Don't Confuse a 501-C3 Non-Profit with His Church

For years I've been trying to explain to people that Christ's Church isn't a religious institution.

An institution of religion is established by religious leaders for religious rituals.

When Americans "go to church," we wrongly think that the building we enter is "the church."

We also wrongly say that we are "attending church."

But you can't attend His Church if you are His Church.

What every follower of Jesus is doing on Sunday is attending a local non-profit religious institution that conducts religious and social services.

You are Christ's Church.

That's why any pastor who tells you he is God's representative on earth, with spiritual authority over you, is practicing fraudulent authority and has confused the 501-C3 non-profit he leads with Christ Church.

Christ alone has spiritual authority over His people, and every Christian is called to minister to others according to the gifts He has given each of us.

Christ's Church has no building, needs no budget, and possesses no boundaries, local or global.  

But we've grown comfortable with a social custom in the United States of calling the religious rituals we attend on Sunday "church." The buildings and the leaders of those religious non-profits (including me) are actually part of 501-C3 religious non-profits that are registered with the secretary of state. Your local "church" is vested with "tax-exempt" status by the state and falls under the state guidelines under which it is registered.

Therefore, the state can rightfully order the closure of all 501-C3 non-profits, remove its tax-exempt status, and otherwise jail non-compliant leaders of any non-profit that refuses to abide by state law. Not one person who draws a salary from a religious non-profit should complain.

Any religious institution that has received tax-free money signed up for that benefit with the state.

The Babylon Bee

Photo: The Babylon Bee

An anonymous insider of religious institutions has been "poking fun" of American churches for a long time. He's called The Babylon Bee.

This week he wrote an article entitled "Nations Churches Provide Fog Machines for Families Worshiping at Home."

I laughed out loud when I saw the picture.

I knew what The Bee was doing. He was poking fun at churches who use "fog machines," by pointing out when the church buildings are closed, Christ's people will have to read Scripture, sing songs, and pray in their homes without the aid of fog machines.

Well, of course!

But I think the Babylon Bee has made the same mistake everyone else makes.

The Babylon Bee is confusing the 501-C3 non-profits with Christ's Church. 

Emmanuel Enid (Oklahoma) is the 501-C3 non-profit that I lead. Members of Christ's Church support the non-profit called Emmanuel Enid and the staff of this non-profit seeks to empower members of Christ's Church to minister.

The non-profit called Emmanuel Enid uses a fog machine. In fact, Emmanuel Enid uses two of them. In a moment I'll tell you why, but be patient with me.

I've taught the people who attend corporate gatherings at Emmanuel Enid to never confuse what we do as a non-profit with Christ's Church.

Christ's people -  men and women - are to minister to others as Christ gifts us. Christ alone is our authority.

Emmanuel Enid is a non-profit that exists to helps Christ's Church to fulfill our call of ministering to others.

Our non-profit staff does work that is difficult for others in Christ's Church to do because members of Christ's Church hold other full-time jobs. However, our non-profit expects its staff to not only do the work of ministry, but they are to train and empower all members of Christ's Church to be ministers, Every Christian is a minister and a shepherd, and there's a world out there full of lost sheep. 

Any separation of Christ's Church into "clergy" and "laypeople" is following the unbiblical practice of confusing Christ's Church with the religious institution (non-profit) that clergymen lead.

This past week, those who draw a paycheck (staff) from our local non-profit (Emmanuel Enid) have been working from before dawn until very late at night, preparing Christ's Church in Enid to move out into the streets, following CDC guidelines of separation and contact, delivering food, medicine, and personal hygiene products to the elderly.

We'll not have a choir this Sunday. We'll not have Children's Church on Sunday. We'll not have any Youth Events. We'll not have any Small Groups in the building this Sunday either.

But we will broadcast some great worship and teaching to your home and ask you to join in! We will also give extensive updates on what Emmanuel Enid is doing during this global pandemic and how you are needed to help us reach out to our community.

We've established a phone bank hotline that anyone can call beginning Monday (580) 548-1678 with requests for assistance for themselves or a loved one. A host of volunteers with EMT badges (Emergency Management Team) will be going out of our buildings to assist people who live in our city.

I've received at least half a dozen emails from our members, and they've informed me that they are already walking their neighborhoods, checking on people.

Christ's Church is His Church at all times, whether or not anybody can enter a non-profit building.

Fog Machines

Why would a religious non-profit like Emmanuel Enid use fog machines?

