wood and clay.
It is how they can be twisted and used for idolatry that I am concerned with.
Accompanied by our pride and a corrupted hierarchical structure, they are too
much for our fallen nature to bear.

I am all for knowing my ministry
and the names of the sheep, and knowing if one has wondered from the ninety
nine, and for being on top for budgetary purposes. And I think a census of some
kind is very helpful for various reasons. I am even for sharing the great things
God has done! (Acts 11) You know that’s not what I mean.

I am talking about using stats to
measure our worth before God and one another, preaching Christ from false motives,
using the numbers to compare and compete, and to boost the ungodly egos of insecure
and selfish men. Consider the almost universal ramifications of this emphasis
in our churches. All of these examples, in one way or another, are the fruit
of this bad theology and humanism. This is what I have seen, heard or been a
part of over the past 20 years:

· I know of many
cases of dishonesty in reporting stats. Whether to fudge or inflate attendances,
or to not accurately do the ‘month end’ because ‘we have to grow this month’
or ‘ there is no way we are going negative!’

· I know an evangelist who invented ‘baptisms’ to avoid harsh
accountability.

· We have practiced and even theologically defended the wholesale
write-off of members in the name of ‘pruning’. Not only is this phenomenon
repugnant, it is completely without Biblical precedent. Jesus commanded-leave
them alone-’let the wheat and the tares grow together’. Are we stronger
or wiser than he? How arrogant of us-it is Christ’s own church we have pillaged,
his own body we have mutilated!

· We have taken off, prematurely, the very weak or very discouraged,
because we want a ‘tight ship’ Entire families have been ruined by this
conceit and immaturity. We have, in short, slaughtered the innocents.

· It is almost a truism that each new evangelist that takes
over a ministry will prune and purge. Why does this happen, really? We all
know. It is the need to look good from ‘your’ new beginning, or not to be
blamed for ‘their’ weak ministry in the future. When we do this, we have
betrayed ourselves to angels, my friend-angels that rejoiced before the
face of God when they were first converted! Should not the Christ-like servant
wait for the sure evidence of God before making membership decisions; before
whacking and hacking? The deeper we go with these questions, the more obvious
our systemic evils become.

· The majority of our baptisms come near the end of the month.
Why is that? Some, embarrassingly, just before midnight. And why is it the
vast majority of those same baptisms are those who will fall away?

· How many times have we hurt for ourselves when a goal or
target is not met instead of weeping for the lost? Something is grievously
and seriously wrong here

· We rank each other, all the time, in our hearts and even
in public on ‘the numbers’- our faith, heart, talent, holiness, self- worth,
awesomeness or ‘lack of ministry skills’ are constantly being judged. And
most of this from pride, jealously, insecurity, competitiveness or rank
humanism. Do true men of God, really, have to be led by a system of carrots
and sticks? Or should it be by something more substantial, like love and
moral obligation and the consequences of rejecting the gospel?

· How many Christians have we neglected when they moved into
our ministries from other cities? Why is that, honestly? ‘If they are weak,
and we put them on our membership list, they might fall away and we will
look bad’ Great, let them prove themselves all over again! Of course, because
of this evil conceit they just might fall away- but their blood will be
on our head.

· We are constantly insecure, especially at conferences and
such, or at staff meetings, if the numbers are ‘below average’

· The more baptisms, or better numbers- the more glory, the
more speaking ‘rights’, the more respect.

· We have gone from ‘anytime, day or night urgency’ to saving
up baptisms for Sundays (to encourage the church!) to anniversary services,
where the goal is to have a hundred or some other large number on a day
(to encourage the movement!) Saving up to have one hundred in a day, or
even shooting for it, is not encouraging at all, it is degrading the gospel.
And is always suspect. Does this inspire the angels or embarrass them? First,
we must have them make it by the end of the month, then, we must hold them
off for our special service! Is this not simple pride and duplicity? Even
Schizophrenia?

· Where did ‘good’ ‘great’ and ‘awesome’ come from and why?
Why do we tolerate this humanism and pressure inducing dumbness? Some have
even put ‘poor’ on their stat sheets. That sure is encouraging for the interns!
Isn’t this all a bit embarrassing?

· The LA Ratio. What is that? What if we had an apostolic
ratio, or a Pauline ratio or an Antioch ratio? Would that not bury us in
shame? Maybe that is why there is not even the remotest hint of such in
Scripture. God loves us too much.

· In earlier days, we have ‘re-baptized’ hundreds and claimed
them on our stat sheets as first time ‘baptisms’- as if trying to fool everyone.
I know this practice has ceased, but it revealed an ominous foreshadowing
of our present obsession/validation by numbers.

