Category: Leadership Fails

How Churches can Overcome a Toxic Culture-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven- Matthew 5:14 and 16 NASB

 Secular culture has always had an element of toxicity to it. 

This is unavoidable because anything (or anyone) that isn’t actively for Christ will always be anti-Christ in some way (1st John 4:3). Nonetheless, until recently, much of secular culture was fairly neutral, some elements might have even been considered somewhat wholesome.

That ship has officially sailed. 

At this point in human history nearly every culture on earth has embraced every evil under the sun and started calling the evil “good” (Isaiah 5:20). Politics are corrupt, people are selfish, cruel and mean, many appear to be going feral, deviant sexual behaviors are embraced and celebrated. Parents are no longer honored, life is no longer held sacred, and marriage is no longer seen as a necessary steppingstone to parenthood (Romans 1:18-32, 2ndTimothy 3:1-5, 2nd Timothy 4:3). Sadly, that list is barely skimming the surface of our world-wide cultural brokenness.  

Sigh. 

Churches tend to take one of several unhealthy approaches in dealing with the ever-encroaching madness. Some mainline denominations gleefully embrace and celebrate the culture. In these churches abortion and euthanasia are viewed as gifts, they believe gender is a choice everyone gets to make and homosexuality, is just another sexual option on a long list of options. Politicians who battle for the “right” to live a life of what the Bible calls “sin” are applauded as heroes. 

 Other churches do their level best to simply ignore the culture. They focus on Jesus and how awesome He is and how awesome He is to those who love Him. These churches will do anything short of sin to keep negativity and ickiness from creeping into their churches.  If something problematic does find its way into the like the death of Charlie Kirk, a gay couple or outspoken political views the whole messy muddle is quickly swept under the rug, and leadership moves on to cheerier topics. 

Others attempt to fight the evil, not with good as the Bible instructs (Romans 12:18-21) but with mockery, condescension and mean-spiritedness. These folks poke fun at anyone who disagrees with the Bible, conservative political views or their expression of Christianity.

The drawback with the first approach is (hopefully) obvious. Embracing sin to win people to Jesus makes almost as much sense as believing someone could cast out a demon with the power of Satan (Matthew 9:33-34). It’s absurd. Celebrating sin just makes  something God expressly forbids feel safe (2nd Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19). This tactic keeps individuals deceived, disobedient to God and trapped in the ugliness and hopelessness of sin (2nd Peter 3:11, 1st John 1:6). 

The problems with second approach are more complex. On the surface this approach feels wholesome and agreeable because it limits offense and controversy and makes Christianity an easy thing for people to accept. However, because churches have remained silent regarding cultural issues an entire generation is mostly ignorant concerning a whole host of biblical issues including (but not limited to) abortion, euthanasia, gender, homosexuality and what it means to honor one’s parents. Furthermore, what you win people with you win them to. Winning folks to a wishy-washy, inoffensive form of Christianity will not form strong disciples able to withstand persecution.  This approach also cruelly ignores the pain of those who have been damaged by the culture. The Church ceases to be a place of healing if no one is ever allowed to talk about anything icky, contentious or hard.  

The third approach sometimes feels the most holy and helpful because it actively calls out sin and heresy.  However, no one in the history of forever has ever been mocked, belittled or shamed into holiness or right thinking. It just doesn’t happen. 

So, what should the church do about the culture? Following are four things we can do: 

Be real without embracing despair or hopelessness-

The culture is terrible. More and more people are choosing to live a life of sin. This damages the sinners and generates untold pain for their families. Politics are divisive and gross. This makes communication and finding common ground challenging. The state of the culture makes life uglier and living out our faith harder. These are realities we have to deal with. However, none of these issues make Jesus any less powerful or God any less good.  We must recognize the realities of our age without losing sight of God’s goodness or power to transform people and situations (Joshua 1:9, Galatians 6:9).

Be a hospital for those hurting from the culture-

Churches cannot ignore the damaged, brokenhearted people in their midst. Churches must acknowledge, love and provide opportunities for healing for those leaving sinful lifestyles including homosexuality and transgenderism. Churches must also come alongside family members (parents, grandparents, siblings) and help them to love wayward family members with the love of Jesus. 

Be like Jesus and not just the Jesus who turned over the tables in the temple- 

There were a lot of sides to Jesus and being like Jesus doesn’t mean we are always milk-toasty, wishy-washy and endlessly tolerant of every stupid thing to come along. It does mean we lead with love even when we have to say hard things and draw rigid lines around what we will and will not do (Romans 6:12-14, Ephesians 4:25, Ephesians 5:11-12). 

And finally:

Choose biblical relevance over cultural relevance- 

Forget about cultural relevance. Our culture is rotting from within; it has nothing to offer but death and sorrow. There’s nothing to be gained from aligning Christianity with death, sorrow and rot. Instead, Christians must choose to align with the Bible and fearlessly declare truth. It’s where life is found (Psalm 16:11, Deuteronomy 30:19) and a culture of death is overcome (John 10:10). 

Truths Christians must Embrace to Prevent More Moral Failure in the Church-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

 Produce fruit consistent with repentance- Matthew 3:8 NASB

Last week another well-known evangelical pastor/author admitted to a major moral failure (long-term adultery). His confession was followed by the announcement he will retire from ministry. Regrettably, these sorts of disclosures have become routine among Christian leaders. The stories are basically all the same. The leader has an affair (or dozens). Eventually, his sinful antics come to light, and he quickly decides it’s a good time to come clean. A public confession and tearful apology are made. Sometimes the leader retires from ministry sometimes they double-down on what they see as their “calling”. 

Occasionally, there is a slight twist in these stories. In these cases, the well-known leader dies. Various women (sometimes men) come out of the woodwork. All tell similar stories that inevitably involve sexual immorality, creepy power dynamics and sometimes even forced sex. In these cases, the leaders’ friends/minions/elders do exactly what they did when their leader was alive. They cover up the sin and/or intimate that the accuser has a mental illness and/or an unhealthy need for attention.  Eventually, the overwhelming magnitude of evidence becomes so damning that the dead guy’s minions can no longer maintain the lie that the leader was a morally respectable individual. The truth is quietly acknowledged, and a very low-key admission of wrongdoing is released to a small number of news outlets.  

