Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Principles, Strategies, and Methodologies Of Non-Violence For Social Change

 “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.” 

- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In August 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke out four words that engraved him into our American soul as one of our greatest icons. Dr. King is recognized throughout the world as one of the most inspiring American leaders who helped change our national discourse on race, discrimination and civil rights in our country.  For him, when the constitution begins with “We the people” it meant “All the people.” However, despite his fame, there is little understanding of what he stood for beyond his four famous words, “I Have A Dream!”  Every February, during black history month he is held up as one of America’s greatest civil rights leaders; but little is known about who he is, what he stood for and how he became one of the most beloved leaders in our American story.   According to Professor Ramin Jahanbegloo, “Only through an inquiry of his social, political, religious and philosophical development will we be able to understand the nature of his thoughts and the magnitude of his historical accomplishments.” Martin Luther King Jr wasn’t just a brilliant orator and community organizer. He was also a groundbreaking thinker.  

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929. He grew up as the son of a leading minister in Atlanta, Georgia.  After completing high school at age 15, King graduated from Morehouse College at the age of 19 with a BA in Sociology. After graduation he left for graduate work at Crozer Theological Seminary, followed by his post-graduate work at Boston University.  At the age of 26 King received his Ph.D.  Despite these great accomplishments, Dr. King's felt the sting of segregation even though his genealogical heritage traced back to Cork, Ireland, in addition to his Native American and West African roots.  

In the pursuit of a just society, he appealed to pre-existing philosophies, historical and religious perspectives to conquer the fear of oppression.  King’s influences included: (1) Philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Søren Aabye Kierkegaard and Henry David Thoreau and (2) Theologians Walter Rauchenbusch, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Paul Tillich. According to former US Ambassador Andrew Young, Martin and his ministry perspectives did not happen in a vacuum, but rather, it also stood on the historical cultural context and shoulders of one of Georgia’s most celebrated figures, Native American, Tomochichi.  According to Young, “It was Tomochichi who could have massacred James Edward Oglethorpe and the British when they landed in 1733, but choose peace instead.  Considered by Great Britain to be co-founders of Georgia, they established peaceful British Colonial Native Georgia relations for a century, until the despicable removal of the native population with the trail of tears.”   King also studied the work of Mahatma Gandhi, who was leading India’s fight for freedom from Great Britain. Gandhi knew that armed insurrection would justify British attack. His solution was nonviolent passive resistance, in which vast numbers of Indians boycotted British goods and disobeyed what they felt were unjust laws. Relentless nonviolent mass confrontation eventually forced the British to abandon their claim to India. King saw that Gandhi’s nonviolent approach to the struggle for freedom in India could work in the struggle for equal rights in America.  Each of these influences helped shape his non violence for social change that marked the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. 

After years of dehumanization, discrimination and in the face of injustice toward African Americans, King developed his non-violent strategies on the three pillars of his moral and political philosophy:

His Christian Faith

His principles of Non-violence for Social Change

And Civil Disobedience against unjust laws and social evils

As a Emancipative Theologian, King held to the power of love for solving social problems.  He believed that faith in a personal God and a commitment to human dignity would enable all Americans to live up to their professed belief that “All Men Are Created Equal.”   King said, “This is the way that we will get out of this dark night of oppression, and make of this nation a better nation. It means that we can stand up and allow the opposition to know that we will not accept injustice. We will stand up against it with our lives. We will never stoop down to the level of violence and hatred, and we will come to that point and we will be able to convince him that a new world is emerging.”   King’s principles of non-violence are:

1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. 

• It is active nonviolent resistance to evil. 

• It is assertive spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. 

• It is always persuading the opponent of the justice of your cause. 

2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding. 

• The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation. 

• The purpose of nonviolence is the creation of the Beloved Community. 

3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people. 

• Nonviolence holds that evildoers are also victims. 

4. Nonviolence holds that voluntary suffering can educate and transform.

• Nonviolence willingly accepts the consequences of its acts. 

• Nonviolence accepts suffering without retaliation. 

