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SINCE PROPHECY IS SUCH A HOT TOPIC THESE DAYS, DID YOU EVER WONDER WHAT THE TRIBULATION SAINTS WILL STUDY AFTER THE BODY OF CHRIST IS RAPTURED?

Doctrine for The Tribulation Saints after the rapture of the Body of Christ: Here Israel is now back at the forefront under the law against the imminent judgment and earthly return of The Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Banned From Church
Reviving an ancient practice, churches are exposing sinners and shunning those who won't repent.
By Alexandra Alter - (January 18, 2008; Page W1 from the Wall Street Journal)
 

On a quiet Sunday morning in June, as worshippers settled into the pews at Allen Baptist Church in southwestern Michigan, Pastor Jason Burrick grabbed his cellphone and dialed 911. When a dispatcher answered, the preacher said a former congregant was in the sanctuary. "And we need to, um, have her out A.S.A.P."

Half an hour later, 71-year-old Karolyn Caskey, a church member for nearly 50 years who had taught Sunday school and regularly donated 10% of her pension, was led out by a state trooper and a county sheriff's officer. One held her purse and Bible. The other put her in handcuffs.

The charge was trespassing, but Mrs. Caskey's real offense, in her pastor's view, was spiritual. Several months earlier, when she had questioned his authority, he'd charged her with spreading "a spirit of cancer and discord" and expelled her from the congregation. "I've been shunned," she says.

Her story reflects a growing movement among some conservative Protestant pastors to bring back church discipline, an ancient practice in which suspected sinners are privately confronted and then publicly castigated and excommunicated if they refuse to repent. While many Christians find such practices outdated, pastors in large and small churches across the country are expelling members for offenses ranging from adultery and theft to gossiping, skipping service and criticizing church leaders.

Dave Krieger/Getty Images
 

The revival is part of a broader movement to restore churches to their traditional role as moral enforcers, Christian leaders say. Some say that contemporary churches have grown soft on sinners, citing the rise of suburban megachurches where pastors preach self-affirming messages rather than focusing on sin and redemption. Others point to a passage in the gospel of Matthew that says unrepentant sinners must be shunned.

Causing Disharmony
Watermark Community Church, a non-denominational church in Dallas that draws 4,000 people to services, requires members to sign a form stating they will submit to the "care and correction" of church elders. Last week, the pastor of a 6,000-member megachurch in Nashville, Tenn., threatened to expel 74 members for gossiping and causing disharmony unless they repented. The congregants had sued the pastor for access to the church's financial records.
 

First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Ala., a 1,000-member congregation, expels five to seven members a year for "blatant, undeniable patterns of willful sin," which have included adultery, drunkenness and refusal to honor church elders. About 400 people have left the church over the years for what they view as an overly harsh persecution of sinners, Pastor Jeff Noblit says.
 

The process can be messy, says Al Jackson, pastor of Lakeview Baptist Church in Auburn, Ala., which began disciplining members in the 1990s. Once, when the congregation voted out an adulterer who refused to repent, an older woman was confused and thought the church had voted to send the man to hell.

Karolyn Caskey was expelled from Allen Baptist Church after clashing with the pastor.
 

Amy Hitt, 43, a mortgage officer in Amissville, Va., was voted out of her Baptist congregation in 2004 for gossiping about her pastor's plans to buy a bigger house. Her ouster was especially hard on her twin sons, now 12 years old, who had made friends in the church, she says. "Some people have looked past it, but then there are others who haven't," says Ms. Hitt, who believes the episode cost her a seat on the school board last year; she lost by 42 votes.

Scholars estimate that 10% to 15% of Protestant evangelical churches practice church discipline -- about 14,000 to 21,000 U.S. congregations in total. Increasingly, clashes within churches are spilling into communities, splitting congregations and occasionally landing church leaders in court after congregants, who believed they were confessing in private, were publicly shamed.

In the past decade, more than two dozen lawsuits related to church discipline have been filed as congregants sue pastors for defamation, negligent counseling and emotional injury, according to the Religion Case Reporter, a legal-research database. Peggy Penley, a Fort Worth, Texas, woman whose pastor revealed her extramarital affair to the congregation after she confessed it in confidence, waged a six-year battle against the pastor, charging him with negligence. Last summer, the Texas Supreme Court dismissed her suit, ruling that the pastor was exercising his religious beliefs by publicizing the affair.

Courts have often refused to hear such cases on the grounds that churches are protected by the constitutional right to free religious exercise, but some have sided with alleged sinners. In 2003, a woman and her husband won a defamation suit against the Iowa Methodist conference and its superintendent after he publicly accused her of "spreading the spirit of Satan" because she gossiped about her pastor. A district court rejected the case, but the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the woman's appeal on the grounds that the letter labeling her a sinner was circulated beyond the church.

