Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Sunday, November 11 is the 10th annual "Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church." Grace Brethren churches can join many other Christians in beseeching God in behalf of those who suffer for their faith. Visit the Web site www.breakpoint.org for materials on how your church can observe this special day of prayer.

Bring the Message of Religious Freedom to Your Community

Let’s help make January 16 “Religious Freedom Day” in America! Get your local government to support principles vital to our nation’s heritage of religious freedom by having it declare January 16, 2008 “Religious Freedom Day.” Use the Proclamation prepared by Don Shoemaker, Chairman of the FGBC Social Concerns Committee, and follow the simple process set forth. [Click for more information]

Should Churches Be Tax-exempt?

Pastors and church-goers will certainly hear complaints from time to time about churches getting a "free ride" on taxation. Is this an unfair benefit? Or is this a reasonable application of the principle of separation of church and state? Below is my answer to a question recently posed in my local newspaper (Long Beach CA "Press-Telegram," September 29, 2007).

Q - "Should churches be exempt from taxes? Should the exemptions be revoked when a church endorses a political candidate or speaks out on elections in general?"

A -

America’s history provides three important contributions to the debate over taxation of churches. First, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom (1786) is a foundational document against using state tax revenues for paying clergy. This cuts both ways. Church resources shouldn’t be used to support the state either.

Second, the U.S. Supreme Court (Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York, 1970) determined that churches, as part of a wider body of service institutions, could be exempt from taxation. Furthermore, taxation of churches would create an unacceptable entanglement of the government in religious affairs. This decision described the proper role of government toward religion as one of “benevolent neutrality,” not that of predatory taxman. Government must not look at religious assets as another feeding trough for its programs.

Third, statutory (not constitutional) law prohibits tax exempt (501c3) organizations from supporting or opposing candidates and limits their use of funds to influence legislation. There is room to argue that this law is contrary to the free speech and free exercise of religion provisions of the First Amendment.

But restrictions on political action do not mean churches are muzzled in making moral pronouncements on how government conducts itself. I have read the sermon delivered at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena that provoked an IRS investigation and I strongly conclude (though I would more often disagree with this church than agree) that the IRS was overreaching and playing “speech police.”

Separation of church and state means just that. The state should not have its hand in the pockets of the churches and the churches should not have their hands in the pockets of the state. “Separation” is not an absolute principle. Churches aren’t exempt from building codes and some assessments, and the government can aid college students on a non-discriminatory basis whether they attend religious or secular schools. But “separation” is a strong principle and tax exemptions are in line with it.

Donald P. Shoemaker
Senior Pastor
Grace Community Church of Seal Beach

Beatitudes for Educators

Every September our church sets aside time during Sunday services to recognize and pray for the many in our church family who serve in the field of education one way or another. We honor educators of quality, character and skill—people to whom we entrust the precious lives of our children for wisdom and instruction.

This year, as we pray for them I will be reading the “Beatitudes” of Jesus (Matthew 5:1-12) to the congregation with a special application to educators that I’ve prepared. Truly these people are models of the “salt” and “light”
Jesus calls us all to be in our world.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”

So, blessed are you…when your frustration level is so high and your human resources so low that you realize you must turn to God for renewed strength.

“Blessed are those who mourn”

So, blessed are you…when your heart is broken over how cruel people can be to other people and over how little children can become innocent victims of violence, even to the shedding of blood. Blessed are you when you grieve over the children who come to school with the deck already stacked against them because their house is not a home and they have no real role models or incentives for being good.

“Blessed are the gentle”

So, blessed are you…when you turn the other cheek, walk the second mile and continue to work with patience in a situation, even when it seems just about impossible.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness”

So, blessed are you…when your frustration over the lack of learned values, moral standards and discipline make you want to chuck it all, but you stay committed to your education task as a calling from God and you don’t forget the importance of your own moral nourishment.

“Blessed are the merciful”

So, blessed are you…when you reach out your hand to a child desperately needing love and care and concern and assistance, who may not find it from anyone other than you.

- more -

“Blessed are the pure in heart”

So, blessed are you…when you maintain your moral standards in the face of temptations to cut ethical corners and when others see you take your stand on principle, no matter the cost to you.