• Nonviolence accepts violence if necessary, but will never inflict it. 

• Unearned suffering is redemptive and has tremendous educational and 

   transforming possibilities. 

• Suffering can have the power to convert the enemy when reason fails. 

5. Nonviolence chooses love instead of hate. 

• Nonviolence resists violence of the spirit as well as of the body. 

• Nonviolent love gives willingly, knowing that the return might be hostility.

• Nonviolent love is active, not passive. 

• Nonviolent love does not sink to the level of the hater. 

• Love for the enemy is how we demonstrate love for ourselves. 

• Love restores community and resists injustice. 

• Nonviolence recognizes the fact that all life is interrelated. 

6. Nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice. 

• The nonviolent resister has deep faith that justice will eventually win.

Despite his influence, dream and fame in the mid-twentieth century, King’s mission was to achieve ‘equal justice and equal application of the law’ for all our citizens. Further inquiry into his perspectives of ‘non-violence for social change’ affords us a unique opportunity to build upon his work and become the moral force in eliminating what he called, the triple evils of society: “poverty, racism, and war.”

Biography 

Ansbro John J. King, Martin Luther. Non-Violent Strategies and tactics for Social Change. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY.  c 1982

Birt, Robert E., The Liberatory Thought of Martin Luther King Jr.: Critical Essays on the Philosopher King. Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland c 2012

Gilbreath, Edward.  Birmingham Revolution: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Epic Challenge to the Church. Intervarsity Press. Downers Grove, IL. c 2013

Jahanbegloo, Ramin.  The Revolution of Values: The Origins of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Moral and Political Philosophy.  Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc, Lanham, Maryland. C 2019

Nojeim, Michael J.  Gandhi and King: The Power Of Nonviolent Action. Praeger Press. West Port, CT 

C 2004

*** Private Pictures Collective provided by Evangelist Dr. Alveda King

America's Holy Experiment: A Democratic Republic

In May of 2016, I was invited by Bishop Harry Jackson to come to a meeting of Evangelical Leaders at the Marriott in New York City to meet with, then presidential candidate, Donald Trump.  Like most, I was highly skeptical about his campaign and wondered what on earth was God up to. As I listened and observed I quietly knew in my heart that I was looking at the next President Of The United States. This was a private moment for me personally and not something I was keen to share with others.  I just knew I needed to pray because God was doing something in our midst that had deeper ramifications than an election of a Manhattan Businessman. Shortly afterwards I shared what I believed God had shown me with a personal group of Intercessors who pray for me regularly. They were appalled to say the least that I would even suggest such that Donald Trump would become the President Of The United States, however, they agreed to pray about it. Certainly, what God was doing would be a significantly different focus than the work of President Obama. President Obama shared in a final interview with American Television Journalist Tom Brokaw, that he wanted to be remembered for having started a national conversation on race. This important work is our responsibility and still ongoing. All I can say is I believe that was God's intent to ensure we get the heart of our nation right.

A number of years ago, I had met privately with Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright who was President and Mrs. Obama's pastor for over 20+ years.  During my conversation with Dr. Wright he shared with me that one of President Obama's stated goals was to begin to open up a much needed national conversation on race to begin the work of healing the racial divide.  However, he believed that work was hijacked by "money interests" that were behind the President's election. "Just follow the money trail," explained Dr. Wright. He went onto explain to me that while those who had worked so hard to put President Obama in office were off celebrating "the work of healing our national divide" got circumvented by "corporate interests." Dr. Wright went onto to say to me, "Son, you need to understand, before he was elected he was selected." This was the first time I became aware that unseen "powers in high places" were really at work.  The Bible says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers in HIGH PLACES..." (Eph. 6:12) But, let me assure you God has given us all the necessary resources to "pull down those strongholds." In this season, God is at work reminding us that we have a democratic-republic that "WE THE PEOPLE" which means "ALL THE PEOPLE" are responsible to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States. We cannot just sit back and hand over our authority and responsibility to an administrative state, oligarchy, elected officials or political party and just trust them to do their jobs. In my own personal perspective "it's not what you expect but what you inspect; which is why we need to hold our duly elected representatives accountable. It's our job to ensure that our government does our bidding not their own agenda.

