Published by What is a brand name? I heard someone on Joey Bishop talk about this a couple days ago. It is a name, it identifies a product, person or service and it tells either directly or by association something about the product. Mention Ford, Mercury or Lincoln and you get views of an inexpensive car, an upscale car or a luxury car. Over the years I have seen brand names of various products change and it is so in the church. One of the most disconcerting things for me with this is the degradation of the whole line of churches.
Across the whole line the church has been rocked by scandal. Let’s face it, we can blame the press, the muck-rakers, the politicians or whatever but at the bottom line the real blame belongs to the ones who committed the excesses and the enablers in the Christian World. In many cases they are us.
I can remember everyone in my church going ape over someone named Jim and Tammy and I watched them a couple times in their early days of ascension. Somehow they looked to me like a three dollar bill but then, I had seen the real thing of God’s power so I knew what that looked like. This didn’t quite cut it. If you know the real, the counterfeit looks phony in money and preachers. I grew up in the church. My family was in the Pentecostal movement of the 1940’s and 1950’s. There were fakes and fakers there too. More than a few times we left a meeting where the latest, greatest was preaching and my dad or mom would say, “we aren’t going back to hear him.” One tent meeting preacher lived with a woman who wasn’t his wife over the winter, got religion, left her over the summer, preached and went back to her when the meetings closed. And people still came and gave. Generally when my mom and dad got concerns it wasn’t long till something went wrong with the guy’s ministry because of his lack of character. Call it spiritual discernment, wisdom, careful looking, experience or whatever; my parents were almost always right. But I got to see the real, the real minister, the real power of God. If someone gave you a piece of money with Barak Obama on it you would know it was a fake. Don’t worry, that is coming. If someone preaches a gospel that is not the one Paul preached, he is a fake. And then there are 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 Peter 5:2-3 which flunk out many of the frauds. My parents gave freely of time and money to the ministry but had concerns about someone who was too interested in money.
In addition to Jim and Tammy I dropped Bob Tilton the first time I saw him. Although the ministry of Christian International in Florida is a good one there are two men in it that flunk the litmus test. I will go to hear Bill and Tom Hammon but there are several others I will not. Right now I am in hot water in my own church because I am not enamored by International House Of Prayer (IHOP). I can’t tell you why. I don’t know what it is. It just doesn’t feel good. I get concerned because at times I see people promoting themselves rather than God. I also get heartburn when people flock to something that is hype and the ministry isn’t there to support it. Hype is a very poor substitute for God’s power.
Mysticism is often used as a drawing card. The Christian Scientists make extensive use of this. So does the Catholic Church. There is no evidence in scripture of the transmutation of the elements but this is a staple of this brand. Mysticism is also a poor substitute for God’s power.
Let me give you an insight into ministry. Real ministry is supported by God by his manifestation of power and finances. The person makes an appeal, tells what they are doing and people see the cause and give. The phoneys have to pump it up, do a sales pitch. The longer the sales pitch the more I get concerned. My dad called it bumming money and I have never seen any ministry that has done it that has not had internal issues.
Let me give you an example. Ivan Tait has been with our church at least once a year for over twenty years. We know him. He runs an orphanage in Guatemala and our people go there one or two times a year to help build. They take abandoned kids off the street. We see the man, we see the place, our people see FIRST HAND what is going on there. Two years ago when fuel prices skyrocketed he needed money to build a power line to the orphanage to buy commercial power rather than a generator. He mentioned it and asked for help. I am thinking it was $30,000 and within a couple weeks he had enough to tell the people to schedule the work and get it done. He mentioned the monthly cost of fuel, the cost of the line and how much it would save. He spends money wisely for the kingdom. It was a no-brainer if you could get the up front money. If you have money for the kingdom that you don’t know where it should be placed, consider him.
Ivan is just one very good example. Ivan Tait is a good brand.
Today the brand Oral Roberts has fallen from where it was in the 1950’s. At that time it was integrity, salvation, the word, healing. I believe some of what happened to Oral Roberts has happened to some of the other names like Christian International. The man who started it was 100% or very close. But as he moved out of the picture the replacements lacked the vision and integrity and replaced the vision with self serving. In Oral Roberts it was family. In Christian International it has been those from the outside. Bill’s sons were not a part of CI the last time I checked. I will not call the men who are there phoneys but they lack the vision and ministry that Bill had. There are some of the second generation who have not soiled their garments.
Before I continue with this I need to set straight two things. First there are those in the church who will take issue with this kind of look at the church and particularly its leadership. Let me show you some scripture.
Rev 2:2 “I see what you’ve done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can’t stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders.
Rev 2:3 I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out.
Rev 2:4 “But you walked away from your first love–why? What’s going on with you, anyway?
I show it in context with all three verses because I want to make two points here. First is the atta-boy for not being able to stomach evil and weeding out apostolic pretenders. I will tell you that when you try to do this you will be attacked by the church because these are sometimes the most worshipped people in the church! Sometimes Jesus takes second place in hearts. And he goes on in verse 3 with that accolade. But I challenge anyone who is where I am today to study verse 4. Somewhere I can see that in my holding steadfast I have at times lost that first love. I will not tell anyone I have come back but I am on the way.
I found a web site with some really old Christian books. I don’t read most of the current crop because they are all too often they are written in the worlds “publish or perish” idea.
This site http://www.christianmegadownload.com/ lists thousands of books. This one just caught my eye and I opened it – not sure why, it just seemed like the right thing to do but I would have had a more tranquil evening if I hadn’t opened it.
http://christianmegadownload.com/o/Oswald%20J%20Smith%20The%20Revival%20We%20Need.pdf
God has renewed a perspective that I lost. Least someone think I have mellowed in this, forget it. I still believe the line from the old song, “You must fight, be brave against all evil.” That includes evil in the church. But you must never become hardened to the love of God or the love for his people in defending the right. Oswald Smith’s appeal for revival in Canada and the game plan for it was written nearly 100 years ago. It is as valid today in the US as it was then for Canada.