“Blessed are the peacemakers”

So, blessed are you…when you intervene in the cause of peace, even at personal risk, and help children who don’t like each other to learn at least how to live civilly with each other and to practice the “Golden Rule.”

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness”

So, blessed are you…if you are ever belittled or have to put your reputation or career on the line and pay a price for following the best values.

In all this God is well pleased with all you do and, in the end, that’s what really counts.


By Donald P. Shoemaker
Senior Pastor,
Grace Community Church of Seal Beach, California Chairman, Social Concerns Committee Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches

Our Declaration of Dependence

(This essay originally appeared on Sunday, July 2, 2000, in the Op/Ed section of the Long Beach, California Press-Telegram.)

The Declaration of Independence can just as appropriately be titled the “Declaration of Dependence.” This majestic document, arguably the most masterful state paper of Western civilization, displays a dependence on God foundational to its claim for independence from England.

Even a casual reading of this document impresses us with the role God plays in the course of human events.

God is first acknowledged as lawgiver. The “laws of nature and of nature’s God” entitle the colonies to sever their tie with England and assume a separate and equal station among the powers of the earth.

Second, God is creator. As such, he endows humanity with “unalienable rights” including the rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Governments cannot bestow these rights—they don’t belong to government in the first place. Government is instituted to protect these rights. If instead it becomes destructive to these principles, the people are free to abolish that government and institute a new one that will uphold the principles.

Thomas Jefferson was the principle author of the Declaration. His later metaphor on the “wall of separation” between church and state is often brandished about as an instrument to keep religious expression out of public life. But Jefferson thought both institutions were necessary. Contemporary secularists who desire a constricted role for religion and an expansive role for government would do themselves a favor to see how he regarded the nature and role of both.

In his “First Inaugural Address” (1801) he said that religions teach “honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude and the love of man.” But one more blessing is needed to “make us a happy and prosperous people.” That blessing is a “wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.” For our values we turn to religion. For the protection of those values and for our own protection and freedom (and little else) we look to government.

A third reference to God acknowledges him as “supreme judge of the world.” The framers of the declaration appeal to God, that he might judge the “rectitude of our intentions” as these representatives of the colonies declared them to be “free and independent states.”

Finally, God is protector. The framers acknowledged and relied upon his divine providence as they bonded themselves together with a pledge of their lives, fortunes and sacred honor.

No one can claim that Jefferson’s concept of deity is completely congruent with the God confessed in the Christian faith. Jefferson was not hesitant to take his scissors to Holy Scripture. Enlightenment man that he was, he saw God and his values as accessible to all people through the avenue of reason, not just to a few people through an avenue of special revelation.

At the same time, not every concept of God could provide a proper foundation for the Declaration. Polytheism could not work, for the principles of human rights this document confesses have authority the world around and all humanity is answerable to the “supreme judge of the world” in how the principles are honored. Nor will modern non-theistic naturalism work, for no fundamental standards of human rights or of right and wrong can emerge from naturalism.

And the God of many of our founding documents is neither a deterministic God nor one who coerces human behavior. The freedom of conscience in matters of religion (so important to Jefferson) arises from the fact that an almighty God could have coerced our minds had he chosen to do so. But God chose to leave our minds free, and so man must not coerce the mind either.

Seventeen centuries before Jefferson, a Christian thinker known to us as “the Apostle Paul” offered thoughts on God similar to those in the Declaration as he dialogued with philosophers in ancient Athens. There is a God who “made the world and everything in it” including “every nation.” We are “his offspring” and he gives to everyone “life and breath and everything else.” While he allows us to walk in the ways of our own choosing, he has “set a day when he will judge the world with justice.” (Acts 17:24-31)

As we celebrate our nation’s rich heritage we should be appreciative of the sacrifice and insight of those who framed our Declaration of Independence. We should also give thanks to the Creator and Judge of the earth whose moral principles provided our country with its foundation. And we should dedicate ourselves to the realization of our fundamental principles, which beckon each American generation to fulfill them afresh.

© 2000 Donald P. Shoemaker

Grace Community Church

138 8^th Street

Seal Beach, CA

shoemaker@grace-sealbeach.org

A Prayer for Law Enforcement Officers

God, please guide these men and women who serve as your ministers in the community.

