Changes in the Caribbean

This picture, taken in 1994 or 5 in Antigua, captures the transformation taking place in the islands--the blending of the old and the new, the past and the modern.

Donkeys are much less common than they were even 15 years ago. They used to be tied up along the road grazing in Dominica frequently but I've only seen one the last couple of visits. Now everyone has access to transportation--if they don't have a car there are taxi buses, which are very reasonable. Even farmers have their truck to carry produce back home. Picture an older man (70's) and a donkey with one half of an aluminum extension ladder and a burlap bag full of root crops, with a machete sticking out tied on to its back. 10 years ago that would not have been uncommon in say St. Vincent, but those days are past.

The house in the background departs from tradition in two aspects. First it is set on blocks, not rocks. I figure this change is agreeable to everyone--blocks keep the house a lot more stable than rocks can. Also it is of plywood, which is only a temporary house--the kind you build so you can move on to your land and stop paying rent while you build your permanent house out of blocks. If a hurricane comes you know this house is gone, but people take that chance because they have to--you can't get a mortgage to build a house, so you have to cut corners everywhere you can to get the house built.

The "good old days" are passing in the Caribbean, just as they have in the States. As Dana's Grandmother used to say, "You can call them the good old days, and I guess they were, but I don't want to go back to them." Ecclesiastes agrees with that--"Do not say, 'Why were the former days better than these?' For you do not inquire wisely concerning this." (7:10) How often do we long for "the good old days", when things were better. No doubt they were in some areas but in other areas we are much better off today.

Sometimes we get stuck in the glory years of the church of Christ--the 50's and early 60's, when we were the fastest growing church in the USA, when people would still attend Gospel meetings, learn the truth and be baptized. When we do this Solomon says we are not wise. We cannot live in the past, whether it was good or bad, but must live today. When we fail to adapt our methods of teaching or making contacts to today, the local church must eventually die.

Tol

"It doesn't count if . . . "

I commend this article about sin by our brother Greg Gwin.

You've no doubt seen those tongue-in-cheek diet guides that allow a person to eat anything and everything if certain conditions are met. For instance: If you eat something and no one sees it, it has no calories! If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are cancelled out by the diet soda. Calories don't count if you eat standing up. Cookie pieces contain no calories; the process of breaking the cookies causes ‘caloric leakage!’ Foods that are the same color have the same number of calories; example: spinach and pistachio ice cream.
This "diet plan” is an obvious joke. No right thinking person would eve rbelieve that eating like this could result in weight loss. Yet some folks try to reason this way when it comes to sin. They seem to think that: An act is not sinful as long as it is unknown to others. A thing is not sinful if everyone else is doing it. You are not guilty of sin so long as you can identify others who are doing things that are "worse.” If you like something, then it is not a sin. Sin only involves things that you don't personally like.
The Bible, on the other hand, says that sin is transgression of God's law (1st John 3:4). If a thing is contrary to God's will, it is a sin. It is a sin even if it is hidden from others, accepted by the majority, or considered less "serious" than other acts. Sin is always wrong. Think!

Prospecting in Caracas, Venezuela

Gerardo, who preaches for the church that meets in downtown Caracas, recently came into contact with a lady who is in the management of the police of the city of Caracas who seems to be very interested in studying the Bible. How did he meet such a high official?

Fortunately, he did not meet her in her official capacity, but rather as he and 5 other brethren were handing out tracts and invitations on the streets one Sunday afternoon. While I recognize that door knocking and other "cold calling", where you don't know the contact and they don't know you are probably the least productive way of finding prospects to study they do produce some results. If you have more than enough prospects to keep you busy, attend to them first, but if you run out, or should I say when you run out, there is always door knocking.

A radio program and a booth at some kind of fair or exposition are probably in the same category--you are not likely to see quick results and you may never see results at all, although if His Word has been preached there will be results. You may not see them and they may not come all the way back to God, but His Word will influence them for good.

Let's see who we can find to teach the Scriptures to, whatever method it takes.

Tol

What happened to the church?

I am visiting in an area that 20 years ago was a “must visit” for preachers seeking support—there were many large churches that had the money and the mind to support preachers in other places. But as always happens over time, the situation has changed—a great deal and not for the better.