· I was in a church where 95% of the staff felt conflicted
about a specific goal they were expected to ‘get behind’ and make sure ‘everyone
else gets behind it’. Mercifully, God allowed us to fail-but through it
all, no one spoke up. Only months later were the staff honest about their
inner conflicts. How is that possible? (That will lead me to my cowardice
point a little later on.) Those who did speak up in private were rebuked.

· We know of almost an entire staff in one of our largest
churches that falsified attendances and membership numbers. Several were
fired. Where does that kind of behavior come from? Could it be from the
religious culture we have created for ourselves? What ‘force’ could be more
powerful than the fear of God? Our culture of fear and men pleasing!

· We keep people in ‘our’ ministries because it will ‘hurt
our numbers’ if they leave. Even if their desire is best for the person,
or will bring them closer to their family, or legitimately help their careers.
‘Bloom where you are planted, go where you are sent’. How can we assume
to know what the Spirit’s intention or individual will is? What’s wrong
with a change of scenery? We do it all the time. Shame on us.

· We have consistently judged the ’sharp’ or prominent of
greater worth than the poor or less talented - because of what they can
accomplish ‘for the church’ .We are judges with evil thoughts, said James.

· Many have neglected the weak because they are a ‘distraction’
and take too much ‘real’ ministry time. Excuse me? We will not go after
the strays heart and soul, but we will go after the numbers. The pressure
to build well (justice, love, mercy) or to build fast is a constant conflict
among men of good conscience. How many of us have built on wood or straw
because of short cuts and the constant pressure to perform?

· We are constantly
bragging about our ‘fruit’ and our ‘numbers’ and our ‘impact’ and then, reflexively
declare, ‘And to God be the glory!’ In fact, the entire concept of ‘personal
fruit’ as we know and have taught it a thousand times is Biblically irresponsible.

· How many of us have compromised our own conscience and baptized
someone just to make a manmade goal or to keep our selves from being ‘yelled
at’ or publiclyshamed or simply to please a man?

· ‘If we don’t have a monthly stat sheet, how are we going to
grow the ministry?’ How did they do it in the early church, which was the
most formidable of all? Did all of their leaders have a piece of papyrus?

· In most of our churches, our Christians routinely study hard
with our converts until their ‘baptism’, and then do almost nothing afterwards
in terms of consistent, mature follow up. We make babies, and let them die
of neglect because we want to make more babies! In the world, we would be
imprisoned.

· Sector leaders/FG leaders routinely give out foolish, even
asinine advice to appease ‘the god of growth’ (or ‘lord’ of the Lords Day!)-’Don’t
go to that wedding, it will hurt your ministry’ ‘I know its your family, but
this is the family of God, come back for Sunday’ ‘ You can go on holidays
sure, but only for this long …’ ‘You made the goal-you’re responsible
to get them ready. Just do it’ ‘Do you have to visit that other sector or
church, it’s going to hurt our attendance?’

· Why are we always ‘cleaning’ up our membership rolls in December?
Is it not possible we might be off track here because of a human timetable
and not a divine one? All we have to do is follow a kind of ‘and why do we
do this?’ trail of questions to know exactly the reason. It cannot be for
Christ’s name or glory. Or is it simply because Janus, the god of the Romans,
bids us to?

· Have you ever heard this ‘When you set a goal (even if you
didn’t want to)-you have to make it’? Of course we have to, or we will suffer
the consequences- or at least feel stupid.

· Admit it, as bad as this sounds, sometimes we even feel validated
when others are not doing well in their ministries. And envy creates even
more ungodly thoughts than that.

· ‘If you are a good leader, and know what you’re doing, you
should be able to predict your targets accurately, 80-90% of the time.’ Does
this contribute to our humility or our humanism? Won’t this kind of arrogance
only lead to a violation of conscience? Does this really make us ‘better leaders’?
No it doesn’t, but it gets more ‘baptisms’ by month-end!

· Our practice of taking other leaders from other churches,
sometimes by the hundreds so we can have ‘the biggest’ and best church in
our city, and to satisfy the demands of those ‘over’ us is hardly inspiring
to anyone. Instead, it has created massive disrespect and division. All because
of numbers. Nothing more.

· And finally, one of our most seasoned and respected evangelists
admitted ‘he had not been sending out church plantings because it would diminish
his numbers at home - and that he did this to keep his leaders from being
on him because of his numbers’

I could give 100 more examples, easily.
And so could you. The point is, we have sacrificed our self- respect and perhaps
some of our own souls on this altar. This is not building for the glory of God,
but for the glory of man.

