The Threat from Within: The Incursion of Secular Humanism into Christian Belief and Practice Revisited

By William Merrifield

We do not need to fear Satan in the world near as much as we need to fear him in the church. As in my first book, this addition seeks to evaluation the present condition of the church in the world. The workers of iniquity do not bother those from whom there is no threat. For that reason, this addition seeks to look deep within the modern church to sees where the modern world has slipped in among us, because we were unaware. And so, the Threat from Within Revisited, come to the reader with eyes wide open, exposing the threat of Secular Humanism within the church, the assault on the family, and the unceasing attack on Biblical inerrancy. Let's look at the path of encroachment, brick by brick, that has taken the church to the brink of becoming irrelevant to a lost world looking for a Savior.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685176372

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The Threat from Within

The Incursion of Secular Humanism into Christian Belief and Practice Revisited

William Merrifield

ISBN 978-1-68517-636-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-68517-637-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by William Merrifield

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1

The Local Church

A Turning Point in History

A New Culture, a New Society

The Definition of the New Church

The Function of the Local Church

The Necessity of the Local Church

The Destiny of the Local Church

Chapter 2

Counterfeits among the Originals

Religious Evolution

Watered-Down Messages

Minimum Requirements

Some of the Nicest People

Self-Serving or Selfless Service

Chapter 3

Secular and Spiritual Church Issues

Overchurching: The Law of Supply and Demand

Mediocre Leadership

Commonplace Deacons

Complacent Church Members

Inadequate Preaching

Unprepared

Untrained

Unmotivated

A Counterfeit Jesus, a Counterfeit Gospel113

Chapter 4

The Modern Church

What Is the Modern Church?

The Competition for Souls

The Megachurch

The Small Church

Church Growth

The Modern Church Membership

Nondenominationalism

Inactive members

It's the message, not the messenger

It's not what you want; it's what you need

Chapter 5

The Assault on Marriage and the Family

Biblical Marriage

Authority in Marriage

Unrealistic Expectations

Marriage Counseling

The Biblical Family

A Family Is Not a Couple

Chapter 6

Secular Humanism in the Church

From Gnosis Beginnings

Libertarianism

Secular Humanism

Individual Rights versus Corporate Responsibility

Solipsism

Collegially

Other faith groups

Same-faith groups

Political Correctness

Chapter 7

Feminism215 in the Church

Clarification of Intent

Biblical Concepts

Old Testament

New Testament

Ordination of Women

Traditional Feminism

Early American Feminism234

Modern Feminism

Radical Opposition

Tradition Base

Chauvinistic Base

Feministic Base

First Wave

Second wave

Modern feminist or the third wave

Chapter 8

Sexual Immorality

Heterosexual

Fornication

Adultery

Electronic Affairs

Emotional Adultery

Abortion

Religious Vows of Celibacy

Pedophilia

Homosexuality

General Abuse

Fetal Development

Fixation

Choice

What If

Chapter 9

The Moral and Ethical Dilemma299

Moral Education

Definitions

The Educational Debate

Imperatives and Absolutes

The Target Audience

The Z Generation

The Moral-Based Model

Impediments to Right Reasoning

The Educational Impediment

Ethical Systems

A Concluding Note on the Problem

Chapter 10

Religious Symbolism

From Humble Beginnings

Prayer in School

Praying at Public Functions

Praying in the Name of Jesus

The Ten Commandments

Confronting the Public on Christian Beliefs

Intelligent Design

Chapter 11

The Bible: Inerrant or In Error?

What Is the Bible?

Basic Assumptions

Definitions

Authoritative Word of God

Autographic Text of Scripture

Bible

Canon

Grammatical-Historical Exegesis

Inerrant

Infallible

Inspiration

Omnipotent

Revelation

Translation

Transcribe

Paraphrase

How Did the Modern Bible Come to Be?

The Old Testament

The New Testament

The English Bible

Inerrancy and Other Related Matters

Does inerrancy really matter?

What the Bible says about its own inerrancy

Purposed Errors in the Bible

The I Passages of Paul

Inerrancy: A Statement of Fact or Faith

Chapter 12

What Then Should We Do?