II Cor. 10:4-6 (TPT) says, "For although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign employing human weapons, using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energized with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide. We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One. Since we are armed with such dynamic weaponry, we stand ready to punish  any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience.”

Another important scripture that we need to keep in mind is Ephesians 3:10 (DRB) which says that God's intent is "That the manifold wisdom of God may be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places through the church.  But most of us don't get this or we are so self deluded to think that we have the wisdom to address these principalities and powers on our own. The church is not the wisdom of God but rather is the vehicle God has chosen to reveal His wisdom to the governing authorities.  In order to be a part of this work, we actually need to know what God's perspective is on these matters. We need to be above the "political parties" and not get engulfed in their partisan perspectives. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow comes down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." We need to know God's perspective and not rely on our own or others.

Even though we live in a time of political spite. As "Followers Of Jesus" we have a few more considerations from the scriptures that we need to keep in mind.  Romans 13:1 states, "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." It's important to understand in our form of government The governing authority we have established is a "National Covenant" called the US Constution. "We The People" collectively choose "Leadership" to represent us. The Apostle Paul wrote during the days of the Roman Empire, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.” This is good, and pleases God our Savior…” (1 Timothy 2:1-3)  Romans 13:2 goes on to say, “Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.”  So, our first responsibility as Christians is to “PRAY” and then “OBEY.” Lest we forget, Paul wrote these words under the reign of King Nero, a fellow historically much more difficult to live under than any president in America’s history.  In my own personal perspective, once an election has been completed and our chosen leadership has taken office we are called as the people of God to pray for our leaders and obey our constitutional agreement, laws and statues and work for the good of our communities (which means to “work to improve” them).

Jeremiah 29:7

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

Anyone who has read the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures knows that God’s people are called to live in the community He has placed us (See Acts 17:26) whether it was in Babylon, Persia, Greek or Roman empires.  Our scriptures emerged from these time periods with the same focus outlined above. Rest assured God is still on his throne and watching, judging, and making decisions based on our responses and what He thinks we deserve or need.  As they say, we get what we ask for or deserve. In First Samuel 8:1-4 explains, "So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” Our nation is now at a moment in history that will either preserve our form of government or soon find itself with a completely different type of government. Ultimately, God will determine what we get just as He did in ancient Israel's history whether we are Christians or nones.

Those of us who have been fortunate enough to live in the United States Of America live in a democratic-republic. We do not live in a democracy. We live in a participatory form of government that is filled with tension, disagreement, and was designed for dissent to be honored. We live with three branches of government designed for debate and partisan expressions. This was the form of government that God instituted for us as Americans. As Christians, we need to learn the principals and values that uphold our nation's future in a way that protects, defends and preserves the opportunities our parents, grandparents, and past generations gave us unless we decide together we want to change our form of government. We also have a right to oust the government if necessary when an unelected administrative state attempts to overthrow our constitutional rights and enforce a different form of government on us without our consent. This is why we have a second amendment. However, our first priority as Christians is to align ourselves with God's perspective and priorities which can only be known through much study, prayer and discernment. A revolutionary prophet named Micah exhorted the people that God's demands are clear and simple: “He has told thee, man, what is good, and what God requires of thee: only to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:8) which is the opposite spirit of political spite and undermining the constitutional authorities that have governed our lives for the last 240+ years.

IS AN APOLOGY ENOUGH?

Repentance, Washing Feet, and Making Amends

By

Pastor Mike Berry

Bishop Craig Coates
Annapolis, Maryland

I recently saw on Facebook a designed T-shirt that stated, “You Matter!”  I thought to myself, “Exactly.” This shirt said it all. The struggle for human dignity burroughs throughout history.  The need to feel valued is part of our basic human nature. When there is injustice in a country that promises that “WE THE PEOPLE” (Not the Government) will “promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” we fall short of that ideal.  