God, because of his own love for
the lost, has not blessed us with conversions; he has blessed them for His own
sake. I believe He has used us- in spite of our selfish ambition, just as we
have used others. God has accomplished His ‘own’ dreams for the lost-even if
much of it has been through ‘our’ dreams for ourselves.

We have ranked and competed and
defiled and manipulated, even used others, to satisfy the wants and needs of
sinful pride or insecurity -and to please the men who are ‘over us’ and ‘over
them’ and ‘over them’ etc. None of us are immune. And for what? The praises
of men and not the praises of God, the fear of men and not the fear of God.

We have turned what is the most consequential
and beautiful act in the eyes of God for another human being-their union with
Christ- into an object of personal glory. But when the true motives and intentions
of our hearts will one day be exposed, then what? Our salvation, not just our
reward, might be at stake.

In my experience many of you, if
not most, will agree with what I am saying. Perhaps every last one of you. But
why have we not stopped this madness? Why does it go on and on when most of
us hate it so? And in our hearts feel guilt, if not shame? Because ‘that’s just
the way it is’? No- but because it’s another systemic evil, another pillar in
our belief system that must be smashed.

The more souls saved the better,
I agree- but for whom and why? When our integrity and true intentions have been
so universally exposed and smeared -it cannot be for the glory of God alone.
That is self-contradictory. Of course, several of you have matured beyond men
pleasing and have sincerely sought to guard your hearts, and do have a ‘pure
conscience’ before God. But kingdom wide, this simply is not the case.

For the most part, I believe the
majority of us have tried to shield the rank and file believer from this ‘private’
clerical obsession of ours, and from the pressures placed on our own shoulders
by other men. But somehow, it spreads throughout our fellowship anyway.
The ‘having and getting’ of numbers-even at the expense of goodness and godliness-
is a practice so widespread, so endemic to who we are it will never stop- until
admitted, confessed and publicly repudiated. I, for one, will never again send
in a monthly stat sheet as we know and use them. I don’t care what the repercussions,
I am not doing it. Another evangelist just said to me, incredulously, ‘You have
to, because LA wants them’-my point exactly.

3.Our
Shameful Arrogance

Good examples:

· ‘I
am meek and lowly’ - Jesus

·
‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey’ - Zechariah

·
‘Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something
to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant’
- Paul

Bad examples:

· "You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired
wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched,
pitiful, poor, blind and naked." - Jesus

· ‘You are the ones who justify
yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your heart. What is highly valued
among men is detestable in God’s sight’ - Jesus

By and large, we have been extremely arrogant. I would even say, we have become
a breeding ground for proud and arrogant men. Moses’ lapse into arrogance cost
him dearly. And David’s own pride cost him the lives of 70,000 Israelites. Are
we better than them?

Year by year and brick by brick,
we have built a gate so high it is pleading for destruction.
But our pride and determination to believe that God is with us ‘no matter what’,
and that he has approved or blessed virtually every decision we have made has
severely blinded our judgment of reality.
When Moses sinned against God by declaring to Israel, ‘How long shall we put
up with you’ he spoke what is in the hearts of many of us. This is exactly the
kind of mentality we operate by. Because of our ‘me and God’ arrogance, we have
routinely slapped grown men in the face. Paul reprimanded the Corinthians for
submitting to such leaders, but this kind of ’slapping’ is this very thing we
expect others to submit to. And we will not tolerate men who want to push us
or slap us back.

Paul declares, ‘You gladly put up
with fools since you are so wise! In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves
you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward or slaps
you in the face. To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that.’ We too
have enslaved and exploited and pushed and slapped grown men in the face. In
our shameful arrogance, we have forced grown men to comply, even against their
consciences. Something Paul would never do. Something Jesus never did.

What is the further proof of our
arrogance? Besides our entire hierarchy and control mechanisms, there are many:
Not only have we allowed it, but we have sustained the cult of personality.
We have created and accepted titles that have in turn created barriers and strengthened
the clergy / laity mindset. This of course has led to the widespread exaltation
of men.

In the spirit of, ‘Where the Bible
is silent, we speak’, we have routinely gone ‘beyond what is written’.

Like the Pharisee who ‘prayed about
himself’, we have built monuments and timelines to ourselves and not for the
glory of God. We are always restoring but never renouncing-because we can do
no wrong. We have pillaged and plundered other churches because of the wishes
and desires of despotic men-who must have the biggest and best churches because,
‘it is a sin not to be the biggest church in your city’ But even after they
are plundered, more bricks are demanded!

We are constantly numbering Israel,
when even Joab, Israel’s worldly national security commander found it repugnant!