Advocates of shunning say it rarely leads to the public disclosure of a member's sin. "We're not the FBI; we're not sniffing around people's homes trying to find out some secret sin," says Don Singleton, pastor of Ridgeview Baptist Church in Talladega, Ala., who says the 50-member church has disciplined six members in his 2½ years as pastor. "Ninety-nine percent of these cases never go that far."

When they do, it can be humiliating. A devout Christian and grandmother of three, Mrs. Caskey moves with a halting gait, due to two artificial knees and a double hip replacement. Friends and family describe her as a generous woman who helped pay the electricity bill for Allen Baptist, in Allen, Mich., when funds were low, gave the church $1,200 after she sold her van, and even cut the church's lawn on occasion. She has requested an engraved image of the church on her tombstone.

Gossip and Slander
Her expulsion came as a shock to some church members when, in August 2006, the pastor sent a letter to the congregation stating Mrs. Caskey and an older married couple, Patsy and Emmit Church, had been removed for taking "action against the church and your preacher." The pastor, Mr. Burrick, told congregants the three were guilty of gossip, slander and idolatry and should be shunned, according to several former church members.

"People couldn't believe it," says Janet Biggs, 53, a former church member who quit the congregation in protest.

The conflict had been brewing for months. Shortly after the church hired Mr. Burrick in 2005 to help revive the congregation, which had dwindled to 12 members, Mrs. Caskey asked him to appoint a board of deacons to help govern the church, a tradition outlined in the church's charter. Mr. Burrick said the congregation was too small to warrant deacons. Mrs. Caskey pressed the issue at the church's quarterly business meetings and began complaining that Mr. Burrick was not following the church's bylaws. "She's one of the nicest, kindest people I know," says friend and neighbor Robert Johnston, 69, a retired cabinet maker. "But she won't be pushed around."

Karolyn Caskey reads her Bible.

In April 2006, Mrs. Caskey received a stern letter from Mr. Burrick. "This church will not tolerate this spirit of cancer and discord that you would like to spread," it said. Mrs. Caskey, along with Mr. and Mrs. Church, continued to insist that the pastor follow the church's constitution. In August, she received a letter from Mr. Burrick that said her failure to repent had led to her removal. It also said he would not write her a transfer letter enabling her to join another church, a requirement in many Baptist congregations, until she had "made things right here at Allen Baptist."

She went to Florida for the winter, and when she returned to Michigan last June, she drove the two miles to Allen Baptist as usual. A church member asked her to leave, saying she was not welcome, but Mrs. Caskey told him she had come to worship and asked if they could speak after the service. Twenty minutes into the service, a sheriff's officer was at her side, and an hour later, she was in jail.

"It was very humiliating," says Mrs. Caskey, who worked for the state of Michigan for 25 years before retiring from the Department of Corrections in 1992. "The other prisoners were surprised to see a little old lady in her church clothes. One of them said, 'You robbed a church?' and I said, 'No, I just attended church.' "

Word quickly spread throughout Allen, a close-knit town of about 200 residents. Once a thriving community of farmers and factory workers, Allen consists of little more than a strip of dusty antiques stores. Mr. and Mrs. Church, both in their 70s, eventually joined another Baptist congregation nearby.

(Go to next Column for conclusion)

GRACE - God's Riches At Christ's Expense.......

BIBLE - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.......

Today's World News

A PRAYER FOR THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE.....

The following excerpt is from our word-by-word expository from the book of Ephesians:

15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

OUR KNOWLEDGE:
Paul was thankful for the opportunity to fellowship and to teach these dear Ephesians. He ceased not to give thanks to God for them, instead of “fruit inspecting” them. His prayer was that "The Father of Glory" would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation (apokalupsis - disclosure of truth) in the full and complete knowledge of Him!
Note: Why would Paul ask The Father of glory to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him? Shouldn’t we already have that? I believe that God answered Paul’s prayer and that we do indeed possess the capability of understanding the full complete knowledge of Him. However, God the Holy Spirit will only deploy knowledge and wisdom when we have put aside our pride and show ourselves approved to receive His counsel versus man’s counsel in regards to the mystery. God in all of His dispensings to mankind will never violate his free will.

On a more personal note, whenever someone asks me to pray for them (or someone else) about a particular issue or problem I take quick inventory. If I perceive that this person does not understand what Christ calls "the mystery" I think of these verses! My prayer then is verses 15 through 22; nothing more, nothing less! Without a solid understanding of what these verses mean to believers under this marvelous dispensing of grace any other prayer really doesn't seem to make much sense.... 

Paul also prayed:

1) That our eyes would be enlightened.
2) That we may know the hope of His calling.
3) That we may know what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints is.
4) That we may know His exceeding power to us who believe according to the might of His power
 

What kind of power Paul??   Exceeding power!
Huperballo
 1) to surpass in throwing, to throw over or beyond any thing
 2) to transcend, surpass, exceed, excel
 3) excelling, exceeding

....."God the Holy Spirit will only deploy knowledge and wisdom when we have put aside our pride and show ourselves approved to receive His counsel versus man’s counsel in regards to the mystery"....