A good question with an easy answer.

For nearly 20 years we have broadcast our corporate gatherings to the homebound, the physically disabled, and others who watch from home. Some who watch us regularly have been burned by religious institutions and are recovering from their wounds at home.

We use fog machines because they enhance the lighting of digital broadcasts.

Fog machines give a much better visual presentation on digital receptors, including televisions, I-Phones, computer monitors, I-Pads, and tablets.

We only use "fog machines" for one of our three services (REFUGE) because the other two corporate worship services are attended by predominately senior citizens, and they don't like "the smoke in the room." It looks like a dozen Winston Churchills are puffing on cigars doing the worship service.

So we accommodate our senior adults and only use the two fog machines during our 11:15 REFUGE service. Which service do you think we typically broadcast via digital medium?

That's right, the one with fog.  There's a Kingdom reason for using fog machines. The electronic broadcast is sharper, clearer, and significantly more enhanced with fog and lights. It's a more professional broadcast.

I understand some followers of Jesus don't understand why fog machines may be necessary. But like the old saying goes, "Never criticize the way another man walks until you've walked a mile in his shoes."

The following two "snips" were taken the same Sunday, February 23, 2020, from two separate LIVE broadcast services at Emmanuel Enid, one with fog, the other without. Which one do you think we archived and used electronically for future broadcasts on television and independent websites?

Service without fog

Broadcast Service with Fog

Sunday, March 22, 2020

The state of Oklahoma has closed the religious 501-C3 non-profit called Emmanuel Enid for corporate worship gatherings until further notice.

Our non-profit staff will enter the building this Sunday to operate cameras, sound equipment, switchers, lights, and our worship leaders and I will give some encouraging words from songs and Scripture, as well as updates on how we will be ministering to the city of Enid in the coming weeks. My encouragement from Scripture is entitled "Personal Blessings from a Global Pandemic."

Emmanuel Enid has never confused our non-profit with Christ's Church.

Christ's Church - you, His people - don't need a fog machine in your living rooms.

But this non-profit will use two of them as we empower Christ's Church to minister to others through this global pandemic.

If you would like to join us online, we will be broadcasting two different worship services, one at 9:00 am on Sunday (Bridge) and one at 11:15 am on Sunday (Refuge). You may watch on Emmanuel's YouTube channel, Emmanuel's Facebook page, or at Emmanuel Enid LIVE.

Since nobody will be in the room except the production staff,  Winston Churchill will be smoking his cigars in both.

Monday, March 23, 2020.

We also will be broadcasting LIVE from our HUB at 10:00 am Monday as we send out our Emergency Management Teams to assist senior adults and others throughout our community. If you'd like to volunteer for one of our EMT teams as a volunteer or be available to work our phone bank (open at 8:30 am Monday and open every day), please email us at:

 ENDCOVID19@EMMANUELENID.ORG

Hope to see you on the computer screen from your living room tomorrow morning at 9:00 or 11:15 am!

It's a great time to be alive and to be Christ's Church in a world in need of Light.

Covid-19, Jeremiah 29:11, and These Hard Times

There is a promise from God in Jeremiah 29:11 that is often quoted by Christians but almost always misinterpreted.

Like any conversation you have with others, it's not enough to know what someone says, we must strive to understand what that person means.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks to the Hebrew people on behalf of God. The Lord speaks to His people, declaring:

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11).

We misunderstand what God means if we pluck this verse out of its context. 

For example, if I claim Jeremiah 29:11 as a promise that God is about to change my circumstances for the better, then I have wrongly understood what God means.

Examine the context of this promise by asking several questions: 

When  was God's promise given? To whom was God speaking? What occurred to cause God to make this promise? 

When I ask and answer these questions of context, I'll discover that God is actually telling His people in Jeremiah 29:11 (and me) that He may NOT change my circumstances, but He says:

Though I may not take away your problems, I will give you the grace to bloom and prosper where I plant you.

I can personally thrive even during these crazy, chaotic, hard times.

That's the meaning of God's promise in Jeremiah 29:11.

"Bloom where you are planted" (Jeremiah 29:5) is an ancient biblical phrase that has its roots in the context God's promise to prosper His people in Jeremiah 29:11.

Let me show you.

Jeremiah was a prophet to God's people during a very difficult time. In 612 B.C. a wicked and brutal empire took control of the world. The Babylonians (sometimes called the Chaldeans in the Bible) defeated the ancient Assyrians and the Egyptians and took the stage as world conquerors.