Sigh.

I have observed this phenomenon enough times to know that the average Joe and Jane Christian tend to excuse the behavior of bad Christian leaders. We say stupid stuff like: it could happen to any one of us (Genesis 4:7) and this is why we should be thankful for grace (Titus 2:10-12). Sometimes it’s: he who is without sin should just go-ahead and throw the first stone (John 8:10), and of course: everyone sins (Romans 6:6-14). Then there’s: all sin is exactly the same so no one can judge anyone else (1st Corinthians 6:9-11) and my personal favorite: but his teaching has done so much good for the church. 

(Insert face-palm here). 

Lack of biblical wisdom and super questionable applications of theology aside. The churches collective loss of horror over sin has caused the church to lose its moral authority in the culture. No one takes Christianity seriously anymore and this is the number one reason why. 

Sigh. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. The church can (and must) do better.  However, in order for that to happen the church must return to a more biblical position on sin and grace.  Sin is deathly serious (Galatians 6:7, 1stCorinthians 6:17-18, Romans 1:18-32, Romans 6:23) and grace is not a massive bucket of forgiveness we can dip into anytime we decide we want to sin (Titus 2:10-12, Psalm 84:11, Romans 6:1-7). If we want church to become healthy again, we must return to believing and teaching these four basic biblical truths:

Real accountability is a non-negotiable for serious Christians- 

It just is. However, we must also acknowledge that real accountability is a lot harder to achieve that it looks on the surface. This is because accountability requires a spirit of humility that allows other people to call us out when we sin. No one becomes accountable to another person without some sort of consent. Accountability without consent is just catching someone in the act. This means we all ought to pray for the wisdom to be humble, teachable and repentant (Proverbs 11:2, Matthew 18:4, James 4:10). It also means that humility, candor and uprightness ought to be the criteria we look for in our leaders rather than high levels of self-confidence or copious educational degrees.

No one gets a pass on willful sin-

Everyone (yes everyone) feels they ought to get a pass at some point. This is either because they have done a lot of good for the kingdom and they feel sin should be their “reward” for faithful service. Or sometimes people feel that because they have been through a lot God should give them a break and let them have a little “fun”. Sadly, it doesn’t work that way. No one gets to ignore the command to be holy (1st Peter 1:14-16) just because they have done a lot or been through a lot. Sin is the most dangerous thing on earth and God wants to protect us from it, not give us free pass to indulge in its toxicity. 

Incomplete theology has consequences-

The author/pastor who recently confessed to an eight-year-long adulterous affair wrote numerous books about grace. I read one of his books and frankly I found it quite troubling. Not because of what it said but because of what it didn’t say. The book wasn’t bad, just incomplete. He wrote page after page extolling the wonders of grace and forgiveness (which really are amazing). However, he said nothing said about the consequences of choosing to sin in a covenant relationship with God. Nor did he mention the many passages that state quite clearly that Christians who habitually practice certain sins will not inherit the kingdom of God (Matthew 7:21,1st Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:16-21, Ephesians 5:5). Any teaching that only tells half the story on either sin or grace is false teaching. Period. 

And finally, 

You are what you do- 

 The book of 1st John explores our relationship to sin. One of the primary points John makes is that we are what we do (1st John 3:7-8). If we sin habitually and willfully, we are sinners. However, if we make a habit of practicing righteousness, we are righteous. It is true, sin can happen to anyone, but it doesn’t have to. Every day we make moral and spiritual choices that determine whether or not we dive into sin. Christians must stop thinking that sin is something that overtakes us. If we are in Christ we have a choice.  

The Best Bad Example this Week-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

No one among mankind can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way- James 3:8-10 NASB

I have been writing this blog for a few years (thirteen to be exact). By design it has never been a space where I routinely share my political opinions. Nonetheless, long-time readers may recall a time in the not-so-distant past when I did occasionally write about politics or political issues. That changed a couple of years back when I made a deliberate decision to stop writing about political issues. My reasons were (and still are) as follows:

I realized exactly how divisive politics have become. I still have relatives who won’t talk to me because of political views I shared years ago. 

I came to a place where I recognized the limitations of politics. Chiefly, the reality that the “right” politics cannot transform a single human heart or save a single human soul.  Only Jesus can do that (1stCorinthians 5:17, 2nd Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:2).  Without heart change born out of salvation there can be no real social change. 

    God made my personal calling crystal clear: I am to disciple believers and evangelize unbelievers, that’s it (Mark 16:15, 2nd Timothy 4:1-2).  Politics are no longer my gig.

    There are good Christian people who routinely share their political views. I truly believe God has called some of those folks to that realm of ministry (Romans 12:4-6). However, God has called me to other things, and I am okay with that. 

    All that being said.

    This week I came across a really good bad example that I really wanted to write about. However, the bad example involved a well-known political figure (more on that later) and I wasn’t sure how to proceed. After spending some quality time in prayer, I am convinced that even though the bad example took place in the political realm it has a lot of discipleship implications.  

    So here goes:

    It all started when Rob Reiner and his wife were tragically found dead in their home.  It was quickly determined that they were likely murdered by their son.  Donald Trump (the well-known political figure, I mentioned earlier) wrote a post on X sharing his very unfavorable opinion of Rob Reiner. He criticized most of his work as well as his political views. Trump intimated the Reiners were murdered by their child because they said unkind things about Trump and because they held the wrong political views. 

    Please understand.

    I am not opposed to Donald Trump. I voted for him. I am convinced he has done some good for the country. I believe whole heartedly he was and is a better choice than the alternative we had. My intention is not to denigrate the president just to shine some light on an issue that has crept into every aspect of the modern world, including church world. 

    The problem is with how we are choosing to speak (Proverbs 12:18). Many people have concluded it’s okay and even healthy to say WHATEVER they are thinking because they “know” it’s what’s everyone else is thinking.

