Notes from the Desk of Tom Nelson

Read Any Good Books Lately?

September 27, 2011

Are you interested in some really meaty, stimulating books while you’re stuck indoors because of the heat?

A History of Christian Thought by Jonathan Hill traces the progressive doctrinal movement of the church from the century after Christ right up until the present day. It really clarifies where we are and how we got here – from Justin Martyr to German liberalism.

Another meaty book by the same author is What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us?: How It Shaped the Modern World. The author looks at everything from the landscape with its steeples, to education, to commerce, to common morality, to our political system. He shows that western civilization would not exist as it does without the history of Christianity.

One that will really amaze you is No Man Knows My History. It is the biography of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. The author is a Pulitzer prize winning author named Fawn Brodie, who won the Pulitzer for her biography of Thomas Jefferson. The book on Joseph Smith was given to me by an ex-Mormon who said it is the book no Mormon wants you to read. She begins with his parents and proceeds through his youth and fascination with legends, myths, and divination. While she sees Smith as obviously farcical, she gives a (just like a woman) sympathetic treatment of Smith that shows how he would go from a youth fascinated with treasure hunting to a man striving to be The Emperor of The West. She gives few opinions. It is the most well documented book I’ve ever read.

You can order the books at your favorite book source.

Read on,

Tommy

Do You Pray For Our Country?

September 8, 2011

Do you pray for our country? I do. I have no confidence in politics, professions, education, science or socialism to fix our problems. Violence, youth, the home, the arts, crime, a general lack of decency, drugs and lack of moral leadership are in a different category from drought and the economy and layoffs. The latter we have always had in some sense but the former are from alienation from God.

From the mid-1800’s onward we dropped from our possibilities the notion that there could be absolute truth, whether from the Bible or from human reason. The ideas and institutions which rest upon right, dignity and values have all eroded. Rising in the place of God and the church are the scientist and professor – not to say what is true but what is not.

Until our country (not necessarily the leaders but the common man) recognizes:

1. The impossibility of human value and morality being able to arise from the present American/western naturalistic worldview . . .

2. The scanty, flawed scientific assertions of our day are constantly changing and have not been the absolute facts that we thought.

3. All of our breakdowns in the 20th century ultimately trace back to the seeking of morals and meaning from a cold universe which provide for neither.

4. Only Biblical Christianity has the possibility of answers.

5. Only prayer can bring the change we desire . . . following a bold courageous life of distinctiveness . . .

This is our only hope . . .

A mass sorrow, frustration, repentance and return . . .

“Stand by the way and watch

Ask for the ancient path where the good way lies

And you shall find rest for your souls.” – Jeremiah

Every day I pray . . . when I think of my country and grieve at its flaws . . . I pray!

I hope that all the Christians in our country have this same sense of desperation.

–Tommy

Finish Well: A Tribute to Todd Wortham

August 28, 2011

Todd Wortham went to be with the Lord this week. He died “in the harness.” He was in Missouri ministering to those who have been devastated by the tornado. Todd was a first for me in all my years of ministry. He is the first Young Gun to ever die. Many of my Young Guns have been through many struggles but none of them have died. What is ironic is that Todd had beaten cancer. I never saw him when he wasn’t smiling or laughing or encouraging. He was a great and a noble spirit. He was loyal to me, loyal to his wife, Cassi. He was loyal to the program and loyal to his friends. Most of all he was loyal to God. When Paul said to the Corinthians “quit ye like men” what he meant was go all the way to the end; fight till your last dying breath. Some men do this at 90; some men do this at 42. I could not have asked for a better man than Todd Wortham. The ultimate gate crasher. He has pictures with Roger Staubauch and pictures with Gene Simmons. Only Todd. Would that I and every Young Gun finish this well.

“We count those blessed who endured.” – James 5

I’ll see him then,

Tommy Nelson, Sr. Pastor
Denton Bible Church

To Those Who Prayed: A Message From Tommy

August 2, 2011

To all the guys and girls who prayed face down on all those Sunday nights for all those years, for God to take our fledgling and ragged few and use us for great things:

I walked in the sanctuary – the third one – so large, spacious and state-of-the-art. A $21 million project that is almost totally paid for. Almost 4000 adults a Sunday and 1000 children come. Forty two staff minister to every age and demographic. Outside the church, the poor, the inner-city, international students, those in distress, the aged, those in healthcare facilities – all recipients of staff care. Four missions staff oversee 90+ missionaries in 37 countries. Our Media Center sends out 95 CDs a week and a computer set up receives approximately 3500 unique hits per week. Our discipleship at DBC has sent over 400 men and women into full-time ministry.