Shortly after conquering the Assyrians, the evil Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,  launched the first of his three attacks against Jerusalem and God's people (609/608 B.C. then 597 B.C. and finally 586 B.C.)

Each successive attack during this 21-year time period was more brutal than the previous one, ending in 586 B.C. with the destruction of the Jewish Temple and the desolation of the entire city of Jerusalem.

It was during Nebuchadnezzar's first aggressive move against Jerusalem (609/608 B.C.) that Daniel, his three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), and other Jewish leaders were taken captive. A decade later (597 B.C.), Nebuchadnezzar came back to Jerusalem to get more Jewish artisans and craftsmen to help the Babylonian Empire build better roads, erect stronger walls, and create greater weapons. Nebuchadnezzar didn't take all the Jews into captivity.

More Jews remained in Jerusalem after 597 B.C. than were taken to Babylon as prisoners. One of those who remained in Jerusalem after 597 B.C. was the prophet, Jeremiah. The prophet began placing a yoke around his neck proclaiming to God's people that the Babylonian captivity would last "until the seventy years for Babylon have expired" (Jeremiah 29:10 NAS).

In 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar made his third and final advance on Jerusalem and destroyed the city and took the majority of God's people back to Babylon as captives. This is what the Bible calls "The Babylonian Exile."

Jeremiah the prophet kept telling God's people that their problems would continue until seven decades had passed. 

The seventy years of problems God's people had with the Babylonians began in 609  B.C. and would only come to an end in October 539 B.C. when the Persian King Cyrus invaded Babylon and conquered the Babylonians and freed the Jews.

Think about that for a moment. For 70 years the Jews would be subjugated by the wicked kings of Babylon.

That's a long time for God's people to be held in Babylonian captivity.

The United States war in Iraq has lasted for nearly 20 years. Can you imagine having your husband, son or other loved one in Iraq without having the ability to see him or hear from him for decades?

Or reverse the role. How would you like to be a young Jewish artisan or servant in the Babylonian Empire like Daniel and his friends, only to hear in a letter from Jeremiah that your captivity will only end after Babylon's 70-year world reign comes to an end?

More than a few Jews didn't like hearing Jeremiah's proclamations of long captivity (Jeremiah 25:1-14).

One such Jew was a priest and false prophet named Hananiah. He mocked Jeremiah's prophecy (see Jeremiah 28), ripped the wooden yoke off Jeremiah's neck, and told the people that "God told me the captivity would last just two more years" (Jeremiah 28:3).

The Jews in Jerusalem began believing the false promise that God would change their circumstances soon.

It was at this time that God had Jeremiah send "a letter" to the captives in Babylon. That letter is what we know as Jeremiah 29. God knew that the false hope of a quick release from their bad circumstances would make its way to His people held captive in Babylon. So God speaks to His people through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:4-10 and declares:

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce (i.e. "bloom where you are planted").' 

Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. 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 have welfare. 

 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,' declares the Lord. For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place (Jerusalem)."

God is telling His people that - contrary to the testimony of the Jewish false prophets - the captivity will NOT be short, but their problems as prisoners of war in Babylon will go on for a full 70 years. Go ahead and bloom where you are planted. Have prosperity in the midst of your problems.

It is only after God tells His people to rest where they are (Babylon), and to pray for their wicked masters, and to be at peace in the environment that God has placed them in, that God gives His people the Jeremiah 29:11 promise:

"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

I'd like to ask you a question. Which prophecy inspires more hope? Is it Hananiah's false prophecy of captivity for less than two years? Or is it Jeremiah's prophecy to "bloom where you are planted" and experience a long captivity of 70 years?

False prophecies about quick changes in circumstances are much more compelling. We want God to take away our problems. But God always has a greater purpose, and His promise is that He will prosper us through our problems. 

Babylon would last as an empire for 70 years. Jeremiah knew this, for God told him (see both Jeremiah 25:1-14 and Jeremiah 29:10). That means when Jeremiah sent his letter to the Jews in Babylon in 597 B.C. the Jews still had an additional fifty-eight years of captivity left. 58 more years of captivity versus 2 more years of captivity.

Hananiah's false prophecy of problems going away quickly sounds better and makes everyone feel better. But God's promise for prosperity in Jeremiah 29:11 is about prospering in the midst of your problems because you know God has a greater purpose, and your problems are part of that purpose.