Uphold...
. Their fortitude in the face of pressure
. Their integrity in the face of temptations
. Their safety in the face of dangers
. Their focus and responses in the face of challenges
. Their honor in the face of people who are not honorable
. Their mission in the face of discouragements, disrespect and
distraction.
. Their homes in the face of all that can polarize.

Enable them to fulfill the high standards they have set for themselves and strive to maintain, for the good of the community, the honor of the department and the glory of your Name. Amen.

By Donald Shoemaker
Chairman, Social Concerns Committee, Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches
Chaplain, Seal Beach (CA) Police Department

Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World

- Some examples from Donald Shoemaker, Chairman of the Social Concerns Committee, FGBC

"Hate Speech" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World, Part I

According to newspaper reports, Rebekah Rice's Mormon faith was ridiculed by other students at Maria Carillo High School in Santa Rosa when they would ask her questions like, "Do you have ten moms?"

She said back, "That's so gay." I'll let people younger than me say whether this expression is really referring to sexual orientation when it's used by teens. More to my interest is the sad fact that Rebekah ended up in the principal's office and got a warning and notation placed in her student file. Seems she uttered "hate speech."

Which leads me to ask three questions.
1. Whatever happened to the First Amendment, which is supposed to
prevent the government from hindering free speech? Not that this is an
absolute right-it isn't. But limiting free speech requires the government to meet a very high standard of proof that the speech is indeed dangerous.
2. Why weren't those who ridiculed her also charged with "hate speech"?
If we're going to be in the business of policing speech, shouldn't ridiculing someone's religious beliefs be just as prohibited as making a remark that might be a slur about sexual orientation? If speech restrictions are supposed to "creating a safe and inclusive environment" (as one supporter of the action against Rebekah says) shouldn't they also exclude religious slurs?
3. What would the outcome be if public schools had to remove everything
from their environment and curriculum that might offend religious people?



"Forgiveness" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World, Part II

"I really need to forgive you. Not for you, it's for me so I can let go."

So, the theory goes and this one instance illustrates, we "forgive" others for our own sake, not for the offender's sake or as a step toward reconciliation.

What a different notion from the way God forgives us! Imagine God saying, "I forgive you for sinning against me. And by the way, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for me, so I can let go of the feelings I have."

Leave it to modern thinking, including some notions by Christians about "forgiveness," to make it me-centered and therapeutic rather than relationship-centered and reconciling. Here is the Christian word: "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." (II Corinthians 5:19 NIV)



"Guilty of Causing an Accidental Life?" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World, Part III

According to the Boston Globe (March 7), a lawsuit seeks compensation for a botched abortion and for the costs of raising the child who accidentally lived.

"A Boston woman has filed a lawsuit alleging that a doctor at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts bungled her abortion in April 2004 and that she had no idea she was still pregnant until about six weeks before her daughter was born in December.

"Jennifer Raper, 45, of Charlestown, wants Planned Parenthood, the doctor who performed the abortion at the Boston clinic, and another physician who allegedly failed to detect her pregnancy in July 2004 to pay damages, including the cost of rearing Raper's 2-year-old daughter."



"Online Killing" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World - Part IV

"A righteous man cares for the needs (well-being) of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel." (Proverbs 12:10)

I grew up in Ohio where guns and hunting were commonplace. Still, I think honorable participants in the sport of hunting should avoid gratuitous injury and killing--taking life just for the fun of it.

Perhaps having grown tired of killing fictitious characters in video games, some are turning to actual killing of animals via the Internet--using a Webcam and rifle perched on a remote-controlled device. "Slouched at a computer, the 'hunter' perks up as a 12-point buck eases into view on his screen. Maneuvering his mouse, he swivels the rifle and focuses the cross hairs. With a click of the mouse, the rifle fires a bullet, mortally wounding the animal." (Associated Press report)

Is this an on-line mutation of cock fighting? Does this say something about the truism that those who are cruel to animals will be cruel to people? I don't know, but the practice is disturbing and contrary to sportsmanship as I know it.

Churches, Federal law and the NFL...

