Mancow: Speaking my truth to Harvest Bible Chapel's Pastor James

Harvest Bible Chapel Pastor James MacDonald, 

left, and Mancow Muller at a men's retreat in 

Michigan.courtesy of Mancow Muller

I've listened to conservative pundit Mancow Muller on and off for years, he's funny, entertaining and always dead on point. Besides an awesome Van Dyke beard Mancow and I have something else in common; our past contains a pastor who in public preached a very good gospel. However behind closed doors our pastors were very different animals. 

The lawsuit Mancow mentions in this op-ed is a defamation lawsuit James MacDonald filed against Julie Roys, a reporter for the bi-weekly Christian World magazine,  who investigated Harvest and the blog  “The Elephant’s Debt,” begun by former church members Ryan Mahoney and Scott Bryant, who questioned the financial stability of the church and accused MacDonald of putting Harvest Bible $44 million in debt. Mancow is now considering a class action lawsuit against Harvest and MacDonald

Mancow: Speaking my truth to Harvest Bible Chapel's Pastor James By Mancow Muller

"Do you worship Jesus Christ or James MacDonald?" I asked someone yelling at me over the phone this past Sunday after I dared go to Harvest church again.

Dumbstruck to silence. Nothing. "Exactly," I said, "you can't answer me." The phone went dead. 

Last time I checked, the Bible says Jesus is the "author and finisher of our faith" and that should be our focus -- not Pastor James MacDonald.

"For it is time for Judgment to begin with God's household ..." 1 Peter 4:17

MacDonald's books line my shelves. His CDs are scattered about my car. I have only one Bible, but so much James MacDonald.

Two of my recent vacations have been with him, including one halcyon day where he baptized me in the Jordan River in the Holy Land of Israel.

At Harvest Bible Chapel, with its network of seven Chicago-area campuses run by MacDonald, I was but one of the many thousands seeking Christ. I wanted my twin daughters and my formerly Catholic wife to have a real, living and current relationship with Jesus Christ just as I have.

Dressed in a weathered black leather jacket covering his hulking frame, snow-white Van Dyke beard and gleaming bald dome, MacDonald makes for a striking figure at the pulpit. His Bible-based sermons are some of the most entertaining you'll hear. You leave one of his services on a Sunday jazzed and revved up for the week ahead.

His preaching is good for the soul and good for the community.

Big questions are asked and answered at Harvest. Is there a God? Do I matter? What happens after we die? Everyone says the same thing when they witness his command of the altar. "What a gift he has!" But gifts are easy to abuse, easy to take for granted.

The Problem With Mr. Jones

By now you've heard of the left wing shut down of Alex Jones, bull horn of the InfoWars website. I am not a fan of Alec Jones, I've seen a total of maybe 10 minutes of his raucous bluster and came away feeling like I lost IQ points.

YouTube, Facebook, Apple podcast, and Spotify all removed Alex Jones' content from their sites stating that he violated "Community Standards". Oddly, Twitter who is the loudest liberal crybaby of social media sites did not shut him down stating that his content there, the same content on YouTube, Facebook, Apple podcast, and Spotify, did not violate their policies. Twitter shuts down conservatives constantly for posting far softer content that the bellicose clamor of Mr. Jones. Very interesting.

Alex Jones is not a conservative like you and I would consider a conservative, he calls himself a "paleo-conservative" a title which I claimed for myself about 1.4 seconds after the left coined the phrase "neo-conservative". Alex is actually a Ron Paul libertarian. If you've never heard of Alex Jones or heard his bellicose tirades, do not feel like you missed anything. Mr. Jones is loud and bold and quite often dead wrong and to be honest I'm thankful for the quiet on YouTube and can get back to things more important than his anger. I am a very strict strict constructionist so I don't have any first amendment concerns here, but I do have some serious freedom of speech concerns (they are two different things), but discussion of that is for a different forum.

6 Fitness Tips for Senior Church Members

Several (actually very many) weeks ago Jason Lewis of Strongwell.org asked if he could write a guest column centering on the health of our senior saints. Being a member of a church with quite a few folks with longevity I said "Sure!" and proceeded to allow life to interfere and his article got pushed back as much as my articles did. Here at long last is his article, and being a veteran of various forms of physical therapy I can say the advice for physical fitness for the elderly in this article is perfect. I personally like the advice on walking because I know for a fact that cardiologists set great store in walking

6 Fitness Tips for Senior Church Members

For seniors who are concerned about their physical health, they may not know where to turn for help and support. Fortunately, many seniors who are active in their churches find exactly that from fellow congregation members when they make a commitment to getting fit. From exercise groups to accountability partners, church families are a blessing for seniors who want to improve their physical health.