You exist for God's purposes, not your personal pleasures. And though God's purposes for our lives are always best and good for His greater purpose, they are not all the time comfortable and pleasurable for personal pleasure. Don't waste your sorrows. God is good, and He's told us to bloom where He's planted us, for His glory and for our good.

The common trap laid for us by our enemy is the one where we measure our personal prosperity by how quickly God changes our environment for the better. It would be wise for all of us to stop assessing God's favor in this manner.

God's purposes are much broader than our individual lives. That doesn't mean God doesn't care about me or you, for He does. He gave each of us His only Son.

To "bloom where you are planted," is to trust that God knows the bigger picture and is at work on a grander scale, fulfilling a greater purpose that we can't even understand right now.

So any measurement of my personal prosperity or God's favor for me must always be independent of my current circumstances. God is at work even when I can't see it.

And what God is doing is much grander, much more glorious.

One of the men who heeded Jeremiah's words to "bloom where you are planted" was the prophet, Daniel. We know that Daniel often read Jeremiah's letters while he was in Babylonian captivity (see Daniel 9:2).

Daniel listened and obeyed God's instructions in Jeremiah 29:11. He bloomed where God planted him. He prospered in the midst of problems.

Daniel built a house. He planted a garden for his produce. He prayed for the wicked kings of Babylon. He lived in peace. He was present at the king's palace during October 539 B.C. -- exactly 70 years after Babylon had become a world empire - when the hand of God wrote on the wall "Mene, mene, tekel upharsin."

That very night in October 539 B.C. God's justice was executed against the Babylonians and the Babylonian Empire came to an end.

God had led His servant Cyrus, King of Persia, to divert the Euphrates River and the Persian army crawled under the great walls of Babylon on a dry river bed and took the city as their own. God's purpose for Babylon was over.

Daniel never left Persia to go back to Jerusalem, even though Cyrus allowed the Jews to return and rebuild the Temple and their city.

Daniel's tomb is in Susa (Iran), the ancient capital of Persia (modern Iran). Because the Persians loved Daniel's ability to "foresee the future," they deemed him the greatest "magi" of all.

The Persians revered Daniel, kept his scrolls in Persia and studied them at their universities. The magi in the east came to understand through reading Daniel's scroll (the book of Daniel), that a great King - a King above all Kings - would be born among the Jews.

Five hundred years after Daniel's death, magi from the ancient Babylonian and Persian Empire lands (i.g. "magi from the east") came to Jerusalem and asked Herod:

"Where is He who is born King of the Jews" (Matthew 2:2) 

The magi eventually sought Jesus because Daniel bloomed where he was planted.

I propose that if you find yourself in a difficult situation that God seems in no hurry to change, and if you learn like the ancient Jews to "bloom where you are planted," there will come a day when those around you will come looking for your King.

That's your greater purpose.

Note: This article is an excerpt from Wade's book Radically New.

5 Reasons It's Great To Be Living in the Year 2020

2020 is turning out to be a good year!

The Corona Virus spreads, the stock market plunges, universities cancel class gatherings, major league sports suspend their seasons, the NCAA cancels all college championship tournaments, and people practice social distancing.

There are 5 reasons these unique events in 2020 make this year a great year to be alive.

1. We discover purpose is better than pleasure.

My friend Rick Warren has written a book entitled The Purpose Driven Life. When we feel good about life because we are surrounded by those things that give us pleasure, when the pleasures are gone, we are more likely to find our purpose. Rick says we were planned for God's pleasure, formed for God's family, created to become like Christ, shaped for serving God, and made for a mission. Worth thinking about when you can't find your favorite NBA game on television.

"When you have a sense of wholeness in God, everything comes together for good and will settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of our lives."  Philippians 4:7 (The Message)

2. We learn character matters more than comfort.

John Wooden was a great basketball coach and an amazing encourager of young men. He was fond of telling his players: 

"The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching."

Social distancing allows me to ask the question, "Who am I?" I am who I am when nobody is watching. Ask yourself in 2020, "What am I thinking of when I am alone?" or maybe even better "Is my life lived as a display of good character at all times or is my life lived in a desire for great comfort at all times?" 2020 allows me to ask the difficult questions surrounding my character.