We have evolved into a culture where
the oppression and squashing of godly men is acceptable, even the norm. Where
‘get in line, or get out’ is said, where ‘make the numbers or get another job’
is casually declared, where ‘comply or die’ is an unspoken truth. There is a
reason God has appointed us the leaders - we must be ‘better men’ -so shut up
and listen!

We have pruned the souls of men into
damnation. This is not a membership list we cut up, but Christ himself. ‘Why
do you persecute me?’ could just as easily be, ‘Why do you prune me?’ In doing
so we have played the role of final Judge, we have assumed the prerogatives
of God Himself (John 15)

We have taught that we alone are the ‘true kingdom’, ‘true disciples’, and the
‘One True Church’. And not only do we believe these things, but we intensely
advocate them- we know what we are doing, we have restored such and such, we
are the remnant chosen by grace, we are the only church since the first century
to…

We have built, by design, (or at
the very least have not dismantled it by design) a culture of control and intimidation
that shuts down and marginalizes men and women who ‘disagree’. This is an absolute
abuse of power and total betrayal of our freedom in Christ.

In some of our churches, rich leaders
are getting richer. In some of our churches, the prophets and priests rule by
their own authority. In some of our churches, its ‘give’ or get out. In some
of our churches, LA for one, its have a discipleship partner or ‘go away’. But
go where if we are the ‘one true church’? Obviously, to hell. Arrogance, pure
and simple.

Our wholesale dismissal of critics
is appalling. How can we be sure Christ is not speaking to us through them?
After all, was Christ Himself not so offended by the arrogance of the Laodicean
church that he was no longer ‘within’ their fellowship - but stood outside the
door and knocked? We have offered no public apologies for anything substantial.

In fact, by and large, we don’t
even listen to our own Christians- because if we did we would not be in such
a crisis. Many of them ( including several outside critics) have known all along
what most of us cannot even recognize! Our ‘ever hearing but never perceiving’
stubborness has created frustration and anxiety and anger in our members beyond
words.

We constantly pull rank where there
is not a single example of this kind of ‘rulership’ in Scripture. We have consistently
tied up heavy burdens and placed them on men’s shoulders. Several of you, I
know, have even taken another man’s ‘pasture’ and home at will, without consent
or conscience. But you, like the Jewish ruling council, will do anything not
to have the Romans ‘take your place and nation’

In like spirit, we have routinely
protected those ‘above’ because ‘what if the critics found out’ or ‘it will
cause the weaker among us to stumble’. This is a direct violation of scripture
- even our elders who sin must be rebuked publicly ’so that others may be warned’.
Because of these sins and others like them, we have received our reward in full,
in praise and in power, in ‘ long flowing robes and greetings in the market
place’ But in the meantime, God’s sons and daughters have been devastated.

There is no Jerusalem or Antioch
of the movement, or Jesus or Paul of the movement. We have no ‘anointed’ men
like David, and no one man who is God’s hope for the world.

Is this kind of arrogance really
the by-product of a ‘remnant chosen by grace’ or something more sinister? Or,
if we believe like Paul, that we are what we are ‘by the grace of God’, then
why have we not acted this way? Why do we talk the way we do?

This kind of shameful arrogance has
both started and sustained our structural evils. In London, we are reaping the
fruit of this kind of behavior right now. We forced ourselves on others, and
now they force themselves on us. We slapped others in the name of Jesus, and
now they slap back, justifiably so!

Look at us. In just over 20 years
we have gone from ‘the happy few’ to a full-blown denomination. And even more
so, to a corrupted hierarchy with more personal control mechanisms than the
modern Catholic Church, and with more bravado than the Pharisees themselves.
At least they were whitewashed tombs - much of their arrogance was not recognized
by men, only by God. Ours has become obvious to all.

4.Our
Seduction By Money

· "You
cannot serve both God and Money". The Pharisees, who loved money, heard
all this and were sneering at Jesus’. - Matthew

· ‘…you
ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You
adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards
God?’ - James

· ‘Children
should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well’
- Paul

When John preached in the desert, his call to repentance was all about ’stuff’
and our attitude towards it: a coat, contentment, extortion. All of them money
matters. We live in a kingdom where personal economics is an exacting requirement,
especially for leaders.

However, like almost every religion
or religious leader known to man, once corrupted by power and selfish interest,
the lure of money and unjust gain simply cannot be resisted. It is a truism.
We are no exception. And neither were the religious elite of Jesus’ day.

I will continue with four more quotations:

‘The attitude
we have toward our money and possessions reaches to the depth of us, to
the very nature of our existence.‘

‘Our stewardship tells a deep and consequential story. It forms our biography.
In a sense, how we relate to money is the story of our lives.’