See Things the Way They Really Are

Obstacles

Hedgerows

Barriers and Bridges

Ties That Bind

Christ as Lord and Savior

Love for One Another

A Heart for Missions

Share the Vision

Notes

This matter arose, because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.

—Galatians 2:4

Acknowledgments

To God be the glory, great things He has done.

To my loving wife, Jo Ann, for fifty-seven years of love, encouragement, and understanding.

My sincere appreciation to the brothers and sisters in Christ who have supported me in my preparations. Among this long list, I wish to single out:

Reverend John Morton (RIP), for his patience, kindness, and love in helping me see that God really did want me in the ministry.

Reverend Dr. Charles Everett, Trinity Baptist Church, Lugoff, South Carolina.

Dr. R. J. Gore, Erskine Theological Seminary, for encouraging me to improve myself both in and out of school.

Reverend and Mrs. Butch Austin, for their Christian love and prayers through the years.

Introduction

Several years ago, I wrote The Threat from Within . I was, to say the least, surprised at how quickly some of the things I wrote about came to be reality. I am not, nor have I ever proclaimed myself to be, a prophet. I wrote of what I had seen and heard and where I believed the church, Christendom, and America was going. Now, years later, several of my friends and readers have asked if it would be possible to revisit my writing. As with the original, I am still seeking to understand the changing winds of church leadership, the ebb and flow of congregational attendance, and the rise and fall of Christendom, and the attitude and direction, which the new ruling generation is taking. I believe that my base Scripture is still a true compass for this book. Once again, I take up the gauntlet, and I renew the battle to express my thoughts and knowledge, as limited as those thoughts and opinions might be, and to express my concerns for the future of the local church.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.¹ To overcome the wiles of Satan, one must first understand what it is that Satan is attempting to accomplish, what weapons he has at his disposal, and perhaps most importantly, where he is to be found. My battle analysis will deal mainly with those threats that are to be found within the modern church. Where did these threats come from, how did they become threats, and what is the battle plan for the takeover of our culture?

As with any book dealing with threats and tribulations, I had to once again determine the direction I would take. That has not, for the most part, changed. However, should I go from the obvious to the more sinister, or do I just jump right into the firestorm? With each generation, the fire of theological debate has increased until it has become a raging inferno of facts, theories, assumptions, and errors. Both sides throwing fuel on the fire of religious examination, each trying to change the mind of the followers.

Hopefully, once again, by beginning with the more commonplace, I can build a rapport with the reader that will entice him or her to read on to the more menacing threats. As with most such threats, the circumstances of these threats do not come upon an intended victim rapidly. There is a combination of events that lead us to the final confrontation. Each stage builds on the other until we reach culmination. I certainly do not consider humanity to have reached the final conflict, nor do I believe that the Church Universal will ever achieve total victory over those who would threaten its very existence until Jesus returns to claim His Bride.

Books like this will often carry modifiers in their reviews. Modifiers such as provocative, challenging, incendiary, and even offensive, depending if the reviewer liked the book or not. I acknowledge very freely, that with such a subject, I have written out of human emotion. I love my country, the church, and my denomination, and anything that seeks to undermine their important mission to the world brings me emotional turmoil. Because of the emotional involvement, the revision may not contain all that I wish it could. There are no easy answers to the questions I will ask. Nor will there be any fast solutions to the problems I present. If, however, this book brings some emotional turbulence to those who read it, and from the turbulence a proactive response, then I will have done most of what I hoped to do.

With more than forty-two years as a Southern Baptist pastor and chaplain, I have preached, counseled, taught varied classes both religious and secular, monitored religious programs, helped establish procedures for worship, fixed responsibility, and provided staff coordination of all religious support programs within my areas of responsibility. I have often supervised as many as twenty-three soldiers and civilians. I had made it my practice to affiliate myself with those Southern Baptist Churches, as well as other denominations that were near my postings. As a result of all of this, I have ministered to numerous congregations both military and civilian in whatever position I was needed in. These have ranged from interim pastor, Chairman of the Deacon Body, to speaking, teaching Sunday school and Bible studies.

