IN THE GREAT HAND OF GOD, I SOON WILL STAND

As the poet of old once said, "How do I love thee, let me count the ways" - causes me to apply that inquiry to my love and concern for my many special friends and lovable Christians that make up the membership of the Everman Church of Christ, but more importantly, my relationship with my Father in Heaven, which is the ultimate, in unrequited love. Since life is short at best, and I only have this one life to live, it seems to me that the most reoccurring daily question flooding my mind, is, "What on earth are you, Horace Hooper, doing for Heavens' sake? The answer keeps coming back too loud and too clear.... VERY LITTLE!

In my early childhood years I was then a bit timid, but since I've reached my sixtieth year, it is now that I realize that timidity is not what I'm lacking in now. But, because I could not then endure the very thought of being the object of jest or criticism, my tendency then was leading me to become a perfectionist; which later, it came to me, that as a goal, I was never going to attain perfection. But early in my life, a self-righteousness feeling was beginning to rear its' ugly head. It has taken too many years to realize that 'maturity-in-Christ' and being perfectly correct on every point of doctrine, is not the same thing!

The human ego allows us to think highly of ourselves, while we have a few imperfections that we seem to not see in ourselves. Mainly our pride keeps the mirror blurred to our seeing ourselves as we are and not as we think we are! In this process of maturing physically, as well as spiritually, we soon come to realize that we are not always right on everything. We must learn to accept that others see us more clearly than we care to admit. It has been said that, "practice makes perfect" but that's not true, "practice makes improvement".... not perfection!

As I complete each essay that I've been compiling for some ten or so years, I am constantly revising my words as I review them from time to time. Could it be that I made that many mistakes way back then.... maybe, but It just also could be that I've learned better and now have a slight different view and/or position on some vital issues of importance. As I ask some friends to read what I've written before putting it to final draft, it seems to come back to me all marked-up with red ink in areas that needs to be modified and even many boo-boos to be corrected. But It's like that in all aspects of life.... NONE OF US, ARE YET PERFECT.... We need to realize that we can soften our dogmatic declarations, and put an end to our prideful posturing and wash the arrogance from our faces. Others can see our dirty faces, but we fail to see it ourselves, because we don't look clearly into the mirror of God's Word.

Should Christians accept one another as Christ accepts us? Does Jesus overlook our shortcomings and errors when He accepts us? Are schisms acceptable in the new covenant scriptures? Is God the author of our confusion? Just where have we missed the boat? And why is anyone who teaches some differing doctrine branded a "false teacher" and excluded from full fellowship, if he differs with the local-church-leadership. If God and His Son took us in while we were less than perfect, maybe we ought to love His family members, our brethren, the very same way. Can we accept brethren with some erroneous beliefs? We better, because there aren't any other kind. We all, are constantly changing and while hoping and praying that some of our new found positions biblically, is just our maturity process while growing spiritually and leaving all the erroneous and false teaching far behind us.

We are not under obligation to examine every brother and sister in Christ to see if they are in agreement with every myriad of issues that each one of us think vital, mainly those teachings that aren't related to our eternal salvation. How beautiful the spirit that transcends our own built-up walls of separation over the years. The simple love of God allows us to be brethren without being identical twins. Now if the Jews and the Gentiles made peace and broke down their self-made wall, why can't we as His new covenant people today, build bridges, rather than build more walls of separation?

After these 60 plus years on this earth with most of them having been spent in a pursuit of Life, Liberty and Happiness, both in the material realm as well as the spiritual realm and this search for life's meaning for my own existence and my duty toward God....It does cause me to ask; Just What, when, where, why and how can I serve thee better my Heavenly Father? Now those four W's don't give me as much of a problem as does, the big H ...... How!

As Martin Luther over 400 years ago nailed his ninety-five thesis of the door of the old Whittenburg Church house door in opposition to the teachings that he personally believed where the church was wrong and later that resulted in his putting his life on the line by voicing his strong convictions of protest. Was he wrong for not going along with the majority and those in power.... ME thinks not!

 So.... Me, with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, I ask!

1.  Why, my God, oh why are you going to allow a lowly creature such as I to live with you throughout all eternity? WHY?

2.  Does my eternal destination have anything with what I am presently doing here in this building each and every time I assemble, or could it be more of what I am doing, as well as some things that I fail to do when I leave here and go everyday into the world where I walk and talk and deal with folks on a daily basis, like those folks we know, that do not know the God of Abraham and Isaac?

3.  What is being offered at the Everman C of C, is it really what I need for a well balanced spiritual diet and is it helping me grow personally, into a more spiritually mature child of God?

4.  Where is the in-depth teaching and study time planned for the real warfare we are in, concerning our battle with Satan and his cohorts, like, "How to deal with depression", "How to survive the loss of a loved one", "My family is falling apart, what's wrong", "Why can't we have in home meetings concerning spiritual growth, rather than so many domino parties", "How can we as a loving people overlook so much neglect of wholesome living and not encourage others to live a more dedicated life to truly put God first in our lives". "How to cope with suffering", "Dealing with doubt".... etc., etc.