‘Who is greedier than a man for whom God is not enough.’?

‘The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality’

If these Scriptures and statements
are true for simple Christians, then how much more so for leaders in the Kingdom
of God- those ‘upon whom the end of the ages has come’ and who live ‘in the
last days’?

To be sure, those of us who preach
the gospel full-time should earn our living by the gospel. But what kind of
living? Should it not be with the simplicity and almost embarrassing self-consciousness
of the apostles? Would that not do more to encourage sacrifice among the saints
than anything else? Or to re-ignite our badly damaged credibility? Or to silence
and shame our critics?

This is one area of Scripture we
have clearly failed to restore. And we all know why. Every year the seduction
and surrender to money has become more and more widespread, especially in America.
Jesus’ own life and example were a stern rebuke to the greed of the Pharisees.
But when he challenged their duplicity, they sneered at him. What has our response
been? Have we sneered? Or tried to minimize the Lord’s words? ‘You are those
who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your heart’ he rebukes.

If we are the ones who are ‘defining
Christianity for this generation’, what are we defining in terms of money and
materialism? If we accept the premise that our first responsibility as Christian
leaders is to define reality, then surely, the one New Testament reality we
have ‘disembodied’ is this one.

The reason is simple: money really
is the acid test of our sincerity and spirituality- and our failure to obey
the vital examples and instructions of Scripture en masse is another reason
I believe it is a systemic evil, but especially endemic to the West. (Don’t
challenge me on greed, and I won’t challenge you on materialism)
Many of you of course are a noble exception to this, Mark and Nadine being one.
And certainly the hundreds of servants who toil on in foreign lands, especially
in the third world. But by and large, and in particular in the West, our credibility
as ‘heaven-ward’ men is crashing fast to earth.

Money is not merely a tool, or even
a drug-it is a god. A god who must be defied, not deified- especially by full-time
servants of the Lord. Christ’s personification of Mammon in the hearing of the
Pharisees should make all of us pause to search our own souls. But instead of
caution and trepidation, what has happened?

There are now so many questions about
golden parachutes, the special contribution, salary compensations, wasteful
spending, and the misappropriation of funds that it is frightening. As the ‘clergy’,
we have allowed for incredible retreats and pet projects: we have had harbor
retreats, mountain retreats, castle and Hawaiian retreats, deep-sea fishing
expeditions, five star hotels, presidential suites and the like; we have purchased
unnecessary business class tickets and even season tickets to basket-ball leagues;
no doubt we enjoy robust salaries, houses and perks. The higher up the pyramid-
the greater the ‘responsibility’ factor- the better it gets: fatter paychecks,
richer incidentals. We have the best cars, the best electronics, the best homes,
the best schools, the best neighborhoods, the best clothes, and the best benefits.

We give golden parachutes to those
forced to resign when others who are ‘let go’, after years of dedication, are
sometimes not even mentioned in the next staff meeting as though an embarrassment
has occurred. I agree legalities have been maintained, but this is God’s money
not ours. Appearances and real issues of greed have now caused thousands to
stumble and question our spirituality. A former GSL stated it like this, ‘Can
we really expect sincerity from men who have placed a higher value on their
paychecks and all the accompanying perks than they have on being true to their
conscience?’ That’s an honest, unemotional observation from a guy deep within
our system of things.

I am all for breaking the alabaster jar from time to time and even honoring
guest speakers. I think this is right. I personally have been on many retreats
and have benefited and been refreshed by the generosity of other leaders and
their ministries. And truth be told, a large majority of Christians are more
than happy to ‘reward’ their hard working staff members this way. They are grateful
for our service and understand the pressures our families and we are under.
But is it right or responsible to continue in light of wide scale allegations
and concerns? Is it right to have rich leaders in an age of suspicion? Is it
right to put any stumbling block in anyone’s path if we are ministers of the
gospel? If so, said Paul, then we are no longer acting in love. And truthfully,
have these retreat expenses and the like been made public? In detail? Or only
from a generic ‘pot’ mentioned in a slide show?

A sacred trust is set in place between
those who ask and those who give- a trust that must be upheld at all cost. Every
penny we receive and spend is a matter of love and respect for our Christians,
especially the poorest among us. It also is a matter of personal integrity and
the fear of God. We are no longer above reproach. I am not throwing stones here.
I too am guilty. I too am deeply convicted.