I have served in various positions and yet had been, in reality, simply a transient worker. I have had opportunity to observe congregations as both a member in good standing and an outsider simply passing through. The view of a chaplain, minister, and servant may prove somewhat of a shock to the rank and file of the clergy and lay leadership, or at least to those who hold so staunchly to the belief that the pastor and/or deacons, and only they, have the keys to the church and congregational growth and security.

I believe that the majority of people still believe foreign missions to be the masculine diversion of the ages. These spiritual warriors going forth to the uttermost parts of the world and bravely competing against the wiles of the world for the souls of the lost. It is not my intent to diminish the sacrifice or importance of either foreign or home missionaries. However, in comparison to such thoughts, the role of the pastor, deacons, church lay leaders, the role of the local church, and the function as a whole lies in a more distant diverse realm of the heroic. In this modern age of rapid infrastructures, I believe that it would be safe to say that the greatest mission field today is to be found in the local church, and in one's own backyard.

If in this revision I seem to expect too much of church leaders and congregations, and far more of the preachers and deacons, my plea is found in my inability to read into the Bible a philosophy of complacent laissez-faire. I am a firm believer in the local church—its necessity, its function, and its destiny as given by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."² The welfare of that part of the body of Christ located in local communities should be of the utmost concern to the congregational parts of the Body!

This should still be the focus. Empty pews, wayward congregants, and dying churches bring tragedy to Christian pastoral and lay leadership alike. And so that is what this revision sets out to do: take Christians to the church communities with wide-open eyes. I want the readers to see the empty pews. I want you to see the children without God. I want you to see the families on the run, looking for a church home that will prove acceptable to their God, their denomination, and to themselves.

I want you to see the threat that has crept into the churches because we did not pay attention, were willfully unaware, or were complacent, resting on past works. Hopefully, I can draw attention to the fact that we don't need to fear Satan walking about in the world, near as much as we need to fear him and his disciples within the church. Satan and his followers will always be found in or near the church. The workers of iniquity do not bother those from whom there is no threat. But they do actively seek to ensnare those who would call the world to repentance.

Somewhere in this world of Christian debate on the rules and regulations of Christian citizenship, we have lost sight of the fact that for the Christian, authority for faith and practice must reside in the Bible and not in the minds of men. All of the truths that are relevant to humanity's salvation are found in the Bible. How we are to live our lives, how we are to conduct ourselves in the world, and how we are to conduct ourselves with other Christians are all found within the bindings of Scripture. What the new world rebels from, and it is a new world, is the absolute that states there is no appeal beyond the authority of the Scriptures and no power on earth that can set aside the authority of an omnipotent God.

This Generation Z has put forth a new cry that echoes an old question, Why can't we have religious faith and make social-based decisions? Let me pause and put out a flickering amber before it becomes a smoke screen. In every generation, there will always be exceptions to the rule. Anyone who tries to classify an entire generation without exceptions is a pea brain. Therefore, I am trying to define those traits of the general population we have labeled Z-ers. These are those things that one will find most common.

Unfortunately, God has spoken with a finality that frightens the new world order, and make no doubt about it, this new generation brings with it a new world order. A world that wants acceptance without responsibility, liberty that costs nothing, and religion that has no requirements. The world desires acceptance so much that they are willing to substitute humanity's traditions, and social principles for God's authority. To answer the question, it is one thing for the world to unleash untold confusion by setting aside the Word of God for opinions, social principles, and traditions, it is quite another for the Christian to do so.

Yet in far too many churches and denominations, that is exactly what churchgoers are being told: water down the sermon, lighten up on the requirement for church membership, and stop talking about a Satan that really exists, and a literal hell where unrepentant and unredeemed sinners are going to go. If churchgoers don't want to talk about it, they certainly don't want someone writing a book about it. Yet because of my base verse, "This matter arose, because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves,"³ I feel even the more strongly that my first edition needs to be revisited. I am not trying to anger anyone—well, maybe just a little, or turn people off to God. I do not make the declaration that God does not love every one of His creations. I do make a distinction between God's created and His children. I just feel that as Children of God, we should boldly look at the issues that are painfully distressing the church, our nation, and the world.