Of the churches that were here in the 80’s probably 1/3 have either ceased to exist or have merged with another struggling church just to barely survive—buildings that would hold 200 now have 15-25. Half of the churches have shrunk to the point that they are unable to provide outside support, some of them barely paying their bills. Of course there are some that have not only grown but are thriving. What happened to the “church” in this area? I would never claim to know all the answers but there are some things I have observed.

1) Many brethren retired and moved to smaller towns. This has been the salvation of some of the smaller churches in these towns—churches that were on the verge of dying are now prospering with good elders, young couples with their children and have grown to the point that they can offer outside support. To be sure they don’t have the money that the bigger churches used to, but part of the reason the big churches are no longer big is that many brethren have shifted to other locations. They are still as active as they used to be, (health permitting) they are just more scattered out.

2) Other churches were in neighborhoods that became “bad”. Some of them had the foresight to relocate to other areas and most of those are doing well. Some of them sat there lamenting what was happening, but doing nothing about it—these were the ones that have already ceased to exist or will shortly, even though they merged with another struggling church.

3) But something common to all those that ceased to exist or that have dramatically shrunk is that little personal work was done. The truth was preached (and still is in those that still exist) and if anyone showed up at the church building wanting to study the Bible they studied with them. I visited several of them in the late 80’s & 90’s and the preaching/teaching was good, the contribution was good, but the median age was around 70. Their children had moved out to other areas are left the faith, leaving the now elderly alone. With the young people leaving for jobs etc. and no one being converted the end of these churches was only a matter of time—it was when would they die, not if.

4) Among some of the largest churches there was an attitude of contentment—they had a nice building, good, well known preacher, and money to not only pay their bills but do a lot of outside support. If they didn’t grow, they at least maintained themselves, as people moved in from other areas, or even other churches. Again there was little effort to reach out to the lost at home—“they won’t listen”, “nobody cares anymore”, or “it never works”. Yet with the death or move of a few key members these churches are now mere shadows of themselves.

My point in writing this is not to lament “what used to be” (Eccl. 7:10), nor to condemn these brethren but rather to ask, “What can we learn from this?” Brethren, the secret to not only church growth, but even church maintenance is simple: Proactive leadership that looks to the future. Without concerted efforts to reach the lost a church will eventually die. The experts say that a church must grow by 10 % a year just to break even—to replace those who move, fall away, or die. But such efforts will either not ever happen or will be spasmodic without effective leadership. God’s ideal is that there should be elders in every church, but even where there are no elders there must be leaders. Are you willing to be a part of that leadership, knowing that it will require you to serve others more than you’ve ever served before? Young men, you need to prepare yourself to serve as an elder at some point in time. Both men and women of any age can lead—not necessarily as elders, or even preachers, but you can stand up and encourage others to do what’s right. You can keep things going.

What happened to the church? The same thing that has always happened where there is a lack of leadership and planning for the future. Let us learn from these things so we won’t repeat them.

Tol

"Jesus is a verb"

I was listening to the radio yesterday and a song with the title, "Jesus es un verbo, no un sustantivo" came on. I'd never heard it before and although most of the song was the usual "I'm a good person, so God won't send me to hell will he?" the title got me to thinking--"Jesus is a verb, not a noun". Obviously the name Jesus is a noun, but the point is being like Jesus demands action.

There are many Christians to whom Christianity is something you say, not something you do--as the old saying goes they talk a good religion. They may be very knowledgeable in the Scriptures, even be able to teach eloquently, but if they don't put into practice what they know it does them little good. And rather than bringing others to Christ they tend to run them off with their hypocrisy and selfrighteousness. Matt. 7:21 comes to mind here, "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father which is in heaven." To put verse 22 into our language, "But Lord I preached many sermons, taught many Bible classes, set many people straight on the Bible and yet I'm lost. How can this be?"

The age old battle between salvation by faith only and salvation by works still rages among us today. Must we study the Bible and stand for the truth? Without a doubt!! But God also demands that His children act--demonstrating our love for one another, for the lost, even for our enemies. Love can only be shown by our actions!