Now let’s look at some other brands but before I do I want to show a scripture to consider as we proceed.
1Co 1:12 I’ll tell you exactly what I was told: You’re all picking sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah group.”
1Co 1:13 I ask you, “Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul’s name?”
I like to hit a couple together, the Lutherans and the Mennonites. Menno Simons asked his followers to not name a group after him but he was not in the grave long before it was. He preferred the name anabaptist which is a far better branding because it shows the difference between it and the previous groups (including the Lutherans). These saw the Catholic practice of infant baptism that came into Lutheranism as flawed because you don’t baptize an unbeliever. But the brand name wasn’t a good choice.
The Episcopal, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Holiness and Baptist groups didn’t do much better in selecting names. They all picked named that divided rather than united. And the Church of God took this to distraction when they divided into two sects one with the name suffixed Andersonville. They basically said only they had the truth and nobody else was right. “I’m for Luther,” or “Wesley is my man,” or “I’m in the Andersonville group.” Like Samuel I hear the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the sacred cows.
1Sa 15:14 And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
What is the brand? In Lutheranism it is salvation by grace – certainly a valid doctrine. The Mennonites rejected infant baptism – certainly a valid doctrine. The Baptists and Methodists were strong in preaching salvation – the core of the gospel. The Holiness concentrated on a holy life – again valid. The Charismatics and Pentecostals preached salvation and concentrated on the gifts of the spirit. I could go on.
But the Lutherans retained infant baptism. The Mennonites majored in pacifism. The Holiness got so holy that nobody else could be a member and some in the group were suspect. The Charismatics and Pentecostals were so free that at times they were just plain weird. I can say that as one who has been there and still am. Each of these brands had some negatives that distracted from the Gospel.
Today we have taken on another group of brand names. They include euphoniums like “Community Center”, “Worship Center”, “Christian Center”, and the like. We negate what we are to be, the church of Jesus Christ.
Among the older churches there are some interesting names, Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox to mention two. The word Catholic means “universal” which the Catholic Church NEVER WAS. The Eastern Orthodox carries the name which shows the marks of the division.
So how do we brand a church?
The name isn’t important but of one thing I am sure, the name should reflect that it is a church. It should reflect Christ in some way. I actually have a problem with the names “Assembly of God” and “Church of God” because they do not reflect Christ. They could be names of Muslim churches now to that to be acceptable they have dropped the public use of the name Allah. I have a problem with any name that divides like Eastern Orthodox. I have a problem if it shows it follows a man. I prefer it not contain the ordinal numbers like First, Second, Third unless they are part of the church’s location street name. The designation can be a source of pride and division. I see the location as having some validity. I attend “Cityview Community Church.” I had never thought if I liked the name till today but it is on a hill above the city, and its focus is the community it exists in – albeit I wish there were more focus there but I am thrilled that there is what there is. It doesn’t carry a tone of exclusiveness or superiority but it does carry the concept of concern for the community. I like it better than a possible alternative, “Bull Road Community Church.” <grin> One of our local churches which I consider to be good is “Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarine.” I would prefer it be called just is “Stillmeadow Church of Christ” because many do not know the significance of the word Nazarine. I am not suggesting they go out and change the name but if I were a member I might be asking. The Seventh Day Adventists are branded by the Saturday Sabbath and their focus on the end time. The Jesus Only sects deny the trinity and brand themselves in this way, teaching that anyone who does not believe as they do is going to hell. Let us not pervert God’s word. I have concerns about churches that have names that make them somewhat exclusive. At one time black churches had names that indicated that and although I have worshipped in churches that were racially mixed all of my life I would probably have avoided attending one of these for two reasons. I would not wish to offend and I would quite frankly have a hard time worshipping there if I found they felt whites were not equals before the Lord. I would not have a problem with a black brother who had problems worshipping with me because I was white but I know there are some churches that might as well have hung out a “whites only” sign and quite frankly if my black brother is not welcome and I am aware of it, I will not be there. I know, that is not a part of this but let’s get it on the record.
I have some concern with Korean, Hispanic and other language based churches. I know I would be somewhat lost in them because of language but I would hope that I would be welcome if I found myself in a position where that is the only church I could get to on a morning and just wanted to be with other Christians. I would not be offended if I could not understand but could be in His presence with them. I would hope they would not be either if I walked in. I would probably not do that unless I was in that position or if God directed me to do it some Sunday. I would not do it to see if I could offend.
KJAV Hab 2:2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
And in this study I asked, “What does another translation say?”
MSG Hab 2:2 And then GOD answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.”
God has given Habakkuk a vision. He tells him to write it, to make it plain and readable. Whether the exact translation is “that He may run that readeth it” or “That it can be read on the run” is correct I believe either one is what God intended. We are to make the gospel plain and in every thing the church does it should be clear to those in the church and the world. The message of the church should be God’s love, our love, our unity, our concern for the lost.
Our brand should say that. It should never be in doubt. I will leave you with these scriptures from the Message. If you prefer another translation, feel free to use it. No matter what it will convey the same message. Let us make our brand known. Let us make it plain. In this sign we conquer, the sign of the cross.
Other Articles by Ralph Brandt
· Being Criticed For The Gospel
· Slicing And Dicing The Word Of God
· Blind, Bound And Going In Circles
· Tearing A Page Out Of The Bible
· Taking A Stand Takes Courage – Even In The Church
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Nicely stated, Sir!
Yes beware of false prophets.