Worley's Woeful Rhetoric

I am taking a temporary break from my temporary break because I feel like it is important for every pastor to make a statement on this particular issue.

As I write this, a video (above) is going viral on the internet in which Charles Worley, pastor of a Fundamental Church in North Carolina, suggests how to get rid of all of the “lesbians and queers,” but that he “couldn’t get it passed in congress.”  He suggests building “a great, big large fence that is 50 or a 100 miles long,” that it should be “electrified,” and that we should “fly over and drop food” so that they can at least eat.  “In a few years,” Worley states, “they will die out because they can’t reproduce.” 

If this wasn’t bad enough, listening to the church scream “amen” to such a horrific suggestion revealed that there may be many organizations operating under the anthem of Jesus Christ who are suggesting things contrary to Jesus Christ.

Is homosexuality a sin?  Yes.  This much is clear in the Scriptures (Genesis 19, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6:9).  Should Christians (or anyone for that matter) approve trapping the homosexual population in an electrified fence in order that they might die off?  Absolutely not.  Jesus would never condone such an act.  In fact, Jesus did quite the opposite.  Romans 5:8 says that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” 

Jesus had the choice to let us die or die in our place, and He chose the latter.  As Christians, our job is not to lock the sinners of the world away and watch them die.  Our job is to share the Gospel with them, letting them know that although their sin separates them from God that He loved them enough to send Jesus to die in their place, just like He died in the place of those who have placed their faith in Him and are now forgiven.

God forbid that we forget that we are all sinners who can be saved by God’s grace.

When God had the choice to let us remain trapped in an “electrified fence” to die, He chose to instead send His only Son Jesus Christ to die in our place.  Both Romans 5:8 and John 3:16 tell us that He did this because He “loved” us.

God operates in love.  The problem with Charles Worley’s suggestion is that it does not reveal the loving heart of God for the lost, and it is this kind of preaching that causes the world to look at Christians and state that they want nothing to do with such an unloving organization of people.

Consider these statements: Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I like their Christ, I don’t like their Christians.”  Friedrich Nietzshe said, “I will believe in the Redeemer when the Christian looks a little more redeemed.”  Another has said, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who profess God with their lips, but deny Him with their lifestyles.”

Let’s not let men like Charles Worley cement the stereotypical view of the church and become our national spokesperson.  Let’s use this opportunity to tell the world that God is against sin, that He loves the sinner, and that is why Jesus came.

A Temporary Break

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I will be taking a temporary break from posting on here for a while as I use my time to complete my current book project: The Church Member.  If I find the time to post, I will certainly use it, but for now I do not plan on posting regularly.

I appreciate your faithfulness and look forward to getting the time to post again.  Look for the release of this book sometime in the third quarter of this year!

In the meantime you can check out missiondorado.com to view updated and current material, specifically in the media portion of the website.

How To Choose a Church

The following is a copy of an article I wrote for the Odessa American published on March 29, 2012:

How to Choose a Church

Choosing a church can be an intimidating endeavor.  The thought of walking into a brand new place with brand new people is, for most, a bit overwhelming.  If I may, I would like to provide a few tips to help you out in the process.  First, it is important to know what church is. 

When most of us think of church, we tend to think of the three P’s: a place, a plan, or a passion.  That is, we can’t help but think of a building with a steeple and stained glass windows (place), the order of service (plan), or about our emotions towards it (passion).  While all of these capture a portion of what church is, they fail to represent what the Bible says about church, which is that it is people! 

Paul told the Ephesian elders to, “Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).  Jesus did not “purchase with His own blood” a place, a plan, or a passion, but people!

This means that when you are looking for a church, you are looking for people.  Moreover, because people (who follow Jesus Christ and therefore have eternal life) make up the church, the services should be as close to heaven on earth as possible.  This is what you are looking for when you are looking for a church!

So how can you find this “heaven on earth?”  Consider the following three basic questions.  We have already seen the three P’s when thinking of church, so let’s call these the “three P’s of finding a church”:

1.      When I pray, where do I feel God calling me?

The most important thing you can do when looking for a church is to ask the Lord where He is leading you.  This overrides other factors that you might think are more important, such as size, music style, and even ministries.  God’s direction should override your preferences.

2.      Where do I see myself being dynamically plugged in?

Most of us when looking for a church like to ask: What can this church do for me?  We should instead ask: What can I do for this church?   God gifts various people with various talents and He expects us to use them through the church to bless Him.  Moreover, it is encouraged to find a church that is in close proximity to your home.  It would be difficult to be dynamically (livingly) plugged into a church if it requires you to travel hours to get to.  It may also dissuade you from going when life gets busy, which it always does.

Moreover, watching church on television or on the internet is not a valid substitution for church, because by definition, it is not church.  Sitting and listening to a sermon or watching a band play music is not a bad thing and it can assuredly bless your walk with the Lord (and even give you an opportunity to worship), but do not confuse or substitute such a thing as a “church experience.”  Church is people, not computer monitors or television sets.  God expects you to be with people (Hebrews 10:25).

3.      What does this church preach as truth?

What the church believes about God and His Word is the single most important question you should ask when looking for a church.  As Jesus, the “word made flesh” (John 1:14), once asked, “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27).

The Bible is an inerrant and infallible book that says that even while we were sinners, God loved us and sent His Son Jesus to atone for our sins (Romans 5:8; John 3:16).  Moreover, it says that Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6).  This was verified by His resurrection which signified victory over death.  If you are looking for a church that preaches the truth, then look for a church that preaches Christ crucified and resurrected.