5.  There are many, many other objections and questions that I have concerning my life in Christ here in this community of believers but my main darts and arrows go the leadership of this boat we are all in. I, for one have not tried to rock the boat but mainly been trying to row with too short an oar, so for me and my house we are planning to start serving God in a more full and vital way. That means we are looking for spiritual growth and a more meaningful rewarding service together with those who want to go to heaven when this earth is no more. I am even more committed now than when I first began this walk with Jesus Christ some 40 odd years ago. I must be about my Fathers business and earnestly covet your prayers and my hope is that many of you will want to come and go along!

For years I've overlooked many of the faults and shortcomings of my brethren in the Church of Christ, and myself; but honesty, integrity and with strong conviction, I exhort us to deal with these problems!  *Here are some of the many problems that I will share with you:

1.  We have demoninationalized the phrase of "Gods called-out-ones" into the one and only official name "The Church of Christ"

2.  We have emphasized "Salvation in the Church" so much we fail to preach salvation in and through Jesus Christ.

3.  We have preached the "5-Step Plan of Salvation" to the exclusion of a loving, trusting, saving Faith in Jesus the Messiah.

4.  We have stressed "Walking to the Front" as the sign of repentance rather than a true, full and heartfelt repudiation of sin and a determination to fully live within the will of God.

5.  We have stressed "Baptism" as the one act that guarantees each a ticket to go to heaven, rather than the heart of the one that is making the 'good confession' to be born anew from heaven above.

6.  Hypocrisy is a much to common sin among our people.  We pick and choose among God's commands as if we were in a cafeteria. We major in the minors while neglecting the weightier matters of Gods' will.

7.  Luke-warmness has replaced an on-fire zeal and attitude for seeking the lost and encouraging the weak in faith to come back to God.

8.  Worldliness has crept into the Church seen as ungodly entertainment like mixed bathing, dancing, smoking, drinking alcohol, gambling as in the Lotto, immodest attire, vulgarity, pornography, etc.

9.  The church also is plagued with the same sins as the denominational world experiences, such as separation, divorce and remarriage, etc.

10. Materialism is running rampant among our people as well.

11. The Church of Christ has elevated the Stained-glass building to a wrongful place of prominence, saying that all meaningful acts of service to God take place there.

12. We used to be a people that could quote book, chapter and verse for all we believe and practice, now all we can quote is "Well, here is what my Preacher/Pastor said".

13. Individually, the bible says we are told to have no fellowship with any brother that walks disorderly, yet that is only spoken but not put into practice very often.

This is only 13 of many that I could mention, but maybe this will suffice to get us to see ourselves as others see us. The foregoing comments and observations are not intended to everyone who claims to be a member of the Church of Christ. But to those who seek Truth and Freedom in Christ and the ones that are searching for a better under-standing of the Word of God, it is to these, that I make this appeal. The more we study the first century Christians, the more we begin to realize the tremendous impact those early saints had on this world to the extent that it was even reported of them.... "These men who have TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN, have come here also." (See Acts 17:6) This happened within 30 years without all the machinery that's truly thought to be necessary today. Without radio, printed material, camps, bus ministries, signboards, sanctuaries, pulpits, pews, periodicals, tape ministries, children's church, board of trustees, music directors, one-man pastor, sermonizing, worship services, etc., etc., etc.... This New Testament Church of the first  century didn't have any of the above, in fact those saints didn't have a "New Testament or a Church"! Those early believers made such an impact in this world that it began to be reported by governmental authorities.

A large part of their success was intense personal involvement. Probing into their success, a man once wrote; "The plow-handles of the farmers, the bench of the shoe cobbler was their pulpits. Every man was indeed a minister and every person was an object of concern." But our modern age has turned personal involvement into a cheap spectator's sport for the majority and a frantic oiling of the machinery by a few willing to bear the load to keep this conglomerate Religion Machine running, that no one remembers what is Gods' purpose for us being in this world. True Success in Life, not the Tilton version, but, "A daily search for Gods' plan for each of our lives and then busy ourselves in doing just that." We spend most of our time and energy 'telling' others how they ought to live, and neglect 'showing' them by our example. Sad, but oh so true!

In contrast to those first century Christians, our standard brand 21st century "Churchanity" with all our extra bells and whistles we are not turning the world upside down, but rather we're losing ground. Instead of being brought before the authorities, charged with,... "turning the world upside down", we hear that, "services were held....", well my bible tells me that "services" are to be rendered, not held...." and that true "worship" is a verb, not an adjective or a noun.

Before we can solve a problem we must first identify it. Then we must ask ourselves; What are we going to do about it and can we effect a change? It must be an effort at the grass-roots level by every true child of God, beginning in this community in which we live. Rugged individualism with determination and courage needs to energize the dead cells within our ranks. We need fearless men and women to stand up and be counted before it's too late. I fear that if more of us don't act soon to sound the trumpet for members to get out of the "mess hall" of our own sacred buildings and get back on the lonely battlefield of personal involvement, the battle will be weakened and some of us might enter eternity as having FAILED THIS WORLD. We don't have to let that happen, we do have the record of those early saints showing us it is possible. The world looks at our standard brand of "Christianity/Churchanity" and goes the other way, because they see our hypocrisy of spending 3 hours a week or less in service to God, and then we sing.... "Oh How I Love Jesus", "A Soul Winner for Jesus", "I Love thy Kingdom Lord", "Into our Hands the Gospel is Given", "I'm Standing on the Promises", " To the Work", "Trust and Obey", etc. etc. Just how deep is our commitment to honestly, truly and sincerely serve our Heavenly Father?