We have no choice but to open the books and be utterly transparent in our expenses,
especially those that might convey even a ‘hint of greed.’ Mike Taliaferro once
told me, ‘If you can’t say it before a thousand people, it’s probably not right’.
Good advice. We must once again take pains not only to do what is legally right,
but also what is Christ-like and commendable in the eyes of men and God. Only
from specific accountability and transparency- not from evasive pie charts at
the end of the year- will the total confidence and blessing of the saints be
had once again, as well as commending our consciences to the poorest among our
flock, the single moms in our fellowship, those who struggle week after week
to support us, and the critics who are baying for blood.

Are we not alarmed when we find out
a communist leader has a beautiful villa? Or when hard line mullahs have running
water and air conditioning when nobody else in their village does? How much
more should the church be appalled when her leaders live near the ‘top of the
scale’, or convey a double standard and love for the world? Was this not at
least one of the evils of Eli’s sons?

How we flesh out the words of Scripture
is a challenge, I know. But flesh them out we must. We have no choice anymore.
Too much is at stake. True or not, many of us give the impression of being a
hireling, a peddler, a white washed tomb or prophet at Ahab’s table. We have
no option but to change because the gospel is now being discredited.

I too have children and want the
best for them. This is a natural, parental instinct. But what really is best
for them? And should not a life of simplicity and frugality-even for our families-
be another cup that we who enter the full-time ministry must drink?
Even more radical to our thinking, is it not true that the wives of the apostles
accompanied them and worked so that their husbands could preach? (1 Cor.9.3-6)
And why was this? Why had they refused to burden the church for even a few more
denarii’s? Because of personal credibility and the desire to be above reproach.
This is a ministry paradigm that has hardly been explored. I will leave that
one for our teachers to consider.

Brothers and sisters, we must ask
ourselves, honestly: Am I embarrassed? Accused? Defensive? Apologetic? Proud?
Would we be ashamed to stand before our poorest members, our widows and single
mothers, even our critics, to have them in our homes-each and every one- and
justify our lifestyles at their expense?

Justifiable or not, inherited or not, the fruit of great stewardship or whatever
- as ministers of an eternal kingdom, if our salaries or lifestyles are criticized
by more than a few disgruntled members, or are a stumbling block to the rank
and file in any way, we have to make some serious decisions.

We must ask ourselves, honestly:
What is the real rationale behind ‘more sphere of influence, more money? It
is not necessarily more or harder work. More pressure, perhaps. But even so,
this kind of salary model is the exact inversion of apostolic teaching and example.
Paul: ‘having nothing, and yet possessing everything.’ Peter: ‘Silver and gold
I have none.’ Accept it or not, if money is our motive in any guise, Jesus said,
we have received ‘our reward in full.’

Should we as leaders not exemplify
the spirituality and sacrifice we call others to make, in fact, have demanded
that they make? (You fill in the Scripture)

·
In our own sacrificial giving/and living? 
· In our desire for equality?
· In our demonstration of real justice?

· To exemplify contentment and the joy of simplicity?
· To do everything possible to ease the burdens on the church?
· So that nothing may be wasted?
· To identify with the poor, and not insult them?
· To flee from even a ‘hint’ of greed? (A text we are ruthless in applying
to sexual sins, but blatantly hypocritical when it comes to greed)

· To prove that we too, are disciples first and foremost?
· To ’show’ that we belong to a better country?
· To illustrate how a disciple can resist the plague of commercialism
/ consumerism?
· To disarm the critics and truly be above reproach?
· To imitate Christ’s own poverty/simplicity?

· To flesh out the truths:’I am crucified with Christ’ and ‘the world
has been crucified to me and I to the world’?
· To restore what is clearly apostolic in practice and spirit:’ poor,
yet making many rich’ ‘we will gladly spend everything we have for you, and
spend ourselves as well’ ‘We made no use of our rights’ etc?

If we never pushed so hard to get
money from our Christians, it would still matter a great deal to God, but not
nearly as much as it does now, because of our constant asking and coercive ‘getting’.

We have demanded extraordinary monetary sacrifice from our members, but comparatively,
it appears we have demanded so little from ourselves. That is, if we gauge from
what is ‘left over’ and not from what is ‘given’.

Jesus exposed and cursed the Pharisees
for their ‘open’ greed, their ‘hidden’ greed, their ‘denial’ of greed and their
duplicity. He calls it ‘the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other
things.’ He commanded us to be on guard against ‘all kinds of greed’, even if
the source may be legitimate-like an inheritance.
Consider carefully: greed is one of the very few specific sins named in the
New Testament a Christian should be dis-fellowshipped for (1 Corinthians 5),
and yet, in the richest and most consumer oriented country in the history of
mankind, the USA-have you ever heard of even one person put out of the fellowship
for this? Greed is idolatry, greed is deceitful, and greed will cost us ‘our
inheritance among the saints’ Very powerful stuff, indeed.