HIS GREATNESS:
1. Christ’s mighty power has been demonstrated to all mankind through the resurrection.
2. Christ is currently seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenlies.
3. In this seating, Christ is far above all principality, might, and dominion in every name that is named in this world and in the world that is to come!
4. Christ is the head of all things including the church of this dispensation called “The Body” which is identified as His body, which completes all things!
 

Far above: above a thing or place; of rank or power.
Principality: origin, beginnings (implies prior to the creation of angels both demonic and angelic…)
Power: total power, judicially, by choice, by authority, by rule
Might: Dunamis - inherent power, moral power, the power to influence, strength in numbers.
Dominion: government, lordship

In all of His power, dominion, might and position, we are placed in Him!!...What a deal...all for the price of believing. Paul as instructed by the risen Christ tells us about His glory for our edification.

Banned from Church (Con't)

About 25 people stopped attending Allen Baptist Church after Mrs. Caskey was shunned, according to several former church members.

Current members say they support the pastor's actions, and they note that the congregation has grown under his leadership. The simple, white-washed building now draws around 70 people on Sunday mornings, many of them young families. "He's a very good leader; he has total respect for the people," says Stephen Johnson, 66, an auto parts inspector, who added that Mr. Burrick was right to remove Mrs. Caskey because "the Bible says causing discord in the church is an abomination."

Mrs. Caskey went back to the church about a month after her arrest, shortly after the county prosecutor threw out the trespassing charge. More than a dozen supporters gathered outside, some with signs that read "What Would Jesus Do?" She sat in the front row as Mr. Burrick preached about "infidels in the pews," according to reports from those present.

Once again, Mrs. Caskey was escorted out by a state trooper and taken to jail, where she posted the $62 bail and was released. After that, the county prosecutor dismissed the charge and told county law enforcement not to arrest her again unless she was creating a disturbance.

In the following weeks, Mrs. Caskey continued to worship at Allen Baptist. Some congregants no longer spoke to her or passed the offering plate, and some changed seats if she sat next to them, she says.

Mr. Burrick repeatedly declined to comment on Mrs. Caskey's case, calling it a "private ecclesiastical matter." He did say that while the church does not "blacklist" anyone, a strict reading of the Bible requires pastors to punish disobedient members. "A lot of times, flocks aren't willing to submit or be obedient to God," he said in an interview before a Sunday evening service. "If somebody is not willing to be helped, they forfeit their membership."

In Christianity's early centuries, church discipline led sinners to cover themselves with ashes or spend time in the stocks. In later centuries, expulsion was more common. Until the late 19th century, shunning was widely practiced by American evangelicals, including Methodists, Presbyterians and Baptists. Today, excommunication rarely occurs in the U.S. Catholic Church, and shunning is largely unheard of among mainline Protestants.

Little Consensus
Among churches that practice discipline, there is little consensus on how sinners should be dealt with, says Gregory Wills, a theologian at Southern Baptist Theological seminary. Some pastors remove members on their own, while other churches require agreement among deacons or a majority vote from the congregation.

Since Mrs. Caskey's second arrest last July, the turmoil at Allen Baptist has fizzled into an awkward stalemate. Allen Baptist is an independent congregation, unaffiliated with a church hierarchy that might review the ouster. Supporters have urged Mrs. Caskey to sue to have her membership restored, but she says the matter should be settled in the church. Mr. Burrick no longer calls the police when Mrs. Caskey shows up for Sunday services.

Since November, Mrs. Caskey has been attending a Baptist church near her winter home in Tavares, Fla. She plans to go back to Allen Baptist when she returns to Michigan this spring.
"I don't intend to abandon that church," Mrs. Caskey says. "I feel like I have every right to be there."
 

Write to Alexandra Alter at alexandra.alter@wsj.com

COFFEE CORNER

Mail Call!   While at work, Joe Smith received an e-mail about some disturbing news that stated "Due to the expiration of important certifications, your access to area XYZ has been revoked". Joe knew that this could be a major problem in that he would not be able to get his work completed without access to area XYZ! However, after further review of the e-mail, the man quickly discovered that he was not the intended recipient but instead "copied"  or "cc'd" as a reference only! As it turns out, a collogue of his was the man who lost his access! Joe, as the superintendent of area XYZ, simply needed to be aware of this. For a brief moment, Joe confused his TO mail with his CC mail. Not understanding that distinction for those brief seconds after reading the message caused severe anxiety for Joe until he realized the message was indeed TO someone else!  In a much similar example, when we read the bible, identifying our TO  mail is very important lest we make the same fundamental mistake as the person above. Without understanding the distinction between our "to" mail and our "cc" or our "reference only" mail, believers inadvertently "read themselves" into areas of the bible that God did not intend. The result when this happens: confusion! (see The Introduction of Dispensationalism)