[ Click here to go back to the main page ] Cultural Relevance
November 9, 2005 Greetings in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

I came to Springfield, MO with no idea that there were “goings on” regarding the merger of the Springfield schools or any other issues at headquarters. Perhaps it was better that I didn’t. I think this is why God withholds our futures from us. There are spots in our lives that would terrify us if we knew about them in advance.

Having gone through this ordeal, there are a few observations about our fellowship that trouble me. An outline for some of my concerns was provided by a recent e-mail to the “Save the AG” web site. The e-mail went like this, “Why are all the young ministers leaving the Assemblies of God? Because we’re not culturally relevant, we have no creativity and we’re more concerned about tongues than the power of the Holy Spirit.”

While I appreciate the concern about an apparent exodus of young AG ministers (is this true?), the supposed causes are unscriptural. It is this problem that our own Pentecostal Evangel highlighted in a recent issue—present day Pentecostals are biblically illiterate! And I’ve heard all these issues before, many times from the pulpit. This issue of biblical illiteracy is not confined to a single web site reader, nor the laymen but stems from our ministerial ranks and points right to the top.

First, the issue of “cultural relevancy.” Who started this deception that we needed to be culturally relevant? Pastors, please walk your flocks through the four gospels. Jesus was never culturally relevant! He didn’t look like them (see Isaiah 53). He didn’t act like them (read the Gospels). And he certainly didn’t talk like them (read all His references to the fact that He only told the Jews what His Father directed [“He spoke with authority, not like the Pharisees…”]). The culture of his day sold animals in the temple, overcharged their peers at the tax tables, tithed on mint and cumin but failed to give enough concern to the weightier matters, prayed in public so they could be seen by the people, said they had followed the ten commandments but wouldn’t give up their riches to the poor, and looked great on the outside but inside they were full of dead men’s bones. Did Jesus relate to the sinful culture? He sure did. He used parables that either related to His Father’s creation (the parable of the sower) or parables that caused the Jews to examine their sinful ways in light of their sinful culture (the parable of the Good Samaritan [the Jews hated Samaritans] or the parable of the talents). But, relating is completely different than what we mean when we say “relevant.”

When AG leaders talk about cultural relevancy, they mean that we need to look, act and talk like the unsaved in our culture (otherwise, we can’t possibly win them to the Lord). And if they don’t mean this, their message is confusing enough to the post-modern latchkey youth, that they take it that way. This gives license to all sorts of worldly initiated themes like church sanctuaries painted black (John 3:19, “Men love darkness rather than light because…”) , offering alcohol at communion (II Cor 6:17, “Come ye out from among them and be ye separate says the Lord…” [since when did we want to join the ranks of the Catholic church that sports a “home for alcoholic priests”?]), young people wearing tattoos (Deut 14:1, “you shall not cut yourselves…” and I Cor 3:16, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God…”), going into bars to “witness” (Prov 14:14-15”Enter not into the path of the wicked…”, having disco lights in children’s church and naming programs in church after questionable TV shows (I Thes 5:22, “Abstain from all appearance of evil…”). These are all real things happening in real AG churches. I ask you, “Who is influencing whom?”

When I read “The Cross and the Switchblade” at age 13, what impressed me about this story of David Wilkerson was how the power of God overcame the extreme irrelevance of a small town boy to win the hip, heroin addicted, murdering gangs of New York City to Jesus Christ. David Wilkerson didn’t have a slick message, a cool semi-trailer with pop culture logos and spotlights advertising his gospel message. Nor did he even come close to following all the latest fads in fashion. He went without anything but a suitcase and his Bible--because God called him to go to the gangs with the simple, Holy Spirit empowered message of the Gospel—the unconditional love of Jesus Christ.