Let's get out of the boat and start walking on the water, that is if we have enough faith and keep our eyes on Jesus our savior. Here are three sure fire steps that we need to start with and then maybe.... just maybe, we could turn the world upside down, once again.

(F i r s t l y) -  STOP TALKING DOUBLESPEAK:

We would be better off to discontinue using any words that do not communicate God's Word accurately, period! Such words like, "church", "gospel", "baptism", "pastor", "bishop", "deacon", etc.... and there are many, many more. There are precious few translators that had the raw courage to TRANSLATE, rather than TRANSLITERATE or MISTRANSLATE.... instead, most of them rode the tide of lease resistance and conformed to "Church-pressure", not wanting to make a wave. But thanks be to God there are a few translators with the spiritual fortitude to properly translate most of the out of date and ambiguous words accurately.

(S e c o n d l y) - START WITH A FRESH NEW KIND OF GATHERING:

This old false concept of "performer-spectator" meetings, has got to go!  Nearly all churches have the same old worn out format we've all experienced over and over.  Quite frankly, some meetings turn into a boring chore (look at how many go to sleep), instead of a joyful, full of life participation by each and everyone, in things spiritual. Maybe part of the problem lies basically, we as pew-warmers, haven't been daily or weekly (maybe weakly) announcing the kingdom of God to a lost and dying world. As a result, the average church-member doesn't have any fuel to contribute to energizing our common cause of togetherness. The very fact that certain ones are "chosen" and "scheduled" to speak while others always sit and listen in silence (probably fear of interrupting our sacred "Worship Service". We still have many bad habits, methods and ways we have borrowed from Denominationalism and we have slipped from the old paths of our early fore-fathers. The main purpose in our gathering together should be to stir one another to love and good works and to encourage each other to keep-on, keepin'-on by being faithful.

(T h i r d l y) - STOP COPYING THE DENOMINATIONS RITUAL and LITURGY:

Not only do we need new fresh accurate translations of the sacred scriptures in our own language, but we need to add some new songs to truly identify our common problems and inspire us to the task at hand. Our meetings must be free of "Pomp and Ritualism" so we can all go out and announce the glad tidings of a risen Savior. We sorely need fresh spontaneous prayers by all, instead of the memorization of Liturgy and certain ones leading in prayer. No one in the first century even once called on another to 'lead-in-prayer'. This concept has its' roots in organized religion, where conformity demanded that they crank out a prayer where the called-on-one, felt like it or not.... My bible tells me enter my closet and shut the door and pray in secret, and my Father who hears and sees in secret will reward openly. We cannot then enlist anyone to serve my God for me, it is a do-it-yourself-service-religion. We might as well employ another to teach, preach, give, sing, work, worship, visit, etc. If we attempt to serve God by proxy, it is vain!

At the rate we are going into this Twenty-first Century, the "at-ease" church-members are likely never going to get into enough of the battle "to be brought before kings and rulers" as we hide in the woodwork of our man-made corporate structures. What we need is strong, dedicated, brave believers, both men and women, who can unlock the doors of our own entrapments, release the chains that bind us to lethargy and complacency and free all the slaves that are truly looking for Truth and Freedom in Christ! Then, maybe then, we can "turn the world upside down again".

Heaven being my destination, I alone must make the effort to complete the journey! Also if that is your goal, you must likewise do the same! I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, nor hesitate in the face of an adversary, negotiate at the table of my enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. Because now, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I wear no other label!

And, when in that final day of judgment, I stand before the great and awesome God to give an account for MY life not OTHERS, and YOU will also have to give account for yours and not OTHERS. I plead with and love each of you and I know also that God loves all of us, and He pleads with us to be busy while it is day, because there's soon coming a night when we wished we had a bit more time.... but.... NOW IS THE ACCEPTABLE TIME!

Pray for me and my family as we renew our faith and commitment to serve our Great and Awesome Heavenly Father. Pray for the lost in Everman. Pray for the saved in Everman. We need not go into other areas of service til we have expended maximum effort in the community in which we live!

Praise God for all of our efforts in this New Year of 1996 to enhance the borders of His Kingdom. Hoping and praying that Gods' blessings will be yours now, as well as throughout all eternity.

     Yours for Truth and Freedom..... Horace Hooper..... Dec. 15, 1995

PS:  Jude 24-25 - "Offer praise to God our Savior because of our Lord Jesus Christ! Only God can keep you from falling and make you pure and joyful in His glorious presence. Before time began and now and forevermore, God is worthy of glory, honor, power and authority. Amen."