Persecution Fridays: Turkmenistan
October 29, 2010 at 9:59 pm | Posted in VOM Fridays | Leave a commentTags: addiction, ateasetees, charges, Christian, church, compromise, congregation, death, diabetes, drug, evangelism, faith, family, God, gospel, grace, health, hell, holy, hope, Ilmurad Nurliev, Islam, Jesus, judgment, law, life, Light to the World, love, mercy, murder, Muslim, pastor, peace, Pentecostal, persecution, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sentence, sin, swindling, ten commandments, treatment, truth, Turkmenistan, Voice of the Martyrs
For more news on what’s really happening to Christians around the world go to the Voice of the Martyrs website: www.persecution.com
Turkmenistan: Pastor Sentenced
On Oct. 21, Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of large-scale swindling, according to Forum 18 News Service. Pastor Nurliev, who leads the Light to the World Pentecostal church in Mary, Turkmenistan, was arrested two months ago after being accused of swindling money from several people in his congregation. Pastor Nurliev’s wife and many church members have insisted that the charges were fabricated to punish the pastor for his work with the unregistered church. The court also ruled that Nurliev be treated for a drug addiction while in prison. Believers vigorously deny that Pastor Nurliev is a drug addict in need of treatment but stress that he is diabetic. Pastor Nurliev’s wife and congregation are very concerned about his health. Pray that God will protect him and that he will receive proper treatment for his diabetes. Also pray that Pastor Nurliev’s family and church members will be strengthened during this time, and pray that his sentence might be reduced.
The purpose of the church
November 16, 2009 at 4:38 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a commentTags: America, apostles, ateasetees, believer, build, busy, Christian, church, church growth, congregation, doctrine, ekklesia, entertainment, Ephesians 4, equipped, evangelism, evangelists, Exodus, faith, false teachers, Genesis, God, gospel, hell, holiness, hope, Jesus, judgment, Leviticus, love, movie, numbers, pastor, prophets, purpose, quality, quantity, repent, Saddleback, saints, sin, sinners, Son of God, spiritual gifts, teacher, U2, unity, Willow Creek
I have been thinking about this for awhile, but it becomes more apparent the more I study the scriptures. I’ve studied Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 1 John, and now I’m doing a study on the spiritual gifts. In every study, I’ve seen a picture of the church, and when I compare the picture I see in the scriptures with the one that I see in America, they don’t match. It seems like the church in America (and other countries) no longer understands its purpose. No one seems to know what the church is about and this leads to a lot of busyness with nothing substantial to show for it. There are numerous churches who have many ministries and events but to what end? Certain churches are growing and the numbers are increasing but is this a proper gauge? When did it become all about the quantity of “Christians” in the church instead of the quality of the Christians as shown by the way they live their lives?
So, what is the purpose of the church? Well, first, you have to understand what the word church means. The word church is found only in the New Testament. It is the Greek word ekklesia and it means: church, congregation, assembly; a group of people gathered together. It can refer to the OT assembly of believers, a riotous mob, but usually to a Christian assembly, a church: as a totality or in a specific locale. In the NT a church is never a building or meeting place. So what does this mean? It means that the church is not the building you meet in whether it’s an actual church building or someone’s house. Instead, a church is the group of believers that meet in that building. Nowadays, it seems like people are more concerned about the state of the building than the state of the people meeting there. It is important to understand that it’s not just anyone who meets, it is the believers who meet. Those who are not believers are not part of the church.
Now that we have a simple understand of what the church is, what is its purpose? There are a few things that the church was designed for. The main purpose of the church is to glorify God. Many people would say that it is seeking the lost, but I disagree. As believing individuals, our main purpose in life is to glorify God. Why would that change when we gather together? If we do not glorify God, then it really doesn’t matter what we’re doing does it? There are other important purposes for the churches existence as well. A few of these can be found in Ephesians 4:11-13.
and He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists,and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service,to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of theknowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongsto the fullness of Christ.
There are some interesting things to note here. First, there are specific reasons why God gave the spiritual gifts and none of them have to do with someone becoming rich and famous. It’s not the point of this blog to go into whether or not some of these gifts still exist or not (I believe they do) so I’ll leave that for another time. Second, the church is for the equipping of the saints. It is not for sinners. That may sound harsh or unorthodox now, but it’s the truth. The church and its purposes completely revolve around born-again believers. But, today this is not what we see. So many churches have gone to “church growth methods” like the ones at Willow Creek or Saddleback in order to get numbers. In doing so, they’ve gone out to the non-Christians to ask them why they don’t come to church and then tailored their “churches” to suit those who are lost. It seems to be a very weak and very dangerous substitute for evangelism. Instead of going out into all the world to preach the gospel, many try to lure them in with wordly entertainments preach the precepts of men as the doctrine of God.
The fact that the church is for believers becomes even more specific though. There are many churches who are filled with believers, but they are still not fitting the purpose that God intended. Why? Because the saints are being entertained instead of being equipped. The churchgoers come to service on Sunday and hear a sermon series on the summer blockbuster movies or popular music icons (like U2) instead of hearing the unadulterated Word of God. They don’t hear the truth or how they can apply it to their lives so that they can grow in holiness. They don’t get the scriptures they need to defend the faith and fight the good fight. The sad thing about all of this is that it is now commonplace. If things don’t go this way, it is an anomaly.
The purpose gets still more specific though. The saints are to be equipped for the work of service. What service? Simple. Going out to preach the gospel to all creation, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and teach them to observe all the things that Christ commanded us. The equipping of the saints also facilitates the building up of the body of Christ so that we are unified in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God. This too has not happened. There are numerous denominations and each one of them is going to heaven while the rest are going to hell. We are obviously not unified in our faith. Thousands of Christian brothers and sisters are spurned and treated unbiblically because they don’t fit in the right clique. They are not able to exercise their gifts to glorify God because they aren’t related to someone in charge or because they don’t have the right kind of clothes, the right salary, or the right kind of car. Not only are we not unified in our faith, we’re not unified in our knowledge of the Son of God! There are many people who claim to be Christians who have a false view of Jesus or the gospel. They don’t believe that God is in control, that Jesus is the only way to heaven, or that the Trinity exists. Some don’t even believe that Jesus is God! And these are supposed to be BELIEVERS! Many churches have tossed aside what scripture says in order to embrace a man-made system that provides them the money, power, and prestige they want while neglecting the needs of the church and the lost!
From what I see in scripture, this is not how it’s supposed to be. The church is supposed to be like this. You are saved and you become part of a local church. The pastor-teacher teaches you the truth and shows you how to apply it to your life so that you can glorify God and grow in holiness. You are taught about the spiritual gift(s) that you have from scripture (not man made doctrine!).You then begin to use these gifts to glorify God. The church also makes it possible for you to learn how to evangelize and tell others about Jesus. You do this either by becoming an evangelist (if that’s your gift!) and traveling the world preaching the truth or by taking the opportunities presented to you daily as you go about your life. When someone responds to the gospel in repentence and faith, they become part of the church and the cycle continues. There is nothing about entertaining the lost at church. There is nothing about catering to those who hate God, but this is what is happening.
Part of the reason our country (and world) is in the condition it is in is because the church has left its purpose in order to pursue worldly things. Many “pastors” today seem to hope that the one or two lines they sneak in about Jesus in the middle of their sermon series on the Spice Girls will somehow be absorbed by osmosis. They seem to think (erroneously) that it’s enough. It’s not enough. Until the church gets back to fulfilling its God-given purpose and loses all of the other things that it has taken up in hopes of inflating its membership, it will never accomplish what it is supposed to…
Get the Word out! 