Jesus summed it up when he said, “Love your Neighbor as you love yourself.”  In New Zealand an old Maori saying proclaims; “If you don’t love yourself, God help your neighbor!”  Human dignity needs to be restored in our nation. Micah 4:8 says, “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you;  But to do justice, to show mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” When others are devalued, disenfranchised, and not given a place at the table - as the Body Of Christ we are called to do the work of Justice.  Human Dignity requires reciprocal liberty. That is why Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King took up the struggle for human rights as a minister of the Gospel. King built his ideas about  human dignity on four ideas: (1) All persons are children of God and have equal value and dignity.  (2)This equal worth becomes the basis of “just and fair treatment.” (3) This dignity, brings with it a moral capacity that gives people the ability to make socially good choices.  (4) This shared image of God provides the “existential common ground” for genuine community building across races, cultures, and ethnicities, making the “beloved community . . . a distinct historical possibility.” These ideas led me as a spirit-filled evangelical pastor to do what I could to heal the racial divide. 

Pastor Mike Berry asking forgiveness and washing the feet of Dr. Bernice King
and Dr. Alveda King with others on April 9, 2016

On November 27, 2015, I had a dream I was on the steps of The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on the spot where Dr. King stood and gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech.  As I looked down at the granite stone marking the spot he stood, I realized I was on my knees. I then saw the feet of Dr. King’s family members standing there also. I began to wonder why I was seeing this and I heard the Lord speak to me that I was to “wash the feet” of Dr. King’s children and ask their forgiveness for the Body of Christ’s lack of support in their grieving time after his assassination.  Also I was to ask forgiveness for not obeying the prophetic word He had given us on that hot August Day in 1963.” I responded to The Lord and asked, “Lord, are you calling me to actually do this? I don’t even know Dr. King’s family. How can I do this when I have no connection to them?” I asked God to confirm that if this is what He really wanted me to do, to open up the door for this to happen. Later that morning, God opened the door for me to introduce myself to the family and the rest became history.  On April 9, 2016 I stood on the steps of The Lincoln Memorial with four other “white” clergymen and washed Dr. Benice King’s feet. Joining us at my request, Bobby Schuller, TV Pastor of “Hour of Power”, washed Dr. Alveda King’s feet. Pastor Greg Carr, descendant of Maryland’s First Governor, from Annapolis, Maryland washed Lynne Jackson’s feet (Great-great granddaughter of Dred Scott. South African Minister Andre’ Van Zyl washed Bill Haley, Jr’s feet (Grandson of author of “Roots” Alex Haley and direct descendant of Kunta Kinte). And Matt Lockett washed the feet of his dear co-minister friend, Will Ford III, whose family was once owned by Matt’s family - each supporting our call together to “Heal The Racial Divide.”  

Dr. Martin Luther King's Church
Atlanta, Georgia

Some have asked why do you do this?  My simple answer has been, Jesus said, “The greatest among you must become servants to all.”  Just before he went to the cross for us, “He took a towel, got down on his knees and washed his disciples feet.”  For me, getting down on my knees, with the whole world watching via television, and humbling myself at the Lincoln Memorial to wash Dr. King’s family’s feet and repenting for my own “cultural sins and bias” and that of the American Church. This moment empowered me to step up my own work as a minister in our ongoing struggle to restore “human dignity” in our nation.  It also was my own personal statement to the King family, that “You Matter” especially in light of all they have suffered and sacrificed as a family to bring an end to racism and their work of calling for human dignity to all. This King family’s story continues to serve as an incredible witness to the entire world. I believe that God is calling the church in America to get up and get on the right side of history.  That’s why I believe as a pastor that I had to lead the way and be an example as a descendant of a family who once owned slaves but, repented, and became America’s first abolitionists family. For me, repentance, asking forgiveness, and washing feet is one way to say I am sorry for my own and the church’s complicity in not working for healing our racial divide. I am very thankful that Dr. Bernice King and Evangelist Alveda King gave me the opportunity to humble myself and offered me the gift of forgiveness.  But, was this apology enough? My answer is “No” but it was a beginning. 