     I am reasonably certain this is the logic behind many of President Trump’s comments. 

    He (and others like him) feel they are performing a public service by speaking “the truth” everyone is thinking but are too polite to share.  The problem with this logic is three-fold. First, not everyone is thinking those things. Thank God. There are still people in this world whose minds do not automatically jump to the meanest, most terrible thing imaginable. Choosing to say the meanest thing possible (whether it’s true or not) is a very effective way to spread ugliness and toxicity. It tends to reinforce thinking that ought to be examined and repented of, not embraced (James 3:5-6, 2nd Corinthians 13:5, 1st Corinthians 11:28, Galatians 6:3-5, Matthew 3:8, Acts 3:19) or spread like an infectious disease. 

    The second issue with this logic is that no one (except God and the people involved) knows what’s really true in the vast majority of situations. Assuming and stating we know something without proof (like why someone was murdered) is at best prideful and at worst beyond cruel (James 1:19, Proverbs 10:18).  

    And thirdly, assumptions hurt people unnecessarily. They just do. There are always two sides to a story (Proverbs 18:17). Unless we are willing and able to listen to both sides, we should be very cautious about weighing in on situations we know nothing about. I am convinced that anytime we share an assumption about a situation we are not personally familiar with we simply expand the size of our societies ever-increasing pool of ignorance.  

    I am not opposed to Christians (or anyone else) speaking truth. Speaking truth is what Christians are called to do (Matthew 10:26-27, Acts 4:29-31, 1st Corinthians 2:7). Believers in Jesus are to be a preserving influence in whatever culture they find themselves (Matthew 5:13). This means speaking truth fearlessly about all issues, but especially issues related to the word of God.  That said, any truth spoken should be spoken in the most loving way we can muster (Ephesians 4:15, Philippians 4:8). Any truth not spoken in love just becomes more nastiness and we do not need more of that. 

    The New S-Word-

    Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

    Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, And whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account- Romans 4:7-8 NASB

    There are some words we just don’t hear anymore in churchy circles. 

    Oddly enough the MIA words are not just the standard four-letter variety no one has ever said out loud in church. Nor are the absentee words the grey-area badish words that aren’t really BAD words but aren’t nice either, words like butt or crap or dang.

    It is also conceivable this issue isn’t really an issue at all. It could be a figment of my fevered imagination and there is no “list”. Maybe the words ARE being used and I’m just missing them. This could be a geographical issue. I live in a unbelievably woke place. Politics and social standards affect all sorts of strange things, even how Christians do church.

    That said. 

    I’m not wrong. There really are words we don’t say in church anymore, or at least we don’t say them very often. These words were once a standard part of our Christian vocabulary. Old-fashioned Bible words like guilt, depravity and judgment. Then there’s the new S-word: Sin. No one says sin anymore. 

    Sin, guilt, depravity and judgment are words many Christian leaders resist using in Church. There are reasons for the resistance to these words. Many of those reasons come from a decent place. All Bible believing Pastors and Bible teachers REALLY want to see people come to know Jesus. Sadly, we live in a culture where people hate to be offended by anything. Pastors and Bible teachers understand people are easily triggered by anything that smacks of the teeniest-tiniest iota of disapproval. The bottom-line result of all these factors is that many Pastors and Bible teachers have adopted a kinder, gentler gospel that does its level best to avoid triggering people and turning them off to Jesus with “insensitive” words like sin, guilt, depravity and judgment.  As well-meaning as this change of language is, it is also a truly terrible idea. When we stop using certain words, churches and Christians also lose a whole bunch of other spiritually critical things. 

    These things include:

    The ability to generate conviction- 

    Conviction is the sense a person has violated God’s commands. Conviction, if handled correctly nearly always leads to repentance. Repentance is awesome. Repentance is best defined as “a change of mind” regarding our attitudes and behaviors (Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30, 2nd Peter 3:9). Repentance is the awakening of conscience that leads to a change of behavior.  Repentance is also the starting place of a right relationship with God. No one can have saving faith until they acknowledge their own sin and change their mind about it. When we stop using words like “sin”, “depravity” and “judgment” there is no good soil for conviction to take root. No conviction equals no repentance equals no salvation. All that equals no relationship with Jesus. 

    Sorrow over sin- 

    In his letter to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul talks about a spiritual experience he calls, godly sorrow. (2ndCorinthians 7:9-10) Godly sorrow is best defined as the sadness and regret a person feels when they realize they have violated God’s commandments and offended Him with their actions or attitudes (Galatians 5:19-21, 1stTimothy 1:8-11, Revelation 21:8, Colossians 3:4-10, Romans 1:29-31, 1st Corinthians 6:9-11). Godly sorrow is a very good thing because the Bible teaches all people have sinned (Romans 3:23, 1st John 1:8-10). Godly sorrow over sin leads to repentance and a clear conscience before God (1st Timothy 1:5). No one can experience godly sorrow without a clear understanding that sin is a violation of God’s laws and what exactly qualifies as a sin. If the word sin disappears from our Christian vocabularies no one will experience godly sorrow over their sin. 

    Authentic salvation- 

    Contrary to popular opinion, salvation is more than just “asking Jesus into my heart”. In order for salvation to take place a person must believe the following:

    There is a God.

    God has standards of behavior that are perfectly reasonable because He’s God and God gets to make the rules. 

    Violating those standards is sin.

    EVERYONE violates the standards. Therefore everyone is a sinner. 

    All sinners will be judged by God for their sin.

    God made a way for humans to avoid the penalty of sin (death). 

    Faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ is the only way to avoid paying the penalty for our own sin. 

    No one can experience salvation without understanding and believing those basic facts (Luke 19:10, John 3:16, Romans 3:23, Acts 2:21, Romans 1:16, Titus 2:10-11, Hebrews 11:6). It is impossible to explain salvation without using words like, sin and judgment. 