All
Or Nothing

All these structural/systemic evils
are entangled and intertwined. They will continue throughout our churches until
universally and ‘officially’ addressed. Because our religious culture is so
cohesive and conformist, it must be all or nothing. But if the choice becomes
’some things’ instead of all or nothing, we will have major problems on our
hands. In that case, the only exception or escape from their continued influence
would be to practice or demand Biblical autonomy. (More on that later)

As I stated before, if we continue
to tolerate our systemic evils, and I say this with caution, our personal salvation
may very well be at stake, let alone our unity and personal credibility. We
simply cannot afford the luxury of thinking we are an exception, immune, or
above obedience to the commands of God-no matter how much God has used us in
the past. That is one of the most spectacular fruits of pride.

When we refuse to be confronted ourselves,
or we become complacent or defiant when the Scriptures challenge us-even to
the core-we are in grave spiritual danger. And our hypocrisy will have come
full circle. We love the revolutionary, but not if it is to overthrow us. We
commend the Bereans for questioning Paul, but not if they question us. We love
the radical spirit of Josiah, unless he digs up our bones for exposure. We want
opinion leaders, but not if there opinion is against us. We love to denounce
the blind Pharisees, but refuse to see the Pharisee in us. We love the simplicity
of Christ -’only one thing is needful’, and the apostles- ‘poor, yet making
many rich’, but not if it is a discomfort to us

There is a time for patience and
even having dinner with the Sadducees and Pharisees, and then there is a time
for anger and the overthrowing of temples. I believe that time is now. Our errors
and sins must be vigorously attacked and overthrown. Christ was hostile to a
religious system then, and he is hostile to our religious system now. Too much
is at stake. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against demons
and their strongholds. This is no time for cowards. This is no time for calm
deliberation or for lighting candles instead of cursing the darkness; this is
a time for setting fire to the earth.

We must apologize. No more spin,
no more skirting the issues. We cannot move forward with out acknowledging our
past. There will be no bright future without peering into what has been ugly
in our history. I know that even now many changes are taking place in several
churches throughout the world, but moving forward without acknowledging our
past is a huge mistake that will continue to haunt us.

What is the purpose of a public apology?
To humble ourselves before God and men. To help us become broken and ashamed
of our sins. To demonstrate true repentance and restoration. To prove to our
beloved disciples that we ‘get it’ - and in doing so, bring some kind of closure
to hurting or embittered Christians. To diffuse those criticisms that are valid
and unrelenting. But most important of all, to please our God, and perhaps,
prayerfully, bring back into the fold once again those who have been scattered
because of hurt or abuse or consciences that could not live within ‘our system’.

Wide
Scale Problems and Concerns

Here are other concerns I wish to bring into discussion-and I am hardly alone
in this- as well as tough but honest questions, and accepted theologies that
must debated. In no particular order:

1. We
have had well over a quarter million men and women leave our churches.
Many have fallen away, of course. Perhaps, the majority. But tens of thousands
have walked away with their God. We simply do not admit this. We have insisted,
thoughtlessly and to the continuing hurt and dismay of many, that anyone who
leaves our ranks, for whatever the reason, have fallen away from God. This
just cannot be, and in truth, borders on the immoral. We know, even if we
will not admit it publicly, that we ourselves have mistakenly ‘pruned’ hundreds
away! No, not all have left their God -they simply left our fellowship to
make it on their own. Let us admit the truth-thousands were marginalized,
rebuked, misunderstood, wearied, or forced to follow their consciences out
the door. Others, scattered by harsh and brutal leadership (Ez34)

2. Related
to this, but hardly the only reason, there is now an entire sub-culture of
enemies and critics that simply will not go away until we publicly admit and
apologize for our mistakes and sins.

3. Overall
trust in our movement’s leadership, in those ‘reputed to be pillars’ as well
as those directly ‘under them’ has been seriously compromised. But
more urgent still, trust in local leadership has also been compromised, and
even more so because of proximity. (London is the loudest and angriest proof
of this at the moment)

4. The
cult of personality has finally caught up, and has betrayed our immaturity
and men-pleasing nature. Why did we wait so long for this to happen?
And why did we let it happen to begin with?