Recently, I was reading about St. Peter struggling with his own racism and personal bias.  As an orthodox Jewish man, he was taught to stay away from Gentiles. However, God took this old racist and called him to present the Gospel to the Gentile world.  His response was “no!” even after God challenged him three times. But God kept working with him and changed him In Acts 10:28 Peter confessed, “  He said to them: '' you are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.”  If God can change St. Peter he can change any of us.   

Racism and personal bias is not a matter of the color. It’s all a matter of culture.  All human beings are cultural beings whether Asian, Hispanic, European, middle-eastern, African, or Native.  However, We are all “one blood.” (See Acts 17:26) We all have a cultural community to which we belong. We have all been socialized in it and grown accustomed to its way and prefer it until we have been challenged and exposed to go to the world beyond us.  Cultural wars didn’t begin in America and will not end in America. Racism has taken place throughout all history. Germans killed Jews, Serbs killed Croatians, Sunni Muslims killed Shia Muslims, Spain massacred Native Americans, Dutch fought English and so on.  The unfortunate thing is that the Church has been complicit in it. Devaluing human life has been the result of a little unknown 15th Century Church teaching known as The Doctrine of Discovery. The church has no place in calling our government to repentance until it addresses its own history of dehumanization, slavery and racism.  

Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney Statue Removal
From Annapolis, Maryland State House 

An apology is not enough because until the Euro-centric American community, whether, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese or Dutch, make a fearless searching moral inventory of their history and then “Admit to God, to themselves, and to the disenfranchised communities that have been dehumanized the exact nature of their wrongs.”  Repentance requires honesty.  It has been said, “You can’t change the things you don’t acknowledge.  An apology is not repentance. Psalm 32:5 says, “I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.”  The scriptures are clear that true Repentance is demonstrated in not only acknowledging our sin but making amends.  Luke 19:8 explains to us that Zacchaeus, after encountering the Lord, stated, “if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." 

America was built on dispossessing Native Americans, Slavery, and stealing land.  The unfortunate thing is that many Christians think all we have to do is invoke II Chronicles 7:14 to “Heal Our National Divide.” Unfortunately, God did not make a promise to give them the land. They may have made a covenant but God didn’t agree. They came under charters based on the Doctrine Of Discovery which said, “Go to heathen, pagan, and unchristian lands, dispossess the inhabitants and bring them into perpetual slavery.”  400 years ago, after Gov. Berkeley of Virginia was frustrated with the non-conforming Native Americans, said ‘forget them, bring in the African.’ This is how it all began. Anyone who is familiar with our true history knows that the vestiges of slavery are a continuum that began with the kidnapping of people from their native lands to the bondage and brutality of American chattel slavery. When the descendants of those who were enslaved were no longer needed, a national dilemma was created…  what to do with the dehumanized remnant. The only solutions America embraced was the compulsion of sending the Africans back to Africa, Jim Crow, questioning their citizenship, offering 40 acres and a mule, segregated education, housing and perhaps a good seat in the back of the church. All these ideas revolved the concept ‘We The People.’ Does this mean ALL the people?”  We still have a lot of work to do to “make our nation a more perfect union.”

A few years ago, community leaders in Richmond, Virginia began a journey to address their city’s past.  Along the way, they were contacted by the President of Nigeria and the city of Liverpool England. The President Of Nigeria wanted to repent on behalf of his tribe for selling other tribes into slavery and the City Of Liverpool, who built the slave ships that were engaged in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, wanted to reconcile with Richmond over their national sins.  As a result, powerful conversation, work and healing has been transpiriing. However, I learned that in Liverpool there six powerful wealthy families whose family wealth was built and is retained on the history of their families having built those ships. When they were approached by the city of Liverpool to participate they felt no obligation to participate or even make amends with the wealth their families made through slavery.   In my view, any family, corporation, bank, church, institution or government who engaged and benefitted through this history needs to do something to reconcile their history, make amends, and lead by example in the fight to dismantle racism.   

Frederick Douglass
"Let's Tell All The History!"