    Because language is necessary for human communication, Christians have replaced the verboten words with new words The primary word used in place of sin or depravity is brokenness. Brokenness is a terrible substitution for both. The word “brokenness” sends the weird passive message that we (the human race) is messed up because we had a bunch of things happen to us that led to our “getting broken”. Sin, on the other hand conveys the message that we are messed up because of the things we did on purpose because we wanted to do them (lying, treachery, fornication, thieving, etc.). The Church must revive the doctrine of sin quickly, without it, salvations will become increasingly more rare and revival will be entirely out of reach. 

    Ephesus- The Middle Aged Church

    Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

    Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart- Proverbs 3:3 NIV

    I have this weird little theory that all Christian churches, denominations and organizations follow the same basic pattern of growth and development.

    All ministry ventures begin with a dream, desire or idea God plants in the heart of a person or a group of people.  This dream ultimately produces the birth of a beautiful, new ministry or church (Isaiah 43:19, Acts 2:42-47).

    Then comes childhood.  

    Childhood is an exhilarating time in a church or ministry. Childhood is all about beginnings and growth. All the activity of this phase is born out of genuine love for Jesus, passion for the mission of Jesus and a desire to honor and glorify Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).   Leaders are all about obeying Jesus above all else. As a result this phase typically results in an abundance of growth and spiritual fruit (Acts 2:42-47).

    The childhood phase is also marked by chaos. Leaders don’t always know what they’re doing. Really important things just don’t get done and it’s not unusual for there to be disputes between key leaders (Galatians 2:11-14).  Because this stage is naturally volatile, if an organization stays in childhood for too long it will die. No ministry or church can endure the disorganization and volatility of the childhood stage for long. 

    It’s just too dang messy. 

    If the organization or church survives the birth and childhood phase (some don’t). It marches into adulthood. Adulthood is the sweet spot for a ministry or church. There’s still an abundance of enthusiasm and a clear vision for where the ministry is going and what it exists for. The vision is firmly rooted in biblical principles and prayer. The ministry is still very Jesus centered, but there’s more discipline than in the childhood phase. The policies and leadership structure developed in the early adulthood phase provide the stability necessary to keep the thing from flying off the rails. This is typically a very long phase that is even more effective and fruitful than the childhood phase. The organization or church earns a good reputation in the community and it does a lot of good. People are saved, lives are transformed and Jesus is glorified in a big way (Romans 10:9, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5). 

    Then comes middle age.

    If an organization makes it to the middle age stage everything is going super well from an optics perspective. Money is pouring in, volunteers are plentiful and the stated mission is still rock solid. 

    However. 

    There is a subtle shift that begins with leadership. Leaders become, usually without realizing it, much more focused on building the organization than they are on Jesus and glorifying Jesus. Jesus is still important, but He is no longer the main thing. He’s more of a figurehead at this point. Passion for Jesus and devotion to the mission gets lost in the day-to-day of “doing ministry”, “raising money” and “growing the ministry” (Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 10:7-9, Ephesians 4:11-16). It not uncommon of for shady behavior and sexual misconduct to become a problem at this point. This is because leaders are much more focused is on how things LOOK rather than on holiness, righteousness and pleasing Jesus, it is also not all unusual for the shadiness and sexual misconduct to be swept under the rug in this phase.   All or most of the ministry work in middle age is centered on programs and fund raising rather than transforming people and glorifying Jesus.  On the surface the ministry activity APPEARS to be people and Jesus centered. However, most of it is focused firmly on keeping the ministry machine going, raising money and justifying the continued existence of the organization. 

    This is exactly what where the church in Ephesus was at. 

    By the time Jesus addressed the first church in Revelation they were firmly in the middle age stage. The churches love for Jesus and concern for the spiritual and emotional needs of people became lost in their desire to maintain the status quo.

    Jesus calls this “losing their first love” (Revelation 2:4-5).

    But here’s the thing: 

    No one looking at the Ephesian church from the outside would have suspected there was a problem. Even most of the folks who attended the Ephesian church were likely unaware of the problems lurking just below the surface. The leaders were clueless. Leaders at this stage almost always lack any kind of real self-awareness. As a result, they thought everything was fine. And why not? All the externals looked awesome. Those who taught were skillful, polished and well-educated. The doctrine espoused was solid. No one deviated from orthodoxy. The church leadership avoided getting involved with problematic people or divisive issues. The money was rolling in and the attendees willingly suffered hardship for Jesus (Revelation 2:2-3).  

    But. 

    The people’s hearts were far from God. The people no longer cared about the things Jesus cared about. The Ephesian Church was still very busy kingdom building. It was just the wrong kingdom. It was a human kingdom instead of Jesus’ kingdom.  

    Jesus’ instruction to the Ephesian Christians is straightforward: “do what you did at first”.  

    Jesus knows that one of two things happens at this crossroad of middle age.

    Most of the time the ministry continues a slow drift further and further from the original mission and bit by bit it loses its ability to make a spiritual impact on the world. The church or ministry remains but the power it once had to make disciples and transform the culture evaporates. The people lose their saltiness and the church or organization becomes spiritually worthless (Matthew 5:13). If it endures it morphs into more of a social service agency than an actual ministry. 

    Or.

    There is a spiritual awaking.  The people who attend and lead these churches recognize the problem. They see the drift. It breaks their hearts and they repent. They fully rededicate themselves to the cause of Christ. Jesus becomes the main thing once again and the church or organization continues to be a vital part of the body and a solution to the brokenness in this world (Revelation 2:7). 

    However.

    These things rarely (if ever) just happen.  

    They happen when we ask God to show us the drift in our lives, our churches and our ministries (Hebrews 2:1). In order to see the drift we must pray daily for wisdom and self-awareness. We have to ask God to give us a heart that’s willing to see the problems in our lives and ministries and our role in those problems.

    Most critically, we must be willing to do what we did at first (Jeremiah 17:9-10). We have to fight to go back to that childlike state of spiritual existence where Jesus was our everything and our obedience was a gift we joyfully gave Him.  

    The Five Biggest Spiritual Lies of our Time-

    Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

    You will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth– 1st Timothy 3:15 NIV

    Every generation of Christians has made its own unique set of blunders.