"We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." (Romans 5:3-4)

3. We practice selflessness over self-absorption. 

The purpose of withdrawing from society is not so much to protect ourselves as it is to protect others -  the most vulnerable in our society - from the Corona Virus. In 1918, the Spanish Flu killed mostly young men and women n their 20s. In 2020, Covid 19 is mostly taking the lives of those older in years. There's something very refreshing in life when we begin thinking of others more than ourselves.

I have a close friend in Enid who's earned his Bachelors Degree in Chemistry and Physics, his Masters in Chemical Engineering, his Ph.D. in Molecular Engineering, and his M.D. in cancer treatments. He is now working on his MBA. My friend is curing lymphoma. Two patents he possesses will save lives as soon as they pass peer review and clinical testing. At lunch the other day, this man told me he didn't care if he made a dime off his discoveries. All he cares about is helping people who are dying. That's selflessness, and it trumps self-absorption every time.

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or pride. Rather, in humility, value others above yourself." (Philippians 2:3) 

4. We contemplate the eternal as much as the temporal. 

The British Broadcasting Company reported in an investigative series fifteen years ago that "contemplating death changes how you think." It changes how you think for the better. 

What a great time to be alive. The entire world is thinking about death and mortality.  The British only discovered what the Bible has been telling us all along:

"Prepare to meet your God." (Amos 4:12)

One of the great blessings of the Corona Virus 2020 is that we learn to postpone our immediate gratification (assemblies in sports arenas) because of our future comprehension (a wide-spread virus that kills). The same principle of farsightedness is needed when it comes to preparation to meet our God. There's far greater benefit contemplating God these days than there is collecting toilet paper.

5. We awaken to gratefulness when we lose our settledness. 

Nobody likes disruption in life, but the old axiom, "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is true.

Rather than taking for granted our jobs, our families, our cities, our hobbies, our gatherings, and our lives, 2020 is teaching us gratefulness because we are in a season of loss.

"Giving thanks always and for everything". (Ephesians 5:20)

2020 is already turning out to be a great year.

The Moses Complex and Rulers Over God's People

Moses Strking the Rock at Meribah

There are two unbiblical practices in the present-day institutional church that foster the mistaken notion that there is an inherent authority in certain “offices of the church” that enable pastor/elders “being over other people” instead of “being the greatest servants of all the people.”

One of those false practices is the division between clergy and laity, where the former does all the work of ministry, and the latter pay the salaries of the former for doing the work.

I am not saying it is wrong to draw a salary for pastoring people, or for doing any other ministry in a local church for that matter. But I am saying that the division between clergy and laity is not a concept found in the text of scripture. 

All believers are called “ministers.” According to Jesus, there are to be no elevated positions of authority and power in His church (Matthew 20:25-28).

Sometimes people will be paid to do the work of the ministry because he [or she] is devoting full-time attention to the ministry. But that’s a far cry from being above - and ruling over - someone else in the fellowship.

The clearest example of what can result from elevating oneself over others in the congregation can be found, of all places, in the life of Moses and his leadership of Israel.

Who can forget the sad story in the Old Testament of Moses being forbidden by God to enter the Promised Land? THAT had been the greatest desire of his entire life.

But Moses made one fatal mistake that kept him from the Promised Land, and it was a doozy! What was the mistake that Moses made?

The usual reason theologians give is that Moses “struck the rock” with his staff at Meribah, instead of “speaking to the rock." That rock represented Christ. Paul tells us that the rock portrays Christ in 1 Corinthians 10. Moses striking the rock was a problem, but that does not paint the whole picture.

Early in the Exodus journey, Moses had been commanded to “strike the rock" at Meribah. He obeyed,  and when Moses struck the rock, water flowed from the rock! 

BUT, years later, coming a second time to the rock, according to the Numbers account, God commanded Moses this time to “speak to the rock." But Moses did not. Instead, in anger, Moses struck the rock again!

Water flowed anyway, but to see the whole picture of Moses' personal sin, which kept him from the Promised Land, we HAVE to understand Numbers 20:10-12 and what led Moses to strike the rock a second time, in opposition to God's command.

In verse 10 of Numbers 20, Moses stood in front of the people of Israel and chided them saying:

"Hear now, you rebels; [name calling deluxe] must WE [Aaron and I] fetch you water out of this rock?" [Temper on display.] Then, he struck the rock with his staff and abundant water came out for the people and their animals. [There is no clearer picture of the fact that the purposes of God are not thwarted by our silly acts of rebellion.]