In April 2017, Georgetown University made an apology its role in the 1838 sale of 272 enslaved individuals for the university’s benefit took place in the presence of more than 100 descendants. “Slavery remains the original evil of our Republic – an evil that our university was complicit in – a sin that tore apart families,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia.  He went on to state “We lay this truth bare – in sorrowful apology and communal reckoning.” The university’s leadership didn’t stop there. Between apologies, affirmative action policies and renamed buildings, Georgetown University and its students decided together to set up a scholarship fund for those descendants who wanted to get an education. This action provides us another example for engagement and may afford all of us ways to develop long-term frameworks for dialogue, repentance, apologies and making amends in our communities.  Burying our history is one thing, but to continue to bury our hearts and minds will only pass the problem to the next generation.

I Just Love The Word Of God

“But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to
the ministry of the word.”

Acts 6:4

When I was 5 years old, my grandfather took me on Saturday Mornings to a Christian Bookstore owned by a man named Jay Green.  Jay Green, Sr. (1918 – May 20, 2008) was an ordained minister, Bible translator, publisher, and businessman.Green was born in Ennis, Kentucky. He earned degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, Toronto Baptist Seminary, and Covenant Theological Seminary. The main reason my grandfather took me to Jay’s bookstore was to learn how to read the bible that Jay produced for kids.

Knowing about the Bible as literature is a crucial part of what it means to be a literate person.

Jay’s motivation to produce an accessible, more easily understood translation of the Bible began when he tried to read the King James Version to his children and they asked, "Daddy, why don't you make a Bible that we can understand?" His first effort was The Children's King James Version, New Testament (1960). It was these same daughters that would sit with me on Saturday mornings and teach me to read through Jay’s first fully produced Children’s Bible.  He went on to produce a large number of translations of the Bible into English, some revised multiple times, including The Interlinear Hebrew-Greek-English Bible, in One-Volume. He once described himself as "the most experienced Bible translator now alive" (Paul 2003:99).  What an honor and privilege it was to have learned the books of the Bible and then read through it during those early years of my life.  My grandfather was a very wise man in getting me to read the bible for myself. It provided the foundation I needed to understand the Gospel and why I needed to be Born Again.

It's critical for church leadership to challenge believers to be in the Word of God, 

consistently growing in their knowledge of the Scriptures.

Later after receiving Christ as my Savior, my grandfather and I joined a baptist that I loved, led by Rev. Ed Miller, a graduate of Princeton, University.  At age 14 Pastor Miller asked me to join his discipleship group that he held on Saturday mornings. He invited 5 young men to come at 7am in the morning and meet with him.  As we began our study, we would take time to pray together and then study the word together for at least 4 hours. We went through the entire Bible together. What I didn’t know was that my pastor was one of the first Baptist leaders to have received “The Baptism In The Holy Spirit” during the early days of the Charismatic Movement.  In June 1970, I was water baptized and a year later I encountered the Holy Spirit for the first time and would also receive this same experience.  The most important thing this experience did for me was to fuel my love for God’s Word even more.  

During these early days of the Charismatic Movement, me like Rev. John Poole from Gospel Temple in Philadelphia, Rev. Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, and Malcolm Smith.  Malcolm Smith, born in London, England, became a pastor of a church in New York City where all that he was beginning to understand was put to the test of the broken lives that fill the streets of that city. It was during that time that he began  traveling through the as a teacher and leader of the emerging renewal of the Spirit throughout all denominations in the 60′s and 70′s. On Monday and Tuesday evenings he would come down by train and teach The Word Of God to our congregation.  His input into our lives was life transforming. Never once during these years did our spirit-filled worship replace our hunger for the Word Of God. It was our study of God’s Word that moved us into great moments of praise and worship. My pastor once said to us, If it’s not in the Word Of God, we don’t do that.  In other words, our expressions of worship, exercising of spiritual gifts, and ministering to others all had to have its foundation in the Word not in experiences or emotionalism.