    The church in the 1980’s was filled with dramatic personal “testimonies”. Many of which turned out to be crazy-town lies. The church in the 1990’s became consumed with end times prophecy. The unbalanced teaching and lack of humility regarding what we actually know about the end-times lost the church credibility and left some Christians looking more than a bit nut-joby. The late 1990’s and 2000’s birthed the well-intentioned but tragically misguided purity movement. That short-sighted movement inadvertently drove Christian dating completely underground and left a whole generation of young people feeling an unhealthy level of shame simply for having natural and entirely normal sexual desires.

    Sigh.

     It is critical we understand the spiritual and doctrinal errors of our generation will have a greater impact than those of past generations. Not because we are inherently more important or special than past generations. We’re not. Our errors will be more impactful because technology has given humanity the ability to spread bad ideas, misinformation, and wrong thinking faster than ever before. This is why the church today is having such a tough time reaching the lost. Thanks to advances in technology the spiritual errors and excesses of the 1980’s, 1990’s and 2000’s had a much deeper reach into the culture than the errors and excesses of previous generations.  Following are five the most dangerous lies Christians are believing and spreading at this time:

    I can be a Christian and reject everything the Bible teaches- 

    Nope, nope and more nope. No one comes to faith automatically believing the “right way”. We all have to be taught. Growth and learning is a lifelong process. It is true there is some room for disagreement on some of the particulars of what the “right way” is. However, choosing to reject everything God says about Himself as well as what He has to say about sexuality, gender, right and wrong and true justice is basically just rejecting God. A person cannot reject God (and/or everything God says about Himself) and still be a Christian. Period. It just doesn’t work like that.  

    Bible knowledge doesn’t matter- 

    This unbelievably stupid statement is almost always preceded by a reference to 1st Corinthians 8:1 where the apostle Paul says “knowledge puffs up while love builds up”. Context is ALWAYS key in Bible study.  A careful reading of the text makes Paul’s intent clear: the apostle Paul wasn’t talking about spiritual or Bible knowledge in general terms. The apostle wasn’t encouraging spiritual ignorance. He certainly wasn’t suggesting Bible study is somehow spiritually harmful. He was talking specifically about knowledge related to a particular issue: eating meat that had once been sacrificed to a pagan idol (1st Corinthians 8:1-13). There were some arrogant Corinthian church members who had embraced the teaching that meat sacrificed to idols was just meat (which is true) and it was therefore no big deal to eat it. They would openly and pridefully eat this meat in public spaces. Then they would mock Christians who felt it was sinful to have ANYTHING to do with pagan rites and worship. This created all sorts of confusion for less-mature Christians who didn’t understand as long as they did not sacrifice the meat to an idol themselves, then eating the meat someone else had sacrificed and sold in a market at a discounted rate wasn’t a big deal. Some of these less mature Christians had returned to idol worship in response to the freedom they saw other Christians exercising. Here’s the bottom-line: it is positively absurd to think the man who wrote well over half of the New Testament’s instructive passages was somehow opposed to people learning the Bible. It is true that people can become prideful about what they know about the Bible. It is also true people can know a lot without ever really applying any of the biblical truth they “know” to their own lives. However, those unfortunate realities do not make biblical ignorance somehow superior to Bible knowledge (2nd Peter 1:5).      

     Bible knowledge is the most important thing-

    It is important, critical even. Those who do not acquire basic biblical knowledge rarely stay believers for very long (Matthew 13:18-23) and if they do, they struggle big-time to live a victorious Christian life. That being said, knowledge is not the most important thing. Relationship with Jesus and allowing ourselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit so we become a loving person and a accurate reflection of Jesus is the number one goal and objective of Christianity (1st Corinthians 13, Romans 12:2, 2nd Corinthians 3:18, Colossians 3:1-17). However, even that requires at least a smidge of rudimentary Bible knowledge. So, there’s that. 

    Christians can be spiritually formed outside of spiritual community-  

    Individual believers are always at their most healthy when they are living in community with other Christians (Acts 2:42-47). This is because God designed people to be like Him (Genesis 1:27). God is a community within Himself (Genesis 1:26, Isaiah 46:16, Matthew 3:16-17). As a result, we were literally made to need other Christians in order to grow, mature and reach others for Jesus (1st Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 3:12, Hebrews 10:24-25). Without healthy community individual Christians either drift away from church altogether or they adopt strange pseudo-biblical beliefs that make it very hard for them to effectively share their faith. 

    We don’t need half the Church to make the Church work- 

    Men and women were intended to work together to bring about God’s purposes in this world (Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 2:18). Anytime church leaders think they can do church without the contributions of half the church something valuable and vital will be missing in that church community. That loss will affect the churches ability to effectively reach the lost and disciple Christians God has placed in their care. 

    I believe with all my heart the church in the west stands at a crossroads (Jeremiah 6:16). The church can continue to embrace easy-believism and just dance down the path it’s been on for years. If we do, Christians will continue to lose influence and we will see our culture disintegrate into even more moral bedlam. The other option is to do the hard work of correcting the errors we have fallen into and embrace the hard work of holiness and becoming more like Jesus in everything we do and say.   This route will is much more challenging but it will pay dividends that will be felt for generations. 

    Why it’s Stupid to Expect Government to fix Social Problems-

    Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

    For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it- Hebrews 12:11 ESV

    A thirteen-year-old-boy believed to be brandishing a gun was shot by police at 3:00 a.m. in Chicago. A sixteen-year-old girl in Ohio was fatally shot by police as she stabbed another girl.

    These events are hardly outliers.

    Reports of minor children being killed either by other minors or by police officers attempting to keep minors from committing serious crimes have become a fairly routine occurrence.  Many blame police and police tactics for these heartbreaking events. Anytime there’s a tragedy involving a kid and cop a glut of Monday-morning quarterbacks crawl out of the metaphorical woodwork to second-guess police tactics and/or question the character of the officer involved in the shooting. Others are eager to blame “society” for not caring more about the kids involved. Typically, the lack of care is attributed entirely to the child’s race, sex or socio-economic status. 