Jesus is a verb, not a noun. What He taught He himself put into practice. May we ever do the same.

Tol

"It's okay for me because . . . "

Frequently we try to justify sin in our lives by our situation or the circumstances we’re in. While fornication is sin for everyone else it is okay for me because “we love each other”, or “it was just momentary weakness” or whatever. Yes, lying is wrong, but it was okay for me because “I didn’t want to hurt their feelings” or “it really wasn’t my fault” or “it wasn’t really a big deal”. Can such reasoning turn sin in our lives into something less than sin, or is it still sin?

Gen. 19 records the departure of Lot and his two daughters from Sodom, then from the small city of Zoar, to live in a cave. Lot’s two daughters decided that they would preserve their Father’s seed by each sleeping with him, thus committing fornication as well as incest. What terrible sins, but they had several reasons why they had to do this: 1) “Our father is old”—he can’t have a son from any other source; 2) “There is no man on the earth to come in to us”—there is no one else for us to have sexual relations with; and 3) “that we may preserve the seed of our father”—it’s not really about us, it’s about preserving our father’s seed. They proceed to get Lot drunk two consecutive nights and take turns sleeping with him. Their plan is successful and they both give birth to a son.

Lot’s daughters justify their actions in their own minds, but God did not justify them. It was not an accident that God chose Israel as His chosen people, not Moab or Ammon. When a course of action begins with sin it usually winds up there also—both Moab and Ammon were idolaters by the time Israel reached the Promised Land. Yet they know they are wrong—why else did they have to get their father drunk before putting their plan into action?

Did these women’s supposed necessity justify their sin? Not at all! Brethren, it is no different today with you and me. Sin is always sin, no matter what the circumstances or situation. The Scriptures acknowledge that some sin is understandable—stealing out of necessity (Prov. 6:30-31), but it is still sin and the consequences of sin do not change because of circumstances. If God says something is sin, it is sinful in every circumstance. No matter how hard we try to justify it, or how eloquently we argue, or how loudly we may yell, sin remains sin and the wages of sin are death.

Let us never try to justify our sins—only God can do that and He will not be deceived by our reasoning or supposed sincerity.

Tol

"Here am I, Send me!"

When the Lord needed someone to warn Judah to turn from their evil ways Isaiah volunteered--he wasn't drafted nor was he forced to. We know God doesn't force anyone to obey Him. But, seeing the need he chose to prophesy and preach the Word of God to his nation.

There are many places, near and far, where the Word of God has still not been preached. Not long ago a brother who preaches in Toronto listed all the major cities in Canada where there is not a sound church. The same kind of list could be made of churches in the northern part of the States. There are entire countries like Paraguay, Uraguay, and Guyana in South America where to our knowledge there is not a Gospel preacher. And the list goes on and on.

Where are the Isaiah's of today, who are willing to carry the Word of God, not only to places far, but also near? We live in a county of 65,000 people where there are 52 (count them) churches of Christ, yet we still find people who are looking for truth and obey it. No matter how many Christians there are in an area there are still more people who are seeking the truth. Will you volunteer to take the Word of God to them?

Tol

Joe Carrasquillo

Dana and I went to the airport last night to pick up Jose or Joe Carrasquillo. Joe has preached for the church that meets in Dorado, Puerto Rico full-time for a couple of years now. The photo is of Joe and his wife Mayra and sons Jose Francisco and Angel Gabriel.

Joe is here for 10 days to meet with a couple of the churches that support him. He is still in need of more support, but he does what he can. He needs at least another $700 a month to scrape by, so you can imagine how his lack of support restricts not only the work, but their life.

Joe has done a good work with the church in Dorado--they themselves acknowledge that they've learned more in the last 4 years than in the 30 years that went before. This knowledge of the Bible has led them to greater faith, which has brought forth fruit--10-12 have been baptized there in the last couple of years.

Although Ed and I will not be actually working in Dorado, we will be working with Joe, encouraging and teaching him. Even though he's been preaching 2 years full time there is still training and teaching he needs. Please pray for him and his family as they labor in Puerto Rico.

Tol