Second, the issue of “creativity.” What do AG people mean when they say we’re not being creative enough? Is this because we serve the Creator of the Universe and He’s not powerful enough to “draw men unto Himself?” And what would the purpose of creativity be? To bring glory to God or to oneself? Is creativity like the young lady who wanted to attend Central Bible College to become its first dance major? Dancing would be creative. Does dancing give glory to God or draw attention to oneself? I’m not against creativity, I think God gives people gifts to use for His glory. I’m an artist myself. A piece of my artwork is on permanent display at my college alma mater. The issue is not creativity, rather it is the focus of our creativity—God or us? The issue is the exact same one the Scripture holds against cultural relevancy: men trying with their own strength to promote the Kingdom of Heaven. They receive their reward here on Earth—the praise and adulation of men. What ever happened to being on our knees beseeching the God of Heaven to bring them in from the highways and byways? Oh…no one would see us pray; it’s too much work without any credit from our fellow man; and God would get all the glory since prayer elicits miraculous results that couldn’t possibly come from our own hands? This very second the AG is one of the most cool, creative denominations on the planet. We have the biggest, nicest churches. We have the best audio visual systems, the coolest bands, and the most slick ad campaigns. But, most of our churches are dead. I can’t remember the last time I heard a message in tongues and I attend one of the finest churches in our fellowship. Not to mention a miraculous healing! The last time I saw a blind person’s eyes opened was when I was 15. That was over 30 years ago. It was the power of God displayed regularly in the poor AG churches of that day that drew my family from a dead mainline denomination into Pentecost. We left one of the most outstanding cathedrals in the Midwest (“the First church of the Frigidaire”) to come to a basement church in rural Pennsylvania. Why? Because the visible, audible power of God was there every service!

And finally, “We’re more concerned about tongues than we are about the power of the Holy Spirit.” Where do Christians come up with this stuff? I doubt many AG people—especially those who’ve grown up in the church [especially those who are second, third and fourth generation ministers] have had as much exposure as I’ve had to Christians who don’t believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. After 24 years of working all over the world and having bible studies and military chapel throw Christians of all denominations together into one mix, a couple of themes regarding speaking in tongues come through loud and clear: 1) people of other denominations who said that speaking in tongues is not necessarily the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit had never spoken in tongues and didn’t want to. I know because I made it a point to ask, “Have you ever spoken in tongues” and “Are you interested?” After dozens if not hundreds of interviews, there were no exceptions to the rule: they hadn’t spoken in tongues and were not interested; and 2) those who didn’t speak in tongues also had problems with any other manifestation of God’s supernatural power: healing, Words of Knowledge, and even Creation itself.

And what better way to know that we have “power to be witnesses” than to be able to pray to God in a language we know comes direct from Him every single day? Do we have a Bible study every year in our churches that walks us through the pattern in the book of Acts? Have we shown our congregations that the proof of the baptism was always “speaking in tongues?” And let’s not make this theological rocket science here. How do you prove that you’re married? You show the authority something physical—your marriage license. How do you prove that you’re an American citizen? You show the authority something physical—your birth certificate and a photo ID. How do you prove that you have a certain color eyes? You show the questioner your iris! The natural, having been created by God, is a picture of the supernatural. We can’t say we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and have no proof. That’s ludicrous. Having come out of a dead, mainline denomination, I did not know that I had power to become a witness until AFTER I could encounter God supernaturally every day through speaking a language in prayer that originated in Heaven itself.

What’s sad is the AG seems to be panting after popularity with the world. The world our forefathers shunned for the sake of the Gospel and to “abstain from all appearance of evil.” We have a whole generation of AG leaders that were so appalled at being called Holy Rollers, with their parents’ polyester, outdated suits and dresses, that everything was wrong, that we couldn’t have any fun, and that other kids made fun of them at school, that they swung the pendulum to the opposite end of the clock. Now it’s cool to be AG! Never mind that the world (and God?) can hardly tell us from them.

In our prosperity as a denomination, we have followed the Israelite Old Testament pattern. We have forgotten the Almighty God. Read the book of Judges. I have many times. I used to think, “Those stupid children of Israel, why didn’t they ever learn?” Then one day God whispered to me, “Mike, those stupid children of Israel are you and the body of Christ. Why don’t you ever learn? Why do you forget Me and my power?”

And the problem is not a single, biblically illiterate e-mail writer nor even the top AG leadership. The problem is us folks! And the message from God is REPENT (II Chronicles 7:14 is not a message to sinners). Wake up oh shepherds! The salt is losing its savor! Feed Jesus’ sheep if you love Him. Feed them the Bread of Life.

Brother Mike

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