Because of the complexity of some of the subjects, I need to make sure that the reader understands what it is that I accept as true and, perhaps more importantly, how I arrived at my various conclusions. Unfortunately, this requires that I make an extra effort to adequately discuss the more academic aspects of some subjects. I will try not to get too bogged down in the weeds. In all cases, I will endeavor to keep each chapter simple in language, accurate in statement, practical in purpose, and spiritual in tone.

In The Threat from Within, I provided the reader with questions at the end of each chapter. Some said it was helpful, others said they preferred a book club approach. Anyway, I am going to omit the Questions for Consideration from the revision. Certain instruction or commentary can be drawn from each chapter, thereby furnishing the reader with any number of topics for study and discussion. I strongly encourage the searching of the Scriptures to give the reader an acceptable knowledge of the content of the book. Did I adequately answer the questions? Did I ensure that the reader understood the text? Was I in line with the context? These are just some of the questions that the reader should bring to the reading of this book. God bless you, and may you find the answers to some of the questions you're seeking.

Chapter 1

The Local Church

A Turning Point in History

The twenty-first century is the current century of the Common Era of the Gregorian Calendar, which was named after Pope Gregory the XIII in 1582. It is the first century of the third millennium. Some historians argue that the twenty-first century really began in 1989 with the beginning of the internal collapse of Communism in the Soviet bloc countries. In retrospect, January 1st is really just another day in history. It came and went like all the other January 1st. In another sense, it symbolizes the end of one church epoch and the beginning of another. The date is not really important, and neither is the year. What is important is where the church stands in the annals of history? Have we reached a new defining point? Has a point been reached that will send the world, and therefore the church careening off the path of righteousness and on to a new track toward the comfort zone?

There have been many turning points recorded in the short history of humanity. For the Christians, such turning points were the time of Christ, the fall of the Roman Empire, and the Reformation. For humanity, such points in history were the Industrial Revolution, the Space Age, and like it or not, the age of social technology. It was then projected that by 2010, the majority of the developed world would have access to the internet, and most would have a personal account on a major social media site. I think that is a fair assessment of today's world.

So what do they all have in common? For one thing, each point in history forced humanity, and, therefore, the church to leave behind the way the culture and society had functioned before it. For better or worse, each era introduces a new way of existing. I am not sure if we can call what is happening today living. Looting, rioting, drastic increases in crime, illegal immigrants, and the woke culture whose goals seem to be dissolving the nuclear family, abolishing capitalism, eliminating religion, rewriting the constitution, and raising children to be gender-neutral.

Regardless of resistance to change, panic, or ominous threat, for each of these points in history, there is no turning back to a simpler, safer time. For better or worse, there is no going back to the good old days. For the millennials, these are the good old days! With each new freedom, Christians are being challenged to seek their scriptures and to see the truth of the matter. Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.⁴

If one can imagine a steam-powered locomotive of early nineteenth century America traveling from east to west across this young nation, at first, the going seems to be steady and effortless as it glides through the farm country and across the flat lands of the desert Midwest then it reaches the Great Divide and it is slow going at first; the steep incline requires all the power the steam engine can muster. The mighty locomotive finally reaches the top of the towering mountains and begins the decent to the desert floor below. The train begins to pick up speed until it has surpassed the recommended safe operating speed. It is an exhilarating ride, but unless the engineer applies the brakes from time to time, slow the forward moment to a safer speed, the train will soon reach a speed where the brakes cannot be applied without blowing the engine or derailing the train.

It is not so much that humanity, or the church, does not embrace change; it's just that the velocity of change has accelerated to an almost unimaginable pace. More changes have occurred in the past century than took place in the ten centuries that preceded it. Changes in the first twenty years of the twenty-first century have exceed the changes of the last five decades of the last century. How does the church move into this new century without losing the ageless mandate that Christ gave to the church to make disciples?