1. Join Group Exercises

Churches often have large fellowship halls and education wings that they can open for various classes throughout the week. And, many churches across the country are opening their doors for group exercise classes for seniors
who want to enjoy socializing, getting fit, and improving their overall health and balance. Some churches set their exercises to Christian music. Other churches focus on daily devotions to guide yoga classes, stretching exercises, and  meditation.

No matter the type of exercise being offered, seniors find that joining exercise groups at church provides them with a welcoming, comfortable atmosphere that they have difficulty finding at gyms and other fitness centers. Seniors enjoy participating in exercises with their friends from church and are more likely to attend class in their church than elsewhere.

2. Designate a Fitness Buddy

Studies show that people who exercise with a friend and have a fitness buddy stay committed and enjoy their workouts more than those who don’t. Seniors who want to get and stay fit are more successful when they have a support system because fitness buddies provide support, accountability, motivation, and perhaps even healthy competition. The key is for seniors to find a fitness buddy who motivates them and pushes them to keep going.

Churches that promote fitness buddies as a critical component of getting fit also should welcome members and non-members to participate in their group exercises and fitness classes. Seniors will feel more comfortable when they can choose their fitness buddy, and the buddy may be a non-member. And, churches have a better chance of gaining new members when they open their doors to everyone.

3. Start Working for the Church or Another Church Member

If you are a senior who likes to stay active but does not enjoy working out, you should enquire about becoming the housekeeper or groundskeeper for your church or for fellow church members at their homes. People who clean for a living bend, stretch, lift, and move quite a bit; becoming a housekeeper will keep you fit even if you don’t feel like you are working out while cleaning. Groundskeepers also find themselves getting more fit as they complete tasks such as raking leaves, using a push mower, and shoveling a walkway.

4. Invite Fellow Senior Church Members to Go for a Walk

Walking is an ideal way to exercise and get fit regardless of your age or athletic skill level. The more you walk, the more time you spend outside, and the more you will relieve your stress. Walking has been shown to stop bone mass loss in older adults, strengthen muscles, improve circulation, improve sleep, increase mental sharpness, improve balance and stability, and increase your lifespan.

If you don’t like to walk alone, invite your fellow senior church members to start walking with you. You may walk to church on Sundays when the weather cooperates, plan to walk after Sunday services, or meet during the week at a nearby park or large shopping center that welcomes walkers to get fit indoors when the weather does not permit you to walk outside. Seniors who walk in groups tend to walk a little faster and a little further than when they walk alone. If you don’t get enough interest in your walking group, advertise in the church newsletter or bulletin to gain more members.

5. Become a Mentor

To get well and do good at once, consider becoming a mentor to one of the younger members of your church. Many youth and young adults attend church because they want to be closer to God and better themselves, and having a senior member to advise them on both faith- and life-related subjects could be extremely meaningful to both of you. This kind of partnership is also a great way to get in your daily dose of physical activity: ask your mentee to go on a walk with you as you discuss this week’s sermon, or invite them to tend to the church garden with you while you explore ways he or she can work out a personal issue at home. You’ll be so engaged in your conversation and bonding that you won’t even notice you’re exercising.

6. Seek Guidance

Your mental wellness is just as important as your physical wellness. Your faith will provide you with a framework to tackle life’s challenges as you age, but being a church member also offers you great opportunities to seek counsel from others. Whether you suffer from a substance abuse problem or are simply lonely and depressed following the loss of a spouse, your pastor and fellow church members, especially Sunday school class members, will offer support, advice, and a listening ear, when needed. Sometimes simply knowing there’s someone out there who cares about how you’re doing can make you feel a lot better when you’re struggling.

Senior church members have several options when it comes to getting fit. You may want to try joining an exercise group at church, designating a fitness buddy, working for the church or a fellow church member, inviting fellow senior church members to join you for a walk, or becoming a mentor to a younger congregant.