Human beings are emotional creatures. We love or hate, feel happy or sad, angry or joyful. And yet christians sometimes struggle with integrating emotion into their spiritual lives and end up falling victim to dangerous tendencies when it comes to their emotions.

At age 16, a friend of mine asked me to join him in driving up to Coatesville, Pa. to attend a night time bible institute.  The Institute was founded by Rev. Dr. charles Strauser and focused on bible literacy. I attended this bible school for two years and was licensed as a Minister by them just as I became a youth pastor in a United Methodist Church in my home city.  Again, Dr. Strauser’s intensive Bible study challenged me to love God’s Word even more. During my time with him, God’s Word was confirmed with incredible movements of the Holy Spirit in the classroom which again were not based on worship or music.  God’s Word was the centerpiece of everything he taught. I guess the main reason for my emphasizing these foundational years for me is the fact that had it not been for God’s Word being front and center for me during the spiritual formation periods of my life I probably wouldn’t have the deep love and intimate relationship I have with the Lord today.  This leads me to my concern.

Hosea 4:6

“My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.”

Is it just me?  Or are you sensing the same thing?  There is a famine of God’s Word in the modern expressions of the church.  I have been listening, searching, and hungering to find anyone who is just teaching God’s Word.  The Church world express seems fixated on its music, light shows, creativity and motivational talks but rarely do I hear the solid teaching that grounds people in their faith.  The church seems to be more focused on it’s assets, cash and numbers than on doing what Jesus command us “make disciples.” Discipleship begins with introducing God’s Word, getting people to read and love God’s word and making it the centerpiece of their lives.  

When we examine the early church, we find in Acts chapter 6 that the Apostles found that their ministry was pulling them into differing directions other than what they should be attentive to - The Word Of God.  So they appointed others as deacons so that they could effectively do two things - PRAY and STUDY GOD’s Word. A few years ago, I was watching a Christian TV program where a young upcoming preacher was asking another well known preacher what the most important thing he needed to know about being in the ministry.  The famous preacher responded, “Get a good lighting director!” I was shocked. To hear someone give advice to someone that looked up to him that the show was more important than “prayer and the ministry of the Word” simply astounded me. Proverbs 4:20-22 says, “My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body …”  Each time the scriptures speak of our need to experience a renewal in our faith it always begins with people rediscovering the most important aspect of our faith -THE WORD OF GOD.  King Josiah called his nation back to God after he read the scriptures for himself (II Kings 22). Ezra reintroduced the Bible to Israel. (Ezra 7-10) Likewise, we need to turn off the light show, get rid of the dancing girls, turn up the lights and simply begin where we should have been all the time - in God’s Word. Why?

Psalm 119:11

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:105

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Jeremiah 31:33

"This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Hebrews 10:16

"This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."

Unfortunately in many respects, the contemporary church in America looks more like a large corporation than like anything described in the New Testament. Even church leaders sometimes bear a closer resemblance to CEOs and corporate executives than to humble, tender shepherds. Sadly, the good news — that a sinner can find forgiveness for sins before a holy God by placing his trust in and committing his whole life to Jesus Christ—is often eclipsed by “success”-oriented programs and an interest in the bottom line.vAs a result, many churches have become nothing more than entertainment centers, employing tactics that effectively draw people into the church, but are incapable of truly ministering to them once they come.

Hillsong's Worship Leader: Marty Sampson recently announced he's lost his way.

In recent days, several key leaders in both the pulpit and in worship have “fallen away” from their faith and people have wondered why.  It’s a pretty simple answer to a common problem in the modern contemporary church. Jesus used the term fall away in the Parable of the Sower when He taught of a seed sown on rocky places (Matthew 13:20-21, Mark 4:16-17, and Luke 8:13).  The plant sprouted up quickly in the shallow soil, but then withered because it had no root.  Jesus said the seed represents the Word of God (Luke 8:11), and ”Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root.  They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.” (Luke 8:13)  Without the Word Of God firmly planted in our hearts -all of us forget who we use to be.  James 1:22-25 says:

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

 Let’s return The Church To A Foundation In The Scriptures

It’s Our Only Hope!