But the next verse - v.12 actually holds the key to understanding the severity of this rebellious act. God said to Moses and Aaron:

"Because you believed Me not, [believed not what?] to SANCTIFY me in the eyes of the children of Israel, you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them."

The word SANCTIFY is from the Hebrew word "qadash" which means to “dedicate, consecrate, purify or cause to be seen as pure.”

What does it mean that at Meribah, the second time, Moses did NOT trust God enough to "set apart God" before the people?

Answer: In all other instances of the people rebelling and murming against God, Moses had been very careful to NOT speak as if he were the peoples' authority (God) over them, but to ONLY BE God's spokesman to them and to intercede for them (See Exodus 32:30-34; Numbers 11; 12; 14:1-21; and Numbers 16 as examples.) Moses recognized his place as one WITH Israel and though he WAS their servant/leader, He knew he WASN’T their authority (God)! Only God was over Israel.

So, the sin of Moses at Meribah, the sin that kept him from the Promised Land,  was Moses' failure to set God apart from himself.

Moses definitely had feelings of his own in terms of his personal disappointment in the people; but his grave mistake was setting himself above the people as their judge, spiritual authority, and even worse, their god. 

Moses made God appear unclean and impure to the people by speaking to them out of his [Moses] own angry heart and setting himself and Aaron apart and above (sanctified) among the people:

 "Hear now, you rebels; must WE [Aaron and I] fetch you water out of this rock?" [Numbers 20:10.]

That kind of hierarchical approach servant leadership is an egregious sin, one that kept Moses from his dream of entering the Promised Land.

Any servant leader that takes for himself an incorrect, inappropriate, spiritual authoritative right to speak to people that produces fear instead of love, is anathema to God back in Moses' day, and it is anathema to God today in the New Covenant Body of Christ.

This is exactly what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 20:25-26 when He said:

"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over people, and their great men exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant…” [NASV]

To make a difference between the clergy and the laity, as if the former has the spiritual authority and the latter has none, is the same category of mistake that Moses made, which caused him not to be permitted to move into the Promised land.

While in the New Covenant there is no loss of salvation when this "lording over others" happens, there is a loss of the blessings in the promised land (in a manner of speaking)

The Unbiblical Practice of Ruling Males in the Church

The other false practice that winds up elevating some people OVER others in the local church is when pastors, elders, or deacons are thought to be RULING LEADERS in the local church because of a supposed OFFICE of the pastor, elder, or deacon, that has a supposed “inherent authority” within the office. For this reason, some within a local fellowship will grant “authority” to the “pastor” [Southern Baptists have done this with the office of Deacon as well] because they believe God has given the pastor/elder [deacon] greater authority because of having that “office of” concept fostered by the KJV.

Neither of these concepts of authority over people has a textual basis in scripture and, thus, they lack a biblical foundation.

The constitution of an institutional [think 501c3 non-proft] church must grant “legal authority” to a group of trustees [or appointed people called "elders" or "deacons"], and may even call them "officers" of the 501c3 non-profit to operate within the guidelines of the state. But this is a cultural construct and practice and has no biblical basis at all.

Institutional churches may be closed by the state, but the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ's church.  "Legal authority” may be required by the state, but “legal authority” has nothing to do with “spiritual authority” in the church.

I will be taking BOTH the idea of “office of pastor” and “office of deacon” together to show the textual incorrectness of both.

I don’t deny that there were certain men set aside to serve the saints in a specific and practical way in the first century church. Acts 6 shows this as well as other passages. However, when New Testament believers used the Greek word diakonia (the KJV uses the word “deacon” the better word is “serving or servant”) to describe what was being done within that early congregation, they had in mind what had been seen in Jesus:

“Who made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant...[diakonos]” (Philippians 2:7).

What they had observed in Jesus, as illustrated in the washing of feet experience of John 13, His feeding the multitudes, His healing the sick, all being an example of one serving, can only be explained with the Greek word diakonia, which means “ministering or serving”. There was no hint in the minds of early disciples and authors of Scripture of any “inherent authority” in diakonia, nor was there any office of authority implied in that word either.

In fact, the general sense of the word “diakonia” throughout scripture is simply "to assist," which indicates not just to serve in general, but to work so as to benefit someone else. 

This servant spirit is in all things done for others, whether “the ministry (service) of tables” or“the ministry (service) of the Word”. Preaching truth is called a diakonea serving ministry in Acts 6:2-4. 