A New Culture, a New Society

How does the local Christian church move into the new century without losing the spiritual identity of the church? Denominations are redrawing their biblical boundaries and reassessing their doctrinal restrictions, struggling to find their place in this new world order. Humanity demands less intrusion into their chosen lifestyles. They want less condemnation for the human infirmities that we used to call sin. They want more all-inclusiveness into the life of the church for all individuals regardless of their belief or religion. This produces complexity, destabilization, and uncertainties within the local Christian churches. But should it?

Historically, Christians have looked to their denominations and their seminaries for the vision and leadership required to lead them forward toward the final harvest. That day somewhere in the future when Christ Jesus comes and ushers in the Christian millennium.⁵ However, the changes affecting the local church today are far broader than former platitudes, antiquated organizations, and watered-down messages that basically will offend no one. In order to accomplish assimilation into the new order, the local church has embarked on a human odyssey without first seeking to understand who, or what, they really are. In simple terms, there is no one at the helm, no defender to brake the speed, and the speed of descent into the abyss of nonrelevance is increasing at an alarming rate.

For the most part, the Christian churches, most notably those listed under the label Protestant, have long advocated the priesthood of the believer and loudly proclaimed the mobilization of the laity for ministry without really putting any of it into practice. Rather than move ahead with the true Gospel message, they seek to include more people into the local church rather than lead people to Christ.

Perhaps worse yet is that no one has counted the cost.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.'⁶

And so, before I can begin to discuss those threats within the modern church, I must first seek some kind of common ground. An understanding of the destructible cost from which to begin the journey.

The Definition of the New Church

No one should attempt to set forth an idea without first seeking to define that which they would discuss. The word church is used in this book to refer to a Christian congregation. It is that visible and local group most often referenced in the New Testament.⁷ Therefore, any definition true to the Christian understanding of the word church would have to begin, A New Testament church is…

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel.⁸ This is still a great definition of the New Testament church. But what does it mean to the millennial? More importantly, what does it mean to the Z generation? There are those who would imply that people today recognize that the term church as not invariably referring to a local congregation, but may bring to mind the image of a building, or even a social assemblage to which no one has to join, and there is no real commitment.

I could go into a dictionary litany of means as to being associated by covenant. Most understand it today to mean a formal agreement to fulfil an obligation. But what kind of an obligation? To a course of action? But what kind of action? To fulfil a promise? Is the covenant to be legal or moral? And perhaps, the most important question, for how long? Is this association to be out of a sense of duty, or just until one or the other decides to break the agreement?

If it is not easy to define associated by covenant to the Z-ers, then how much more difficult is it to define faith and fellowship? Do the two even go together? Do I have to have the same faith in order to join in the fellowship? No, no, do not reach for your Bible. The general population of millennials and Z-ers are deficient in Scriptural understanding. They have not been taught to understand Scripture, and most churches today do not require a personal Bible.

Should the social cluster not meet the needs of the member, the member feels no loyalty to the organization to which they participate, and feels free to simply go off and be a part of another group of like or similar beliefs, or no belief at all, allowing the individual to decide for themselves what they choose to believe. The new generations tend to view their tithe, if they tithe, and their gifts and offerings as simple membership fees such as they would give to the local gym. They do not seem to make the connection to the giving of tithe, time, and talent to a worship experience. Many do not give believing that such activities should be free. More on that later.

Such individuals often seek out nondenominational congregations. There is no identifiable standard among such congregations. By its very title nondenominational, such churches refrain from establishing a functional denomination or accountability to other congregations with commonly held doctrine, policy, and worship. Churches in which a person may go and view a screen, and be entertained for an hour, seems to be the latest craze. Most modern nondenominational churches reject the idea of a formalized denominational structure, holding that each congregation is better off being on its own. A new addition to such churches is the satellite church, which consists of a caretaker and large screen with which to hear the founding preacher. However, even here, there is no real commitment to a group. In such churches, there is no Sunday school, no training union, and very little, if any, fellowship.

To others, there is the understanding that the Church Universal (always with a capital C)⁹ and the local church (with a lowercase c) as being one and the same. Reality could not be further from the truth. Therefore, one purpose is to make some type of contribution toward correcting errors that have grown out of false concepts of what the Church Universal is and is not. Lest I be misunderstood, or taken to task, I do not make the claim to have searched out all of the errors pertaining to an unscriptural interpretation of the Church.