     Blaming either feels like the easy way out to me. 

     When we blame society for our problems what we are really doing is blaming the government. One of the more peculiar qualities of modern thought is the belief that government is the answer to all our problems.  We tend to forget that “the government” is a heartless, soulless, nebulous machine entirely lacking in human feeling, wisdom or insight. There are good people who work in government. I know some of them. However, the government is not emotionally nimble enough to view people as individuals. Neither is government capable of teaching good habits, imparting insight or training a child to put others first or think wisely about life. 

    Neither is it fair to lay the blame for these situations at the feet of the police. Truth-be-told the police are not, nor were they ever intended to be anything other than the last line of defense between lawbreakers and law-abiding citizens. By the time a police officer is involved in a person’s life a long line of choices has been made that the officer had no control over. There are bad cops. Everything possible should be done to weed bad officers out of the ranks. However, most police are decent people who got into their line of work because they genuinely care about people and want to make the world a better place. 

    The government or the police are not to blame when a sixteen-year-old girl feels stabbing someone is a reasonable response to her frustration or when a thirteen-year-old has access to a gun and the freedom to roam about at three a.m.

    Seriously. 

    That sort of thing is the fruit of a lifetime of horrible parenting (Proverbs 17:25, Proverbs 19:13). 

    Somewhere over the course of the last couple of decades two equally bad but entirely different kinds of parents have emerged on the scene. The first sees their children as an extension of themselves and believes it their job to orchestrate and micromanage every aspect of their child’s existence. These parents would rather be gunned down than have their kids experience anything painful or difficult. Their greatest fear for their children is trauma.  They have bought into the lie that people are not resilient and that any kind of trauma, even relatively minor trauma will devastate their children for life.

    Truth-be-told.

    All humans experience trauma. Nonetheless, for some reason many in our world believe trauma (even minor trauma) is not something people can recover from. Because they have ALL experienced some sort of trauma these folks see themselves as less than whole and want to prevent their own children from experiencing the same fate.  This group of parents is responsible for raising the pearl-clutching millennials who scream “CANCEL” at any idea or opinion that makes them even vaguely uncomfortable (according to these folks emotional discomfort is a form of trauma).  The other group of parents are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They tend to think that once a kid can feed and dress themselves their job is done. These parents typically did experience deep and genuine trauma that was never really addressed (Psalm 147:3). These parents are self-involved to the point of being completely checked-out of their child’s life. These are the parents who say they can’t stop their thirteen-year-old from doing what they want to do and they’re right. They cannot get their teenagers to obey because they never took healthy authority over them as young children (Hebrews 12:14, Proverbs 5:23). 

    There are no easy answers to systemic parenting problems in a culture. 

    The government is incapable of helping. The government is totally stumped by how many genders there are. They don’t have the wisdom or skills to lead people to better parenting choices. The police can’t help. Police are the last line of defense we slap on a problem before it gets completely out of hand. 

    The world needs the kind of transformation that only relationship with Jesus can bring. Christians must make a regular practice of praying specifically for families in their communities because parents of all income levels need the kind of wisdom that can only come from God. It’s also imperative Christian parents get their own lives and homes together so other parents start looking to the church for answers. We can’t lead anyone to health if we aren’t healthy. And finally, churches need to get into the business of teaching parents outside of their own walls how to parent instead of focusing on the already healthy parents in their own congregations. When the parents in our communities come to know Jesus and the healing He brings they will know what love really looks like.

    The love of God will empower them to lead their children well and we will all benefit.

    Is it Possible to get the Blessings of Christianity Without all the Christian Morality?

    Lisa M. Price1 Comment

     I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead- Philippians 3:10-11 NIV

    Okay, so:

    Following is a long story that I totally promise has a point: 

     Eleven years ago, a group of parents in our community became troubled by the lack of moral values among many young people. The group approached a local school-board concerning the issue. After a series of meetings, the Central Valley School District decided to go all-in on values education. A committee was formed and a curriculum was created that is still in use today. The curriculum systematically teaches values and positive character qualities to children in public schools beginning in kindergarten.The values chosen were respect, responsibility, citizenship, caring, fairness, honesty, diligence, trustworthiness, courage, integrity, generosity and gratitude. 

     For the record:

    I have no idea how many of the parents on that committee were Christians, if any. At the time, our family lived in a neighboring district and I was not on the committee, nor was I friends with anyone who was on the committee. However, it did not escape my notice that every character trait on the list was in alignment with New Testament teachings and values. Furthermore, the definitions for each trait could have been written by a seasoned Sunday school teacher. For example, the definition chosen for citizenship was:

     Positively contributing to society and community as well as dutifully respecting authority and the law.

     Okay, so, that sounds a bit like a synopsis of Romans 13:1-7 to me, but who am I to say who or what motivated the writer of the definition?

     Any-hoo.

     Last week I noticed one of the schools near our home had the character trait of the month and its definition (caring) on the reader board. The sign reminded me of the movement eleven years ago to bring “values” back. 

     It immediately occurred to me that very little has changed for the better in our community over the course of the last decade. Most kids (and adults) still lack the values parents fought to have taught. Common courtesy is far less common now than it was then. Property crime is much higher than it was ten years ago. A school in our community recently experienced a school shooting and nearly every social problem under the sun has grown in the years since the program was implemented.  

    So.

     Why, after all the tax dollars spent and all the hours put into teaching and training kids to embrace virtues have we seen so little improvement in the moral climate of our community? 

     It is not the fault of the brave parents who battled to bring values education into the schools. Those parents followed their consciences and worked their tails off to make a difference. That kind of moral courage is never wrong.  Nor, should the blame be laid at the feet of the school system. In a post-modern, post-values, post-Christian world some very courageous leaders took a risk and made a valiant attempt at standing up for some timeless truths. That kind of bravery should always be celebrated. 

     However.