The ministry of serving tables through dishes and the ministry of serving truth through doctrine are both serving ministries without authority over anybody.

The Apostle Paul also uses the word “diakonos” to describe himself as a servant of the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:5), a servant of God (2 Corinthians 6:4), a servant of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:6), a servant of the gospel (Ephesians 3:7, Colossians 1:23) and a servant of the church (Colossians 1:25). All the passages above used the Greek word diakonos, but English translators often alternate between the English word "servant" and the English word "minister." Nothing wrong using both those English words when translating diakonos, for every follower of Jesus is to imitate Him, and He was a diakonos (Philippians Servants and ministers are the same things, and every Christian is a minister/servant. 

Paul noted that many of his co-workers were also servants. For example, the woman Phoebe is called a diakonos or minister/servant (see Romans 16:1).  

However, when King James and his translators in 1611 came across the word “diakonos” when describing Phoebe and other women (Priscilla, Lydia, etc.) they always used the English words helper or servant, and never the word "minister" as they often did when diakonos was used to describe men in Scripture.

For example, when King James and his men came across diakonis to describe Tychicus, (Ephesians 6:21, Colossians 4:7) Timothy, (1 Timothy 4:6) and Epaphras, it is always translated minister, and never “helper" or "servant."

As we have seen, the word diakonis in Scripture means "to assist" (help), "to serve" (servant), and "to minister" (minister). It is used in the Bible of both men and women. The English word "deacon" is only a transliteration of this word diakonis, not a translation of it. 

Why then, did King James and his translators call men "ministers" and "deacons" and women "helpers and servants" when the same Greek word (diakonos) describes them all? 

By 1611, the Church of England had a hierarchal structure of men who ruled over people in the church. They had  "deacons" and "ministers" (sometimes called bishops) who held spiritual authority over the laity. Could it be that English translators in the early 17th Century allowed cultural bias to creep into their translations of the Greek Scriptures to justify institutional church structure?

We do know that by the late 1500s, the Church of England had created the “Office of Deacon” and the "Office of Bishop" within the institutional Church of England, and wouldn't it be convenient if those offices could be shown in Scripture, with the Divine Right of the King to rule over everyone, wouldn't it King James? 

But let's not get on the Church of England too quickly for violating the Scriptures due to cultural bias without pointing our finger at we Southern Baptists who are doing the same thing. 

The Scriptures teach that all believers do the work of a deacon (diakonos) as servants of Christ and His people, servants of His message, and servants of one another, but one is hard-pressed to find “authority over” in that word, EVER!

Let me restate the problem with the word “office” in the English versions of the New Testament. It simply was NOT in the text of scripture! But, because the Church of England already had an “office of authority” called Deacon or Bishop, that cultural bias made its way into the King James Version. IT WAS ADDED! 

The Word OFFICE in the Bible Is Not There

Their concept of “church authority” is nowhere to be found in the TEXT of the sacred scriptures, but was a religious hierarchical system by 1611 that was carried over in the KJV translation. The translators practiced what is called eisegesis in their translation of the Greek into English, which means they read something into the text that is not there.

In fact, the word “office” occurs only three times in the King James Version of scripture, one time tied to the “office of deacon.” The other time it is tied to the “office of Bishop.” The final time in Romans 12:4 where the KJV says, “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office.”

Let’s look at those 3 times.

In 1 Timothy 3:13 Paul says this: 

“For they that have used the “office of a deacon” [there it is] will purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

The words, “have used the office of a deacon” were all used to define the ONE GREEK WORD, “diakoneo”, which is translated by A. H. Strong as: “To be a servant, attendant, domestic, to serve, to wait upon.” 

W.E. Vine, the marvelous Greek scholar of the last century, adds this about I Timothy 3:13:

 “The Revised Version rightly “omits office” and translates the verb “diakoneo” to mean simply to serve.”

The word “office” is an English addition to the text in I Timothy 3:13.

Throughout the entire New Testament, the word diakoneo is NEVER used to imply or show an office, and it certainly doesn’t imply “to rule”. It is the service done by one who is a servant to another person. The use of the words “have used the office of a deacon” was an attempt by the King James Version, as already stated, to identify an office that was already in operation at the time of translation.

But it isn’t just the incorrect inclusion of “Office of Deacon” in 1 Timothy 3:13 that leads the church astray. It is ALSO the erroneous concept of an “Office of Bishop” found in the King James Version rendering of 1 Timothy 3:1 where Paul said this about a bishop according to the KJV

“This is a true saying, If a man desire "the office of a bishop" [there it is again], he desires a good work.”