I could go on and on – why do I? To honor and glorify our great God of power and faithfulness. We sought Him in the lowliness of common men and women in a single man’s house (Joe Goetz) and a single girl’s apartment (Remember those times of serenading by the men?) We asked Him to provide us couples and old people (so Mel could have someone to talk to) and a church building though we could not imagine just how it could come about in our poverty – all we could do was pray. And pray we did. That prayer group has evolved into “First Thursday” prayer for all the church at 6 AM on the first Thursday of every month. We still pray.

God has been faithful to every single dream we had and prayed. He did what we asked and far more. He did “exceeding abundantly beyond what we ask or think.” We were a church of an impossible dream. A church begun by both Mel and me having to leave where we were. The church no one intended to start. Our only hope was prayer.

So to any of you who came together on those Sunday nights and laid on the floor and for an hour asked for nothing personal but for God in His grace to raise up a work in Denton that would exposit the Bible, make disciples, and send out missionaries – God heard what we asked and did above and beyond….

I was 27 then. I’m 60 now. I’m still here doing what I did then and believing what I did then. I labor now on the raising up of young men and women, most of whom were not born when DBC began.

But God has plans…still.

Let us pray.

–Tommy

Reflection

February 21, 2011

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What stuff made this man? This loved man . . . cherished man . . . who held his warring children at bay, then wrath spent . . . beckoned them in union once again.

Where the smiles on this man? Why the deep sorrow traced, etched, furrowed permanent this face? What burdened, broke, bent this spirit? What load bowed and robbed him?

What light broke upon this man’s soul? To stand amidst, above a time and a nation and pronounce a people free. To stretch a nation to fit its ancient writ . . . demand its honesty to own up to its noble claim. Point toes to a mark.

He sits illumined . . . enthroned . . . more a father than a king . . . inviting a nation to his lap to sit and gaze. To stand in silence beneath his shadow. This captain who steered us through such white waters . . . until . . . giving victory in a no-win proposition. Then lay dead.

Misshapen, spindly, severe, craggy rail-splitter. Who made you? Whose tool wrought a nation’s veneration, love and awe? What spring flowed with timeless virtue? What standard did your eye so continually behold? To whom is owed the honor? Patience mercy wisdom justice magnanimity fairness humility kindness courage righteousness humor. Rivers rise no higher than their source. None can be what is not.

What made this man?

Printable

Lincoln’s image take from:

U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, “Ben’s Guide (3-5): Symbols of US Government,” Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids, February 23, 2001, <http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/print/lincoln_torso.html> (January 13, 2011).

The Gimper

February 6, 2011

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The chaplain of Dallas seminary in the years I attended was Dr. Richard Seume. He was a tall, stately, ex-pastor with the theatrical voice and booming singing voice perfect for leading us in hymns. And he coined the term, “Gimper.” A Gimper was a Christian who was not content with mediocrity or status quo. He was one who went above and beyond. The impassioned man. The excellent committed man. The man of the minority.

From one end of the Bible to the other, and even throughout the history of the church, there have always been “Gimpers.” Men and women of the road less taken. Those who break from the pack. Men of distinction. Pacesetters. Those who wanted more. Adventurers.

The Old Testament economy demanded a sin offering for violating moral law, but also gave a place for burnt, grain and peace offerings for those of devotion, thankfulness and the love of God. The Gimpers. Leviticus 27 gave a system of valuation should one wish to pay money to dedicate his life or child or house or animals. These dedications were not required, but were above and beyond. For the Gimpers. In the same way, a Nazirite vow was for anyone who sought a time of special devotion. A woman could devote herself to service in the Temple. Both Debra in her song of praise and Nehemiah blessed God “for those who volunteered” in sacrificial service. Both in Moses’s day and in the days the prophets, “those who feared God” rallied to the temple to pray in times of national distress. The New Testament in 1st Timothy 5 speaks of “the list” of widows who were designated for special recognition. Gimpers all.

The history of the church is much the story of the Gimper. In the first three centuries of the faith, it was the martyrs who had gone above and beyond. So venerated were these “Confessors” that the cultic ideas of relics (mementos of their lives or even their bodies) and even prayers to them to intercede in heaven became part of the Medieval church. After the legalization of the faith under Constantine, being a Christian became acceptable and even advantageous to social advancement. Martyrdom was no longer a possibility. The Gimpers became the hermits who withdrew from the fast compromising church to live alone in the Egyptian countryside in contemplation, study and prayer. In time, these solitary men organized into “monasteries” and thus became the new standard of self sacrifice. The Gimpers had become monks. In time, however, monasteries became centers of commercial activity and even luxury — and then laziness, pride, and even lust. In a Medieval reform came Francis of Assisi and his order of “Franciscans” with their vow of poverty and service — a discipleship which was true to the standard of Christ.