Image via Pixabay by ZOE-Animation-Studio

Getting Closer To The Throne

At 7:12 PM EDT last night I officially became a sexagenarian which, if you don't know what the word means, isn't what it sounds like. And like anyone else reaching a milestone in their progress toward the Throne of Mercy I pondered and prayed a prayer of thanks for God's guidance in reaching that point. 

I don't have a problem with reaching 60 but King Solomon wasn’t all that enthusiastic about growing old. In fact he was really upset with his age. In Ecclesiastes 12 he says

1 

1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come And the years approach of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun is darkened and the light and the moon and the stars and the clouds return after the rain;

Then he goes on

6 Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken, And the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the pulley is broken at the well, 7 And the dust returns to the earth as it once was,  and the life breath returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, all things are vanity!

He finally finishes up Ecclesiastes with the words For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Solomon was very disheartened. He obviously was looking back on his life and realized where he fell short far too late. He had it all and squandered it all away in his pursuit of power. His selfish ambition lead to the division and fall of Israel, and as he neared the end he realized the folly of his actions.

Spurgeon Thursday - Christ and the Pope

Christ Did Not Die for Pope To Be Glorified: 

Christ did not redeem His Church with His blood that the Pope might come in and steal away the glory! He never came from Heaven to earth and poured out His very heart that He might purchase His people so that a poor sinner, a mere man, should be set upon high to be admired by all the nations and to call himself God’s representative on earth!

The Lord Jesus Christ has always been the Head of His Church

It is not possible for any to be Head in the Church of Christ, but Jesus! Has God exalted Him and made Him to be the Head over all things—and it is usurping the prerogative of Christ for any to suppose they can be Head of the Church of Christ, for Jesus Christ is the Head and He, alone, holds power over ecclesiastical organizations! Over the sacred mystical, blood-bought, redeemed, regenerated Church of Christ there never can, by any possibility, be any other Head but Jesus Christ, the Lord Himself! 

Now mark, God has exalted the Lord Jesus Christ in the government of His Church All authority, all authoritative rules in Zion come through Jesus Christ. All true teaching in Zion comes from His lips. We call no man, master, upon earth, for One is our Master, and that One is Christ. No man is Rabbi in the Church, but He is our Rabboni, our Teacher, and all other teachers are thieves and robbers if they teach on their own authority. They only are accepted as the Lord’s shepherds, who speak Christ’s Truth in Christ’s name—and in the power of His own Spirit. God has made Christ to rule supremely throughout the Church, and in this He has glorified Him!

Christ Did Not Die for Pope To Be Glorified by C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892); an excerpt from Christ Glorified: Sermon No. 3436 delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, on Thursday Evening, February 4, 1869.

Spurgeon Thursday - Christian Soldiers

5 

The Church of Christ is continually represented under the figure of an army; yet its Captain is the Prince of Peace; its object is the establishment of peace, and its soldiers are men of a peaceful disposition.

The spirit of war is at the extremely opposite point to the spirit of the gospel. Yet nevertheless, the church on earth has, and until the second advent must be, the church militant, the church armed, the church warring, the church conquering. And how is this?

It is the very order of things that so it must be. Truth could not be truth in this world if it were not a warring thing, and we should at once suspect that it were not true if error were friends with it. The spotless purity of truth must always be at war with the blackness of heresy and lies. ~ Charles H. Spurgeon

WWUTT Wednesday - What To Look For In A New Church

Arrgh! Church "shopping" can be the worst, am I right? You find yourself looking for a church that fills your needs and desires and that takes a whole lot of time and effort. One of the worst parts for me was getting to know the people and having to say goodbye because you finally got to know the teachings and found them lacking in some manner. 

As the great falling away continues, folks who are in a church that suddenly veers in a downward direction will be looking for a new church. I know a few folks that currently are in the search for a new church home for purely biblical reasons.

What should we look for in a new church - should we look for one with the best music? Best children's programs? Monthly pot-luck vs Starbucks in the foyer? Mean congregational age? Assigned seating? Valet parking?

Luckily our friends at When We Understand The Text have come up with a checklist to keep our minds on point when searching for our new church home.

Church Politics for Politics Sake

Recently the Western Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church, elected Rev. Karen Oliveto of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco to serve as a bishop of The United Methodist Church. Rev. Oliveto has been described as “an openly lesbian clergyperson.”