5. By
and large, we have not lead as men of courage and conscience. I
am afraid that in the eyes of many hurting and betrayed Christians- those
who entrusted and submitted themselves to our leadership- we are now perceived
as cowards and cronies, men pleasers and peddlers of the gospel. (Again, London
is our proof right now of these sentiments-but you know exactly what I mean)
Yes, we have admitted to our abuses and legalisms and insensitivities and
obsessions with numbers, but also, to our great shame, that we could do nothing
about it. For how long must God’s sons and daughters tolerate this manhandling
by the arrogant? Or the cowardice of ‘men of God’ who do nothing to rescue
his children? Even more frightening, for how much longer will God tolerate
it? We have not stood up for the rights and needs of ‘our sheep’ before all
else. And perhaps most damning of all, we have almost uniformly come to the
defense of our shepherds first, and not to our sheep. Shame on us all!

6. Unfortunately,
too many of our prophets are fed from the kings table and simply will not
risk discomfort, financial insecurity or the warmth of men’s praises. Christian’s
all over the world are hurting and bitterly disappointed that godly men do
not have the love or conscience to do what they believe is right for those
in their care. But how can they, really? Our own ministry staff suffers too;
they also are victims of selfish autocrats and abuses from within ‘the system’
They are caught in the crossfire, from above and below. I know this will sound
harsh and unfair, and to some extent it is, but more than a few in London
want specific staff members to be sacked, and several even the entire staff,
simply out of frustration- I will spare you the quotes. They feel used and
betrayed.

7. We
easily put up with ’super-apostles’ and harsh or autocratic leaders in our
churches- those who love to ’slap us in the face’- simply because of expedience
or misplaced loyalties. Or more disturbing, because ‘we have no
one else to take their place’ But surely a church with no leader (and comforted
by the Spirit) is better than a church with a bad leader (who has quenched
the Spirit)! Few things break my heart more than to see men I love and respect
make decisions based on ‘loyalty’ and ‘expedience’ and ‘years of service’
and ‘favor-swapping’, to the utter disregard of what is moral or pleasing
to God.

8. Sadly,
although the so called the LA unity/governance conference was no doubt sincere
and had great intentions- it has once again failed to address our real problems
right now-our systemic evils. Even before the LA meeting took place,
one GCL expressed his feelings like this:

"The
movement at this point has become a farce. The top leaders will meet in
week to discuss governance, while Rome burns. The souls of 250,000 fall
aways cry out against the very foundational structure of our churches, yet
their aggregate value cannot even motivate an official apology, much less
a meeting of the worlds leaders."

As several of you who participated
may know-your public announcement after the fact has already been met with
a degree of suspicion, even cynicism. ‘More spin, not enough depth, not enough
substance, what’s really going to change?’ ‘Why should we trust those guys
anymore?’ ‘They never stood up in the first place, why should we believe they
have integrity and courage now?’
Our lack of unity and dysfunctional relationships are not from a structural
model that has ‘outstripped the spiritual needs of our churches’, but is the
ongoing fruit of a corrupted hierarchy, sustained and controlled by fallen
human nature-proud and selfish. That is all.

Why can’t we see this? We will
never be, and never can be, truly united again until we ruthlessly and painfully
and theologically examine and expose our systemic evils. They are what divide
us, and always will divide us. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against demonic strongholds. Even the Pharisees - that seemingly unified
group, were never truly united. Paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees. But in his
own words, ‘we lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another’

Proof: Isn’t it true, be honest,
that many of you are still angry and slanderous, are ‘out to get so and so’
and ready to ‘bring down so and so’? Isn’t it true that many of you, be honest,
will still fight tooth and nail to not lose your ‘position’ of prominence
or to not have to relinquish your need for control and forced conformity?
And isn’t it just as true, that almost no-one resigns, no matter what their
problems or how long they lasted, without ’serious persuasion’? I know it’s
true. I heard some of your own voices on my phone. The question is, why is
it true?
Structural changes and more local autonomy and the resignation of a few prominent
leaders and honesty sessions and open forums will just not work. Our problems
are so much deeper than that. So much deeper in fact, they are demonic, and
therefore must be ‘exorcised’. Structural, systemic evils have strangled us,
our relationships, our integrity, and our unity. Why can’t we see this? Why
won’t we see this? It is painful and very discouraging. Changing a few hats
and names, and having a six-month ‘issues and co-operation’ council is moot.

9.There
is a significant, even radical, gap between the ‘clergy and laity’ in our
churches. The ‘the priesthood of all believers’ is now in serious
question. The lack of voice, the lack of ‘in the trenches’ understanding and
empathy, the lack of non -staff representation and decision-making powers,
the lack of leaders who are legitimately ‘commended’ by those they lead, the
lack of disclosure and transparency, the pay scale differences as well as
autocratic leadership styles-and those darn front row seats-have all contributed
to an ever widening problem.

10. Why is it that so many of our top leaders have
taken so long to repent?