After the Protestant Reformation and the splintering of Lutherans, Anglicans, the Reformed church and Arminianism, the faith often became argumentative confessionalism. It became a continual debate between groups on what was right. The Gimpers were the Pietists who realized Christianity was more than doctrinal correctness and organized Lutherans into small groups of Bible study, prayer, and accountability — i.e. discipleship. From Pietism would arise the modern missions movement.

As England lolled about in the dead tradition of its Anglicanism, the stiff breeze of Wesleyanism began to blow. John Wesley, the ultimate Gimper, organized his “method” into “method-ism” with its home study groups, personal quiet times, zeal for holiness, giving to missions and, above all, its revolutionary idea (at least for its time) of the necessity of the rebirth. These reforms would come to America in what would become “Evangelicalism.” A clear distinction had arisen between simply church membership and the reality of a vital personal relationship with God. Gimpers!

The 20th century saw theological liberalism — the denial of the miraculous aspects of the faith — infiltrate every denomination in the US. And with this, the loss of the Evangelical perspective spread throughout American churches. There arose the Gimpers. First, Fundamentalists who fought for, and if need be, separated from liberal denominations to form the Fundamentalist movement. But as Fundamentalists withdrew from society in fear of contamination, there arose the parachurch phenomenon of the 20th century. Campus Crusade, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, The Navigators, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Young Life, Youth for Christ, Child Evangelism Fellowship and others who upheld inerrancy, the rebirth and discipleship. They aggressively penetrated the growing secular campuses of the mid 1900′s.

My point? Don’t settle for mediocrity in your Christian life. Don’t just show up and attend and listen to God’s truth. Separate yourself from the great gray mass and the twilight of indifference. Study, apply, seek after God, share your faith, be a prayer warrior, seek to be a reproducer, fruitful — a disciplemaker. Be willing to dream and suffer and take the hits of those who walk alone. Commit!

Break from the pack. Be distinguished.

Be a Gimper!

I’m still not sure what it means, but I sure know how to spot one.

Alone, Exhausted, Victorious

January 30, 2011

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There is a sobering reality that every minister must come to grips with. The reality is that we are going to lose. That statement obviously needs qualification. We will ultimately victor upon the return of Christ, our conquering King. The church will succeed in its divine purpose of saving out the elect of God. “All the Father gives to me will come to me.”

But in spite of these providential and ultimate victories and even the astounding good within civilization that the church of Christ has been –

We are not going to bring in God’s kingdom.

As an athlete, I was always aware of the finality of victory. The ninth inning. The buzzer. The clock running down to “00.00.” The fourth quarter. The tape. Always a finish. Always the victory. Always a celebration….Only not in the most important race. To the end of the age and to the end of my life, darkness will rule this domain of Satan. In the church there will continue to be compromises and errors and unholy alliances with the world. Time will always erode. Younger men will always depart from the ancient paths. Just as today the great saints of the past are forgotten, so anything that we accomplish will give way to the weeds of time. John Walvoord, a former president of Dallas seminary, once said that the life expectancy of a seminary is but 40 years. Time and less impassioned participants allow for the inevitable encroachments of error. I have no guarantee that Denton Bible will fare any better than any other institution even though my prayer is for coming young men who will hold to the ancient truths.

But “evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse” 2 Timothy 3:13
“The apostasy will come first” 2 Thessalonians 2:3
“The time will come that men will not endure sound doctrine” 2 Timothy 4:3
“The Spirit explicitly says that in the latter days men will fall away from the faith” 1 Timothy 4:1
“Mockers will come” 2 Peter 3:3

No matter how pre-mil a minister might be, he still tends to labor like a post-mil who believes that he will usher in a kingdom of the church. There is something in him that hopes that maybe – just maybe – He will turn it all around. But alas, time and humanity will dash that hope.

So what is our ultimate purpose? It is to hold back the night. To hold the fort. To live and preach the truth of God in our dark and dead world. To serve as the voice of the Lord calling out His elect. We are to do good in an unkind and unloving world and leaven it with our light and salt. We are to fight on and hold fast and suffer and secure the position where Providence has placed us. We hold back the night. We create hostels of joy and true culture in this war zone. And all the time we’re looking for the coming of our Great King who will then impose His will upon a rogue world and rule with a rod of iron.

Until then we are Robin Hoods.