Again, the word “office” is NOT present in I Timothy 3:1. The word “bishop” is the single Greek word, episkopos which, as an aorist imperative, a noun used as a verb, means “to tend or to give oversight.” 

So, the word English word “office” was incorrectly placed in I Timothy 3:1, and the NOUN “bishop” was used to translate a VERB ("to tend, to oversee") because, as stated before, King James and his Church of England already had BISHOPS in 1611 who "ruled over people." It seems that King James and his boys wished to maintain their “hierarchical positions of authority” by adding to the Greek text words that were not found there at all. 

Adding to Scripture your cultural preference, and then demanding conformity to your preferences as if God's commanded them, is a dangerous practice indeed!

A proper translation of 1 Timothy 3:1 would simply be, 

“Whoever sets their heart on episcoping/bishoping (e.g. tending, serving, overseeing) others, desires an honorable task” 

There is no “office of bishop” at all in the text. It is just a person desiring a ministry of overseeing to which the Apostle is referring. 

The only other instance in the New Testament where the English word “office” is found is in Romans 12:4 where the KJV says:

 “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office.”

The English word “office” in this verse DOES NOT properly translate the Greek word at all. The word being translated “office” is praxis, which means “a doing or deed or function.”

Praxis is the same word Greek word in Romans 8:13:

 “...for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds (praxis) of the body, you will live.”

IN SUMMARY:

The “office of pastor/elder/bishop or deacon” as an office that conveys “inherent authority” in the institutional church does not exist in the text of the sacred Scriptures. 

If you declare that those Scriptures are your guide to faith and practice, then you look to the Scriptures of God, not the traditions of men, for your marching orders. 

That being so, it becomes clear that we must admit that there are cultural constructs and personal preferences that give rise to the mistaken notion of male (or female) hierarchal leadership in Christ's church. 

Leadership in Christ's church is by gifting, not gender; an offer to approach with favor, not an office of authority with fear; a humble spirit of service, not a haughty status of superiority.

(Source: The above article was written by my father, Paul Burleson. A few minor additions for clarity have been made by me. My father and I have put together a booklet entitled The Bible and Authority in the Church, which is available for a free download). 

Dr. Alfvén, Today's Heresy, Tomorrow's Orthodoxy

Hannes Alfvén in 1970

Hannes Alfvén (1908-1995) won the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physics for his work on magnetohydrodynamics.

Alfvén’s work was disputed for many years by the senior scientist in space physics, the British-American geophysicist Sydney Chapman. 

Alfvén’s and Chapman were at odds with each other in large part over the peer review system in academia that qualifies a person's work as scientific and sound prior to publication. 

Hannes Alfvén rarely benefited from the acceptance generally afforded senior scientists in scientific journals. 

For example, he once submitted a paper on the theory of magnetic storms and auroras to the American journal Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity. His paper was rejected on the ground that it did not agree with the theoretical calculations of conventional physics of the time. 

Hannes Alfvén was regarded as a person with unorthodox opinions in the field by many physicists. Stephen G. Brush notes that 

“..Alfvén remained an embittered outsider, winning little respect from other scientists even after he received the Nobel Prize..” (Stephen G. Brush, Book Reviews (2006) Physics in Perspective Volume 8, No 1, March 2006, pp.105).

Hannes Alfvén was often forced to publish his papers in obscure journals; Alfvén recalls in his autobiography:

“When I describe the plasma phenomena according to this formulism most referees do not understand what I say and turn down my papers. With the referee system which rules US science today, this means that my papers are rarely accepted by the leading US journals." (Hannes Alfvén, “Memoirs of a Dissident Scientist”, American Scientist, May-June 1988, pp.249-251).

Yet, Hannes Alfvén was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1970. In 1988, Alfvén was awarded the Bowie Medal by the American Geophysical Union for his work on comets and plasmas in the solar system.

Alfvén was only a handful of scientists permitted to be a foreign member of both the U.S. and Soviet Academies of Sciences.

Why am I interested in Hannes Alfvén?

In reading his autobiography and realizing that plasma physics in the year 2020 is confirming that Alfvén's theories of electromagnetic fields of currents throughout the plasma of space account for the formation, dimensions, and shapes of galaxies I am reminded that "the heresy today becomes the orthodoxy of tomorrow."