Churches, federal law and the NFL came to a crossroads last week. Many churches planning to project the Super Bowl onto giant screens for outreach and/or men's fellowship blinked. In this commentary, John W. Whitehead gives lessons churches can learn from the episode. (Used by Permission of the Rutherford Institute. Constitutional attorney and author John W.
Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. He can be contacted at johnw@rutherford.org. Information about the Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.) Donald Shoemaker Chairman, Social Concerns Committee

Corporate America Overtakes Football and the Church By John W. Whitehead February 5, 2007

The Super Bowl has become America’s new church gathering.

When I was a kid, the Super Bowl was the ultimate football game. You turned the TV set on to watch two teams battle it out for the championship title.
But there was none of the buildup that now surrounds the big game.

Today, the football game is merely a sideshow to the glut of television advertisements promoting everything from beer and soda to cars and candy but, in essence, sex and materialism. As one reporter noted, “The hype for Super Bowl commercials has reached the same ridiculous proportions as the orgiastic hoopla over the game itself.” At a going rate as high as $2.6 million for 30 seconds of broadcast time and with a viewing audience estimated at 90 million (making the Super Bowl the most widely viewed television program), it’s no wonder that the advertisers are the ones running the show. The old maxim about television has become an undeniable
truth: the programming now exists for the commercials.

The entire Super Bowl experience has, in fact, become akin to a religious experience. Americans approach the Super Bowl with much the same religious fervor as the Romans had for the lavish games held at the Circus Maximus.
And it is this mingling of religion with entertainment that brings us to the recent brouhaha over the National Football League’s efforts to prevent churches from holding Super Bowl viewing parties on large-screen or projection TVs.

People who heard about the dispute were of two minds: First, there was outrage that the NFL felt it necessary to bully churches into compliance, especially when sports bars and restaurants were granted exemptions. Second, there was bewilderment that churches would even want to participate in what has become an exercise in hedonism. Both reactions are completely understandable.

It goes beyond the pale for the NFL to dictate that churches shouldn’t gather together—even if it is to watch the Super Bowl. The league’s suggestion that church viewing parties might adversely affect their Nielsen ratings (which are used to leverage more advertising dollars) or cause the league to lose money is a testament to the corporate mindset that has overtaken what once was considered a relatively wholesome, all-American—albeit violent—sport. Greed has become the king of the Bowl.

Clearly, the NFL has little to no respect for Americans who watch the game.
But it was a little disappointing that so many churches were willing to—and did—give up without a fight. If churches won’t even fight for their right to watch football together, one has to wonder what they would be willing to fight for. For early church leaders, their mission came first, even when that mission conflicted with the state. Thus, they were considered troublemakers because they wouldn’t toe the line, which is in sharp contrast to the church today, which aims to be law-abiding. Lacking the moral and spiritual strength of their predecessors, many of today’s religious leaders try to force their agendas through politics.

But that’s a whole other can of worms. For the purpose of this discussion, it might be enough to ask whether churches should be aligning themselves with the Super Bowl in the first place. How can a church preach against materialism, sexual immorality and drunkenness and participate in a cultural event that glories in all three?

Reportedly, these Super Bowl church bashes are increasing in their popularity. For the churches that planned to host viewing parties, the events were justified as ways to tap into the so-called “social magic” of Super Bowl Sunday by reaching out and ministering to members of their communities. And while there were supposedly churches that planned to invite the homeless and provide a meal, clothes-washing and a bed for the night and others that intended to accept donations from the crowd to fund a food pantry, community social services or other good causes, there were also church events that differed only in location (and alcohol consumption) from the bacchanals taking place in homes and sports bars across America.

What would Jesus do? Would Jesus, who overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the temple because they were turning his father’s house into a place of business, have condoned turning his father’s house into a sports bar?

Are churches trading in their birthright for increased attendance? It may seem like harmless fun and sound marketing, but there are larger spiritual ramifications at work. For example, when you turn the church into the site for a Super Bowl party, have you altered your priorities and become a hedonist first and a Christian second?

By allowing itself to become a part of the greed-driven culture that surrounds the Super Bowl, the church completely erases the line between the sacred and the profane. It’s the same concern that has been raised over the growing popularity of televangelism: when you can eat TV dinners, use the bathroom and attend a televised church service and never have to leave the room, it does away with the idea of a sacred space. And, in the end, you do away with your religion.