A wicked usurper, John, had commandeered Nottingham, but Robin rebels against his evil, seeks to undo the wrongs John has done and preaches revolt. He collects disciples about himself who live apart in Sherwood. “Merry men.” Merry not because their lives are easy, but because they are in the right. And they will ultimately win. Richard will return from his Crusade, evil will be vanquished and right established. And so he fights on.

There is a glory in Paul the aged…spent…in prison…renounced by his nation…threatening to an empire, awaiting death, forsaken by the frightened of his own faith, who says “I am poured out… The time of death has come. I have fought…kept the faith, finished. And I’m going home.”

We fight on. Like Reepicheep in unfailing zeal. As John Dunbar at his one-man post. As Don Quixote charging alone against his rising modern day. It is Vince Lombardi’s interpretation of living – “to lie exhausted in victory on the field of battle.” It is no wonder we do not go through the Tribulation. Our trial is now.

Fight on.

The Hope of Hypocrisy

January 23, 2011

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There is something about the world that has always amused me and that is its total hypocrisy. Now mind you, “hypocrisy” is the moral darling of the pagan. It is the ideal that has justified a billion renunciations of the notion of Christianity. From the massive heinousness of the Crusades and Inquisition to the pastor who spends too much time on his hair – our culture goes after moral inconsistency like sharks to blood. As a matter of fact, not being a hypocrite gives men a sense of justification before God. “I may be a drunk and an immoral one but at least I’m not a hypocrite!” Nothing is more contemptible to our culture than hypocrisy.

And yet hypocrisy is the cardinal attribute of modern culture. It is so deeply ingrained that we never notice it. The only way that our culture can maintain any decency is by universal hypocrisy. If for a moment we lived out consistently our atheism, relativism, and toleration of all ideas, our civilization would resemble an apocalyptic horror scenario. We maintain a culture by rules, morals, justice, and demanded social behavior – in other words by all of those divine, monotheistic, Trinitarian, Judeo-Christian virtues which we scorn in the vacuum of theory.

Every man can act on his own freedom and absence of moral absolutes until Tiger Woods is found to be a liar and philanderer. Suppose Tiger said, “So I like women. Lots of ‘em!” Think that would’ve washed? Suppose O. J. had said of his ex-wife’s 911 calls, “Hey I get irritated and get violent. Don’t judge me. Beating women is my prerogative.” Suppose Nixon had said during Watergate, “So I lied. Who can say if there is truth?” All these answers are consistent with the secular, God renouncing, “man as the measure of all things”, secular world view of our day. Views that are marvelous in classrooms but evaporate in the heat and bright light of reality. In the real world of expectations and relationships and business transactions and loved ones and pain we become 17th century English Puritans in our demands. We may be as left as San Francisco in theory but on the street we are as right as Scottish Presbyterians. To act otherwise would be seen as insane and dangerous.

In other words, our culture can exist in the matrix of its denials only through hypocrisy. When the famous visit orphanages or men race into danger to save others, or when men sacrificially give for others to live, or when one’s child displays honesty or kindness – we become warmed to the soles of our feet and say “there is hope!” Blessed blinded hypocrisy.

Fascinating isn’t it that the hope of our culture is that the horror of the logical conclusions of what we embrace is avoided by the inconsistent boundaries and longings of that system which we loathe and reject.

Church Etiquette

December 8, 2010

I’m almost 60. I remember as a boy Momma and Daddy taking us four boys to church. I remember the experience well. Coat and tie (clip-on), shined shoes (tennis shoes verboten), hair greased in place with Vaseline Petroleum Jelly, sitting and listening, no moving, no talking, no bathroom break (God forbid), silence prior to the service in meditation; silence after the service in reflection. Many of you can relate. It was old school. Church was more than just an activity; it was the public honoring of God. How you did what you did was as important as doing what you did. Times have changed. Some things needed changing but some did not. I fear today in our secular perspective and our dethroning of the majesty of God that many Christians, young and old, have lost a sense of Sunday etiquette. May I review some rules to live by?

1. Prepare your heart for Sunday on Saturday. Don’t schedule your Sundays so that you are holding God to the clock. Unless absolutely necessary, you should never have to leave a service early. You and I run harried all six days. Put your clock and calendar to rest on Sunday as well as your ox and servant. Rest. Have nothing to get to.

2. Give your wife a break unless she absolutely loves to cook. Make your Sunday afternoon easy for her. If it’s eating out, cold cuts, or leftovers (Do you know that no Jewish woman could cook on the Sabbath?) make her Sundays a day of rest. You never race home to leftovers.