“An openly lesbian clergyperson” is a bit of an understatement as she is married to a woman. In my little town out on the prairie our local Methodist church sent a letter to their parishioners telling them of Ms Oliveto's election and asking for calm. What the letter did not do was address my biggest question: is she qualified for the position? Her qualifications are what must be addressed first, everything after that comes down to personal opinion.

Is she academically qualified? Personally I don't know simply because I'm not familiar with the academic requirements of a Methodist bishop. She has a Masters of Divinity from the Pacific School of Religion and a  Ph.D. in Religion and Society from Drew University, she's an  adjunct professor of United Methodist Studies at Pacific School of Religion where she recently served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. So yeah, I suppose she's got all the blocks filled out for educational requirements. 

What is a Church Really For?

Some people will be shocked when they
find out what the church is really for

This was originally posted by Glenn Chatfield at The Watchman's Bagpipes on February 6, 2010. All Scripture in this article is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible

What is the reason we assemble together as believers? What was the biblical purpose for assembling, and should it still be the purpose?

Whenever the Bible speaks of the Christians assembling together, what do we see taking place? There really isn’t a whole lot in the Bible about their assemblies for worship, but let’s start with a look at Acts.

Chapter 2, verse 42 we find “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.”

Continuing to chapter 20, verses 7-11 we find: “On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he extended his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were assembled, and a young man named Eutychus was sitting on a window sill and sank into a deep sleep as Paul kept on speaking. When he was overcome by sleep he fell down from the third story, and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, threw himself on him, embraced him, and said, ‘Don’t be alarmed, for his life is in him!’ After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, he conversed a considerable time until dawn. Then he left.”

1 Corinthians 11:17-26 is a discussion by Paul about their misuse of the Lord’s table, and he gives them appropriate instructions. This tells me that the Lord’s table (or as many call it, Communion) was a common part of their gathering.

Spurgeon Thursday - The Church That The World Likes Best

WWUTT Wednesday - Do You Have to Go to Church to Be a Christian?

Christian, you know whom I'm talking about when I mention "Easter Bunnies". I'm not talking about the guy on the left here, he should never be allowed in a Christian church. The Easter Bunnies  I'm talking about are those folks that only show up on Christmas and Easter.

I'm not sure why Easter Bunnies exist outside of the Roman Catholic church. In Protestant denominations there is no such thing as a "holy day of obligation" (a day on which a Roman Catholic is required to attend mass). The RCC grades on attendance, and their catechism clearly states there's no salvation outside of their church so they have to show up when attendance is mandatory. We don't have such rules in Protestantism, we just have the bible and the desire to be one with Christ. But nonetheless we still have Easter Bunnies. 

Why don't we see our brother and sister bunnies on the other 50 Sunday's of the year? When you see them on this Easter Sunday remind them that we love them, we miss them, and remind them of this:

How To Find a Good Church

Church

Love The Church

In 1991 John MacArthur gave a sermon about why he loved the Church. He was asked why he didn't go into a sports career (he was a star football player in college) or go on to be a radio preacher, or the president of a seminary instead of remaining a preacher. He went on to explain why he loved the Church and being part of a church and his reasoning is as sound as it is wonderful. He put into words the same reasons why I love the Church but couldn't articulate.

The first reason, and the best as far as I'm concerned, is the fact that the Church is the only thing Jesus built. He didn't build a seminary or a radio ministry, He built a church:

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:18)

---

The Bones of a Church

I've been following John MacArthurs "Anatomy of a Church" series of lectures/sermons and his descriptions really strike home. Readers will know of my distaste for man-centered churches whose main goal is to worship the human ego, and if you agree with my distaste for the Church of The Human Ego, Dr. John's words are a breath of fresh air. If you disagree, Dr. MacArthur's words are still a breath of fresh air, it's just that you've been sucking stale air. 

The anatomy starts with the support structure, the skeleton. Dr. MacArthur identifies five main bones that are needed to support a church in a Godly, loving way.

Bone #1 - a High View of God. It is imperative that any church that claims to be Christian to view itself as an institution for the glory of God, everything else the church says and does is secondary to that primary purpose. It seems like this is a no-brainer, but if you look at some churches they have programs and workshops to improve yourself, to improve your kids, to improve your marriage. The church has morphed from an institution designed to love and glorify God to a workshop to make you feel better about yourself. We no longer worship God but worship the 'seeker'.