One begins with the understanding of what the local church is, and what it is not. Jesus Christ established the church when in His conversation with Peter, Christ stated, "I tell you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church."¹⁰ Here Christ speaks of the Church Universal.¹¹ In its basic form, ekklesia (to call out), it simply means a gathering, a meeting, of those who have been called out (i.e., set aside).¹² It could, in this modern world, be better understood as when you come together in an assembly.

However, if one were to accept the Universal Church as the definition of the local congregation, then the autonomy of the separate local churches would be destroyed, seeing that the individual would hold his or her allegiance to the larger body, giving rise to either one person or to an ecclesiastical organization exercising power over the separate churches. Not unlike the satellite churches that are not seeking to create separate churches but rather expand their influence.

Although such a concept is supported by some traditions, I cannot find such a pattern in the New Testament. We need to take care in any discussion of the Church Universal and the local church, unless we find ourselves in danger of losing what should be an obvious fact to all of us—the Christian tradition is one great river of thought and not several interconnecting tributaries: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."¹³ The Church Universal is the sum of those who have by faith and profession have in Christ Jesus been called out. The local church is the sum of all who profess to be called out, are on the rolls, and, as of late, any who wish to be joined together. Not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the Kingdom of God.¹⁴

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians writes, "To the church of God in Corinth… and later he wrote, To the churches in Galatia…" In the first example, Paul writes to a specific church, while in the second example, he addresses his letter to several local churches. In the first-century church, there were no denominations as we know them today. The New Testament churches were small, self-governing bodies that mostly met in homes. There were, as in the case with the Galatians, several smaller groups with a somewhat limited association.

However, for the most part, these first-century churches were both independent and, to some extent, theocratic bodies holding sway over only their own assemble. As near as I can ascertain, it was the congregation that had final say as to constitution of their churches. The individual or local church can then be defined as a group of persons who, in any given community, unite themselves voluntarily together, in accordance with the guidance given in the New Testament. This uniting of Christians is more than just a gathering; it is better described as a fellowship, a koinonia.

In Christ Jesus, Christians will find that they may have many variations in their church polity, but no true spiritual differences. A New Testament church is a group of people who come together and stay together because they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord, Master, and Savior. The glue that binds these people together is godly love, agape. This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.¹⁵

Agape has several very fine distinctions. In this verse, it is a sacrificial act. It is not that we do not love God, but that we did not love Him in the past. In our nature, this love is in general; we did not first love (or have affection for) God. In comparison, God's love for us is in the ingressive aorist. It is a continuing act. He didn't just love us, but He continues to love us.

Augustine wrote,

The true Christian will never set himself up over other men… If you would be better than another man, you will grudge to see him as your equal. You ought to wish all men equal to yourself; and if you have gone beyond another man in wisdom, you should want him to show himself wise…¹⁶

I would conclude my definition of the word church by stating that a church is greater than the sum of the people who have joined themselves together. In the true Christian church, there will always be the presence of the risen Lord in the midst of His followers, calling each member by His grace and power to "come let us reason together says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool."¹⁷

The Function of the Local Church

Having so boldly given definition to the word church, I believe that we now need to look at the local church's function. A church function should be an essential action without which its basic nature would be altered. Trinity Baptist Church, to which my wife and I have joined ourselves, has as both its vision and function the following credo:

Under the authority of the Bible to present the Triune God to our community and world by being a growing family of passionately committed followers of Jesus Christ. We will demonstrate the relevance of Jesus through celebrative Spirit-filled worship, through the use of our individual spiritual gifts, and through a lifestyle of holiness.

In seeking to clarify the functions of the church, one must always keep in mind the driving force that unites us. The life's blood of the church, in fact its very existence, flows from God. Its vitality, however, must be made evident by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Just as it was at Pentecost, so it must be with the local church. Therefore, the church finds it function in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father—the Triune God. The church hears "a sound like the blowing of a violent wind coming from heaven and filling the whole house…"¹⁸

A great majority of the verses in the New Testament give reference to a local congregation. This, then, by the very nature