3. Give yourself time. Plan Saturday night to leave on time Sunday morning. Don’t be in a mad rush cursing your children, frothing at your mate, violating the law. Let nothing abscond with your Sundays.

4. Turn off your *%#@*!^+#% cell phone and as a matter of fact don’t even bring the @!#$%^&*()+ thing into the building. Men have conducted business for centuries without being interrupted on Sunday mornings. We can still. Sunday is for God. All else can wait. Unless you are a doctor or pilot, etc. on call, leave your cell phone in the car.  Take a break. Six days you serve the @#>$%^&*()+! On Sunday give it a rest.

5. Dress properly. We are not just spiritual creatures. Our bodies outside reflect what we feel inside. Your dress reflects your heart. Be neat and properly attired. A woman should not be too low, too high or too tight. A man should not be sloppy. A young person should not draw attention to themselves. Church is to look upwards.

6. Come on time. Punctuality is consideration of another man’s schedule. Even though we start on time, those who come late can create a distraction. And remember that worship involves learning but it also involves all of the life of the body of Christ. The emotional experience of singing and worship is as vital to us as the intellectual experience of learning and the volitional experience of obeying. Be in place when the service begins.

7. Be respectful of others if you have a crying child. A child who screams at the top of his lungs is no problem as long as the mother takes him out. But a continually fretful, whining child becomes a constant drip unto frustration and insanity. Don’t let your child be a distraction. We have a Family Room available for you in the lobby near the Media Center. The TV feed of the service is now operative. While your child’s voice is precious to you, he’s probably not to others wanting to hear the service.

8. Once you come into the sanctuary and the service begins, do not talk; especially in the back. In a sanctuary as large as ours you may think that you are not being heard but to those in your vicinity, it sounds like a Rangers game. Don’t be a distraction to those around you.

9. If you should come in late for some reason, sit in the back and don’t parade down front. All eyes will turn from the Bible to the entrance of the royal train.

10. Do not “fiddle” with wrappers on a piece of candy or gum. That drives people around you nigh unto violence at the continual crinkling of cellophane. Stick candy in your yapper prior to the service. If you need a lozenge during the service, then be quick.

11. Our morning services last about 1 hour 15 minutes; 1 hour 30 minutes in the evening. From 9:00-10:15 and 11:00-12:15 in the morning and 6:00-7:30 in the evening. Leave when Kendall or Jono says, “You are dismissed.” Leaving early takes the edge off of the finality of a service. Staying brings closure to all of the time together. Be respectful.

12. Don’t (“plink plink”) cut your (“plink”) fingernails during (“plink”)the service. People around you are (“plink plink”) amazed at your insensitive (“plink”) plinking. A congregant once said of watching a plinker plinking, “I was ready for him to pull out them big yellers!”

13. If a child (not a baby) is brought to service then the child must behave. Back in the old building there was a woman who would sit on the outer chair and let her child play in the aisle. She was surrounded by disapproving, distracted faces. No one was edified. If a child is brought to church it is to train them in adult ways. Playing a computer game defeats the purpose as well as being disrespectful. It also teaches a child to be irreverent. Doodling is one thing. Playing a game is quite another.

14. Men do not wear hats into a house, an office and for certain not into the house of God. It is a maxim of courtesy that has been in vogue over a millennia. It implies a lack of respect to what goes on in the house. It implies discourtesy to the rule of that establishment at imposing the outside upon the inside. Wipe your feet, lower the voice, take off the hat. That is the rule of the South for sure.

15. Respect the building. Do you know that on Monday mornings our maintenance staff has to pick up the mints that are spit out and have stuck to the carpet or floor? Then we pick up trash and wrappers. I wonder if the culprits would do so in the Oval Office or in the Kremlin or Windsor Castle? And yet they will do so in the house of the saints. Amazing! Clean up after yourself as your mama taught you. And you know what? Our bathrooms are nastier after Sunday than the American Airlines Center bathrooms are after a Mavericks games. There is no way you will excel at an 8 through 10 when you flop at 1 and 2. Habits build character. Respect the property of others.

16. Texting is not only distracting to those around you, but it is downright sacrilegious. We are to “in humility receive the word implanted” and “as newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word.” Texting when one should be listening is a sinful and dishonoring thing in the presence of the explanation of holy scripture. In a court of law if one’s cell phone rings or one is seen texting, they will be fined for contempt. How much more disrespectful is it to Him who is the very source of law?

As God said through Malachi in his day concerning Israel’s flawed sacrifices “Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you?” God is to be honored above all others with reverence in the beauty of holy worship; our gathering is to be as such.

– The Right Reverend H. Thomas Nelson, Jr.