We dragged God off his throne and made him subservient to us, a mystical self-help guru that loves us regardless of what we do and does what we demand. Instead of actually worshiping our creator our worship service has devolved into singing inane songs with all the musical complexity of a door bell containing repetitious lyrics that Jesus forbid us in Matthew 6:7 written to make us feel good about ourselves. So many do not know how to bow down to Jesus, to tremble at the horror of our sins, to thank Him with tears in our eyes for not squashing us like we deserve. 

Seeker Sensitive Churches - The Yoke's On You

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (NIV) (2 Corinthians 6:14)

 I've heard that verse being used in regards to marital and romantic relationships between a saved Christian and an unbeliever, but if we look at the actual context of the verse it's not really about that. Using the 20/20 rule (to gain the proper context read 20 verses before and 20 verses after any verse you want to use) we see that Paul isn't talking about marriage in 2 Corinthians 6:14, his discourse on marriage is found in 1 Corinthians 7:12-16, but avoiding being spiritually unevenly yoked in a personal relationship is still good advice. However the context of 2 Corinthians 6:14 is in the context of the ministry of the Corinthians, the Church of Corinth. Let's look again in context: 

14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? 16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 “Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate,” says the Lord. “And do not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you. 18 “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty. 1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 6: 14-18, 2 Corinthians 7:1)

Officer Down

On October 8th, at 7:10 AM an Ontario CA. police officer was motoring from his dispatch office to another police location for some training. He wasn't on patrol, he wasn't in pursuit, he was just moving from point A to point B on police business. As he drove the 50 MPH speed limit in the right lane of a divided 6 lane street the 18 wheeler in the lane to his left chose to make a right hand turn into a driveway. Without warning the truck slewed right and the officer's field of vision was suddenly filled with 23,000 lbs of steel. His motorcycle struck the front right section of the prime mover and the only thing that kept the truck from rolling over him was the fact that the lug nuts of the trucks front wheel caught his motorcycle's foot peg and flipped the bike launching him over 50' through the air until he eventually smashed into the pavement. Two hours later my wife called me at work, "My brother Rob has been hurt." Thus began the longest October in our lives. 

Reflections In A Big Church

I don't like crowds, to me a crowd is just an angry mob waiting to happen. To me little good comes from huge crowds, huge good comes from little crowds. Where do you think you could find justice: a jury of 12 or a mob of 12,000?

And when you take a huge crowd and put them in a church many things can happen, some of them good: my 'bible study partner',  John MacArthur, is in a big church. Raul Reis, whom I truly admire and firmly believe God is guiding, is in a big church. Greg Laurie, huge church. Chuck Smith started a HUGE church, he started by preaching the Word of God to hippies and surfers and even facing death continues with the same fervor he had during the Jesus movement. 

On the other hand, big churches, really big churches, contain people I don't trust so much at all: Tony Campolo, Joel Osteen, Rodney Howard-Brown, Rick Warren, Joyce Meyers, C. Peter Wagner, T.D. Jakes, Steven Furtic...  None of these people I would follow to a free buffet. However I've met pastors glowing with the love of God in small churches I'd follow into a mine field to retrieve a live grenade. 

Maundy Thursday

²² While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” ²³ And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. ²⁴ And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. ²⁵ Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (Mark 14:22-25) 

The Great Falling Away - Every Church a Hard Hat Zone?

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,(2 Thessalonians 2:3)

Sometimes I read the prophesys and wonder "Why do you have to be so accurate?" Maybe the better question is "Why should I be here now?" I don't like Ugly, and it's getting really Ugly out there; false gospels preached in order for the minister to become more popular, sins are being accepted as "life choices" in order for that particular church to appear "inclusive",  perversions of the bible are being produced to make sin appear to be a virtue. Maybe I would have been happier in the late 18th to early 19th century when  men were men, Christianity was Christianity, and locomotives burned coal and boiled water.

Two thousand years ago the Apostle Paul prophesied that there would be "the apostasy" or a great falling away from the word of God before the appearance of the beast as prophesied in the book of Revelation. If you look with discernment fortified with knowledge of scripture you'll see the falling away as it happens. We're not just talking about daughters of satan dancing naked in the moonlight swearing allegiance to "the old religion" (that goes all the way back to the 1950's), nor are we simply talking about evangelical atheists whose highest form of worship is treating themselves to Starbucks as a reward for swearing at a Christian school child. Our biggest problem is within the church itself.