    For well over a century, individuals have wanted and, in some cases, even demanded values unique to Christianity be taught without all the pesky obedience to Jesus that accompanies genuine Christianity. Our culture wants nice people who practice Christian generosity in the event of a natural disaster or tragedy (Proverbs 11:25, 2nd Corinthians 9:6). Our society wants people to be kind, benevolent, compassionate and nice (Ephesians 4:32, Proverbs 11:17, Proverbs 14:21). Everyone regardless of religious belief wants people to be honest and upright as Christianity demands (Leviticus 19:11, Colossians 3:11). We want people in our culture to value  family as the Bible teaches (Exodus 20:14, Ephesians 6:1, Ephesians 6:4). These are all great values and pretty much everyone celebrates them openly. 

     However.

    Almost no one wants to be burdened with any silly moral restrictions that might mess with our personal choices. We do not want God meddling in our sex lives, telling us how many genders there are or putting boundaries up on what we watch on television. We for sure do not want Christianity to inform our views concerning drug legalization or childrearing practices. God can mind His own dang business when it comes to our personal choices.

    Thank you very much.

     The problem with this kind of thinking is that it will work for a generation, or two, perhaps even three. When Christianity is authentic it is powerful enough that Christian virtues (patience, kindness, temperance, generosity, self-discipline) will live on in succeeding generations who don’t really have a relationship with Jesus. However, sooner or later the veneer of Christianity will begin to  peel off society. When that happens the society begins to unravel and behave in a way that is a lot less Christian.

     This is where we’re living right now.

    Western Civilization has been living in the shadow of the blessings that we have not earned (Deuteronomy 28, 1st Samuel 15:22, Psalm 128:1-3, John 14:23, 2nd John 1:6).  As that shadow shortens, our society is left with the dregs of a post-Christian reality: rudeness, disobedient children, corrupt politicians, lawlessness, sexual deviancy, broken families and random violence (Ezekiel 23:35, 2nd Timothy 3:1-5).

     We will never get our homes, churches, community or country back to a place of blessing by painting society with yet another whitewashing of Christian virtues. We need real authentic Christianity not just Christian virtues or values. Christians need to get back to the business of evangelism, repentance and making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). It all starts with making sure our own heart is right with God and other people. Once that is done Christians need to get into their communities with God’s truth and love and tell the truth about what really makes a difference (Acts 16:31).

     

     

     

     

     

    Saving Truth-

    Lisa M. Price2 Comments

    Justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey~ Isaiah 59:14-15 NIV

      I am a peeping-tom on Twitter.

     I have a twitter account.

    However.

    I suspect I might have been shadow-banned after posting some political blogs during the 2016 election cycle. I think I’m down to a grand total of 33 followers. No one ever responds to anything I tweet so I never tweet anything. I never retweet other people’s stuff and I only occasionally comment on other people’s tweets. It’s just too much work. And frankly, I lack the cleverness, persistence and free time necessary to really make a difference on twitter. I also hate wasting what little creativity I have on what is basically just a modern-day freakshow of personal opinions.   

     Nevertheless,

     I do like skulking around the back alleys of twitter (metaphorically speaking). I follow people, watch videos, read tweets and form opinions about what I find. I totally get my behavior is borderline creepy but it allows me to see what’s going in that area of social media without actually getting involved in that area of social media.

     Such was the case this past weekend when I found a video of Diane Feinstein giving a group of sassy school kids a piece her mind after they challenged her on her unwillingness to simply sign on to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.  Ms. Feinstein put on her stern Grandma face and informed the kids that she has been doing her job for a long time and that she understands the issues and the political landscape better than they ever could.

     I am not, nor will I ever be a supporter of Ms. Feinstein’s politics. She and I could not possibly be further apart on the political spectrum.  That being said, I almost started clapping when I heard her telling those jackbooted little sprogs some hard truths no one else has the wherewithal to tell them.

    Here’s the thing.

     Adults are duty-bound to give kids an unpleasant dose of reality from time-to-time (Proverbs 29:15, 1stCorinthians 13:11). When adults abdicate that responsibility, children grow up to believe anything is possible and some things simply aren’t not possible matter how badly we wish they were. I will never play in the NBA. I’m too short, too old and too female. It’s just not going to happen. I can identify as a tall, muscular man all day long, every day but I will never actually be one.

     We do want our kids to grow-up and dream big dreams.

    Dreams are good.

    That said, wise people also want them firmly grounded in reality. No one accomplishes anything in the real world when they’re living their life in the land of make-believe and dreams.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might actually make sense sometimes if she had an adult in her life who was wise enough (and kind enough) to gently challenge some of her more peculiar ideas when she was nine (Proverbs 17:29). 

     But, I digress.

     The vast majority of those on twitter did not agree with how Ms. Feinstein handled the situation. Most were fuming-mad that an old troll would crush the green dreams of fresh-faced little children who were just trying to save the planet. Some wondered if it was even okay for an old person to tell a young person what to do or think. Lots of folks were bitter that the Senator dared tell innocent youngsters that something they wanted is simply not possible. Some demanded she resign for her treatment of the children. There was even a petition calling for her impeachment (Proverbs 29:18). 

     Insert eye roll here.

     The whole messy muddle is more than just a silly story about a grumpy old lady and a bunch of mouthy kids.

     We are literally watching objective truth die right before our very eyes.

    Seriously. It ought to scare the bejeebers out of all of us.

     There was a time in the not-so-distant past when it was thought to be an act of compassion to tell a person the truth about something even when that truth was hard to hear.  That ship has officially sailed.  Public schools routinely tell kids that if they believe they are a particular gender then they are that gender. Biology be damned, science is literally nothing compared to a child’s feelings about a particular subject. Men pretend to be women all the time and it is considered by many to be a hate crime to point out that those men dressed up like women might have some physical advantages over the women they are competing against in an athletic competition.  

     Truth has become an acceptable casualty anytime someone holds a passionate, deeply held belief about a particular subject. If someone thinks somebody else made a racist or sexist comment then they did. Period. There are no longer two sides to any story. The truth is so inconsequential that it is now considered acceptable to lie about whether or not one was attacked if the pretend attacker holds political beliefs the accuser and the majority finds unpleasant or intolerable.