The answers to these three questions surmise some of the most important aspects of searching for a church home.

If you are in the market for a church home, I hope that this article aides you in your search.  I would also like to invite you to consider Mission Dorado Baptist Church.  I believe that we are a church that meets all of the biblical criteria for a sufficient church home.

You can visit missiondorado.com for more information about Mission Dorado Baptist Church.  The website includes information about our new educational facility, our ministries, and our 2012 theme, which is “I am a city on a hill.”

Should the Lord lead you our direction, I genuinely look forward to the opportunity to worship alongside you!  You will find that we are a “fellowship of excitement!”

Jared C. Wellman

Senior Pastor, Mission Dorado Baptist Church

Death Dethroned

Each of the four Gospels details the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 27:33-28:15; Mark 15:22-16:13; Luke 23:3-24:12; John 19:16-20:18).  Jesus’ death atoned for sin, and His resurrection signified victory over death.  Paul writes, “just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).  He moreover writes that because of sin “death reigned” (Romans 5:14).  However, “as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:21).

Death can only overcome where sin is present.  Romans 6:23 tells us that the “wages of sin is death.”  This means that if a man is able to somehow escape death, that that man was free from sin.  The problem is that the Bible tells us that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23), meaning that death has an unchallenged victory over the human race.  Thankfully, God had a plan that was established before the foundations of the world (1 Peter 1:19-20).  Because He loves the world so much, He sent His only begotten Son (John 3:16).

Jesus came “in the appearance of man, [and] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death” (Philippians 2:8).  He was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  So, because He was sinless, “God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power” (Acts 2:24).  This propelled Paul to quote Hosea 13:14 and write, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57).  It moreover is, as Paul writes, the pinnacle of our faith: “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). 

This means that because Jesus overcame death, that if you, “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).  Salvation means to be saved from death and consequently to have eternal life.  Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).  We now await our own resurrection.  Paul writes, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 14).

The Bible clearly states that the resurrection of Jesus is the central claim of Christianity.  If the resurrection is false, then the Christian faith fails.  We are, according to Paul, of all men to be the most pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19).  If the resurrection is true, however, then Jesus really is God.

Of all of the various theories concerning the resurrection of Jesus, the most logical conclusion is that the tomb was empty not because He "swooned," or because people "hallucinated," or because "the body was stolen," but because He actually truly did rise from the dead.  The resurrection is the pinnacle of the Christian faith because without it, we are still in our sins, and therefore, still under the reign of death.

Why It's Difficult to Understand Predestination

One of the most controversial topics of the church today concerns "election" (and not the political kind, although that is pretty controversial as well).  In theology, the word suggests that God chooses who will be saved.  This is often called "predestination," meaning that God predestined some to be saved before the foundations of the world.

Volumes of books have been written, countless churches have been split, and thousands of debates have taken place over this subject.  In my opinion, however, many who discuss this subject suggest the same answer, but emphasize one side more than the other.  A bible-believing Christian cannot doubt the sovereignty of God over everything (including salvation; Job 12, 36), but he also cannot deny that man is responsible for his own sin (Romans 6:23).

How does one merge these two, seemingly incompatible, concepts?

There is a philosophical argument for the existence of God called the Cosmological Argument that suggests that the universe must have had a beginning and that an outside source created that beginning (i.e., God).  A specific version of this argument (called the "Kalam") utilizes the concept of "infinity" to argue for a beginning. The argument states that the scientific concepts behind "infinity" support the thought that our universe had a beginning.  

Infinity refers to something that is "without end."  The Kalam Cosmological Argument suggests that there is, in this world, no such thing as an "actual infinity." There are instead only "potential infinities."  If an individual, for example, presses "start" on a stopwatch, the numbers are potentially infinitely long, but are never actually infinitely long.  Because there is, in this world, no such thing as an actual infinite, this means that our world cannot be infinite, meaning that our world must have had a beginning.  Many scientists agree, and have deemed that beginning the "Big Bang," although this would mean that something (the universe) had to come from nothing (the big bang), which ignores many other scientific principles.  The only other rational thought regarding our beginning is that there must have been an infinite outside source.  Christians believe that this source is God, particularly the one found in the Holy Bible.

Consider this illustration on the absurdity of actual infinites:

Imagine for a moment that you had a CD collection that was infinitely large, and each CD had an infinite number of songs on it. If you listened to one CD, you hear as much music as if you had listened to all of the CD's--an infinite amount--and yet those infinities are of different sizes--a nonsensical notion (Doug Powell, Quicksource Guide to Apologetics, 30).

If you are still reading and find this a hard concept to grasp, then you are right where you should be because again, actual infinities do not exist in this world.  It is like trying to conceive of fitting a square peg into a round hole.

Actual infinities, however, do exist in another "world."  This is what most people refer to as "heaven."  In heaven exists a being who is actually infinite.

What does all of this have to do with election?  When we try to merge God's sovereignty (especially over salvation) with man's responsibility, we are attempting to merge an "actual infinite" into this world, and the concept resultantly is impossible to understand  The same wall that is hit when conceiving of an infinitely large CD collection that includes an infinite number of songs on an infinite number of CDs is the same wall that results when merging God's sovereignty with man's responsibility.  Our minds have a difficult time comprehending such a thing.

The best answer for such a dilemma is to trust in God's Word, which states that God is sovereign over all, that He desires that people come to know His Son, and that He commands His children to go and share that news with others (Matthew 28).

We may not be able to understand God and His ways, but we can trust Him! "Oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!" (Romans 11:33).