     Sigh.

     It is critical we remember two truths in the midst of this cultural insanity. First, Christians serve a God who values truth to the point that He literally identified Himself as the physical embodiment of truth (John 14:6). Therefore, we represent our God best when we choose to live out truth in every area of our lives. Second, we must never forget it is still and will always be an act of compassion to speak hard truths as long as it is done in a spirit of love and grace (Ephesians 4:15).

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    How Christians Unintentionally Encourage Sexual sin-

    Lisa M. Price3 Comments

    Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. So, watch yourselves~ Luke 17:1 & 3 NIV

     Most of the stupid things people do are not done deliberately.

     In my experience, most people just kind of fumble around blindly doing stuff without putting a whole lot of thought into the long-term consequences of their actions. Unfortunately, this creates all sorts of unintended consequences.

     Sadly, Christians sometimes do the same thing.   

      Lots of decent, well-intended followers of Jesus make choices out of impulse or reflex, rather than using a careful study of God’s word as their guide. At the same time, this unfortunate reality has merged with a tendency to look at what the culture is doing, or what’s popular rather than thinking through issues from a Biblical perspective or asking God for guidance.

     Sadly, these predispositions always play themselves out in one of two equally wrong responses. Either Christians do a “Christian” version of whatever is popular with the culture; or conversely, we go so far in the opposite direction of what the world is doing that we become a peculiar, cartoon-like version of what God intended the Church to be.

     Nowhere is this truer than in the area of sex.

     On one end of the spectrum, there are churches that have lowered their sexual standards in an effort to help unbelievers and immature Christians feel more comfortable in Christian community. These churches have unwittingly adopted the same attitudes towards sex as the unbelieving world. Other Christians have simply embraced a slightly more “Christian” version of the worldly standard. For example: many believers do not care if an engaged couple has sex before marriage (as long they are careful keep it on the down-low). However, these same people are appalled at the mere thought of two Christians living together before marriage because the sin is out in the open instead of carefully hidden.

     On the other end of the spectrum, there are churches whose entire spiritual identity is built around preventing sexual activity of any kind from taking place in the lives of unmarried people. These churches spend more time addressing the spiritual threats of swimsuits, hand-holding and premarital front-hugs than they do discussing salvation and related issues such as repentance and discipleship. This is not only a serious derailment from the churches principal mission (Matthew 28:17-20, 2nd Timothy 2:4, Matthew 10:8). It also makes Christians look like a bunch of sex-obsessed weirdos.  

     Sigh.

     The absurdity of all this aside, the bigger problem with how churches handle sexuality these days is that we actually encourage sexual sin in four ways:

     The church is far too soft on the sin of adultery (especially where men are concerned)-

     The immense pressure placed on Christian women to forgive husbands guilty of adultery simply cannot be overstated. Women are too-often coerced by well-intentioned but ridiculously overeager clergy to forgive their husband’s infidelity and restore the relationship right away. This typically happens long before the woman has processed her grief or the man has demonstrated sincere repentance. This has resulted in a shocking number of Christian men (and some women) who appear to have no qualms about committing adultery over and over again (Proverbs 6:32). It has also created a sizable group of women and a few men who have been shamed into doing something they are under no biblical obligation to do (Matthew 5:32). Forgiveness is always required of Christians (Matthew 6:15). However, marital reconciliation should only take place if the injured party is truly willing and the adulterer (male or female) has demonstrated sincere repentance and a readiness to grow into a better spouse and Jesus follower.  Anything less, simply encourages sinful behavior in the church by minimizing the consequences of sin (1st Corinthians 5:11).

     We do not treat pornography like the sin that it is–

     If I hear one more male Christian leader refer to pornography as “just pornography” I will need to be medicated and/or physically restrained. Sixty-eight percent of Christian men routinely view pornography precisely because it is treated as a lightweight and trivial sin. Choosing to view pornography is not only a categorically icky form of sexual immorality (Hebrews 12:16, Hebrews 13:4). It is also a clear violation of Matthew 5:28. Like most sins, the sin of viewing pornography leads to other sins such as hypocrisy, adultery, dehumanizing others through lust, spiritual and social isolation and sometimes even an inability to perform the “marital duty” (1st Corinthians 7:3).

    Sigh. 

     Some churches cover-up pedophilia-

     The Catholic church has gotten a lot of bad press over this issue in recent years. However, it is far from unheard of in Protestant and Evangelical churches.  A valued leader gets accused of touching a child inappropriately and the church decides to deal with the problem “in-house”. At that point the whole messy mess gets swept under the rug or the leader is simply asked to leave the church.  Then the leader simply goes to another church and more little lives are ruined. This is not okay. Every accusation should be thoroughly investigated by the proper authorities (the Elder or Deacon board do NOT qualify as the proper authorities). Yes, this is hard. Yes, it will hurt the reputation to the church. However, it will not hurt the churches reputation nearly as badly as when the community discovers a church failed to protect the most vulnerable in their congregation (Luke 17:2, Matthew 25:45). 

     We don’t help young adults to date-

     The Bible is clear that marriage is a noble and necessary thing (Genesis 2:24, Proverbs 18:22, Hebrews 13:4). That being said, for some inexplicable reason there is a ton of shame in the Christian culture surrounding Christians participating in the process of finding a spouse.  Because dating is taboo in many Christian churches most churches do not give Christian kids a lot of instruction on how or who to date and there are literally no opportunities for Christian young people to get to know each other inside the church. As a result, most young people date outside of the church which leads to a lot of missteps (Tinder, bars, campus parties, drunken hook-ups). Those missteps inevitably end in sexual immorality and sometimes even a departure from the faith. Maybe it’s time for churches to be intentional about setting-up opportunities for young Christians from similar denominations to get to know one another so they can get married; rather than shame them for having a natural desire to find a spouse. Seriously. 

    The way churches have handled sexuality has hurt Christianity’s reputation as well as many people in the church. It’s time for change. It starts one church at a time.