In August 1996 the late General Superintendent, B.E. Underwood, called for a Solemn Assembly to confess to the Lord seven systemic sins that were part of our past and present: spiritual pride, judgmentalism, a controlling spirit, racism, male domination, greed and the elder brother syndrome.<\/p>\n
Several hundred IPHC leaders convened in the sanctuary of Northwood Temple IPHC in Fayetteville, North Carolina. For twenty-four hours we confessed, prayed, wept, and sought God\u2019s face for ourselves personally, our movement corporately, and for our nation and world.<\/p>\n
I recently found myself thinking of that event for two primary reasons. First, the #MeToo movement has brought to the surface the reality of the continued impact of male domination. From Hollywood, the media, sports and religion, a profound awareness has put the spotlight on the ubiquitous reality of the continuing abuse of women.<\/p>\n
One writer, Beth Moore, who spoke at the opening night of our IPHC General Conference last summer, confronted her Southern Baptist brothers on May 3, 2018, with \u201cA Letter to My Brothers<\/a>\u201d. You should read her letter. It is relevant for the Christian family around the globe. When I read her letter, I could not help but think of the sin our own church confessed twenty-two years ago.<\/p>\n Second, on a recent flight, I watched the 2015 movie Spotlight. Based on a true story, it portrays how The Boston Globe, in January 2002, exposed the decades-long sex-abuse of children by priests and the accompanying ecclesiastical cover-up in the Catholic archdiocese of Boston. It led to the removal of the late Cardinal Bernard Law and revealed how the Globe itself had slighted the story a decade earlier.<\/p>\n The dark power of controlling spirits by the abusing priests, by the church hierarchy, and even by the Globe reveal how deeply the tentacles of sin weave their destructive path of lies and cover-ups.<\/p>\n Lest we be unaware of how spiritual pride and judgmentalism can blind us, these sins have occurred within evangelical and Pentecostal movements, including our own. Within the IPHC, it was a generation ago that acknowledged these sins. But one event does not mark us forever.<\/p>\n A new generation arises that has little to no personal or historical reference to that day in Fayetteville. Even those of us who were there are keenly aware of how easily we slip back into the subtle ways culture entices us with power and prestige. How easily we justify and excuse our own attitudes and actions. How easily we become the Pharisee in the temple who prayed, \u201cGod, I thank You that I am not like other men\u201d (Luke 18:11, NKJV).<\/p>\n I decided to write about these things now for several reasons. First, our Core Value emphasis for 2018 and 2019 have correlation: \u201cAll Generations\u201d is our theme for 2018, and \u201cJustice\u201d will be our focus in 2019. While we have highlighted this year the good that God does through and in each generation, and we have highlighted how much we need one another, we also need to note how easily generational memory loss occurs.<\/p>\n Since \u201cthere arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph,\u201d nearly 3,500 years ago (see Exodus 1:8), does it surprise us that an April 12, 2018, headline in The Washington Post reads: \u201cHolocaust study: Two-thirds of millennials don\u2019t know what Auschwitz is\u201d?<\/p>\n While I\u2019ve not done a survey, I suspect the vast majority of our younger church members have no idea that IPHC leaders gathered in Fayetteville in 1996 to confess our corporate sins. I would be surprised if the millennial survey among our own young adults was any different about Auschwitz.<\/p>\n This leads me to the second reason for this column. Each year several thousand USA IPHC teens and young adults gather for the Accelerant conference in January and for Youth Quest in July. We need to watch these young people: They have the latest smartphones, the coolest games, and the most popular apps. Whether they use Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram or WhatsApp, they can communicate around the world or down the aisle before the speaker can get to her next sentence! We are also told they care about justice issues (Just read this article: https:\/\/theunstuckgroup.com\/2015\/06\/millennials-and-social-justice-insights\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s important that we find ways to tell them that our generation has not forgotten what we confessed before they were born. We need to show the next generation of men how to treat women as Christ treated women. We need to show them that sexual manipulation and abuse is not what godly men and women do. We need to show them that Christ\u2019s love rejects racial and ethnic hatred.<\/p>\n We need to show them, and remind ourselves, that we are citizens of the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By Doug Beacham<\/strong><\/p>\n This article was published in\u00a0the June\/July 2018 issue of Encourage<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[510,45,134,46,290,125,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-2257","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bishops-blog","8":"category-general","9":"tag-510","10":"tag-bishop","11":"tag-bishops-blog","12":"tag-doug-beacham","13":"tag-iphc-general-superintendent","14":"tag-july","15":"tag-june","16":"entry"},"title_es":"Un ni\u00f1o peque\u00f1o los conducir\u00e1 ... con un poco de ayuda","content_es":"Alrededor del fin de semana de Pascua, Susan y yo recibimos un breve video de nuestra nieta m\u00e1s peque\u00f1a, Lib de tres a\u00f1os, volviendo a contar la historia de la traici\u00f3n, la muerte y la resurrecci\u00f3n de Jes\u00fas. Al mirar las im\u00e1genes en el libro de cuentos infantiles que su madre le hab\u00eda estado leyendo, Lib cont\u00f3 la historia con sus propias palabras. De Judas recibiendo dinero para traicionar a Jes\u00fas, ella dijo: \"\u00bfMe pagar\u00edas para capturar a Jes\u00fas?\" Cuando ella pas\u00f3 a la p\u00e1gina siguiente, con una imagen de Jes\u00fas en la Cruz, ella dijo: \"\u00c9l muri\u00f3 en la Cruz, y \u00c9l muri\u00f3, y algunos de sus amigos se vistieron con Su cuerpo en la tumba. \"Cuando ella se volvi\u00f3 hacia una p\u00e1gina que detallaba la resurrecci\u00f3n, ella dijo:\" Y el \u00e1ngel del Se\u00f1or descendi\u00f3 del cielo y algunos amigos de Mar\u00eda llegaron a la tumba y vio al \u00e1ngel que dijo: 'No temas. Dios est\u00e1 vivo. \u00a1Se ha levantado! \u00a1As\u00ed que est\u00e1 vivo! \"Hay muchas razones por las que comparto esta historia; \u00a1lo m\u00e1s importante es que Susan y yo somos orgullosos abuelos! (Este video es sobre el Superintendente general de IPHC en Facebook si quiere verlo). Pero tambi\u00e9n estamos agradecidos porque nuestro hijo y su esposa se est\u00e1n tomando el tiempo para ense\u00f1ar a sus hijos las historias de la Biblia. Soy muy consciente de que el porcentaje de personas en nuestros bancos que realmente conocen la Biblia es cada vez menor. Es una gran pena en muchos niveles. Escribo esta columna mientras asisto al Tercer Encuentro Global del Foro Cristiano Global. El difunto Obispo James Leggett me dijo que su asistencia a otros eventos del Foro Global Cristiano fueron los eventos m\u00e1s inspiradores y alentadores a los que asisti\u00f3 fuera de la denominaci\u00f3n. Una de las funciones principales de este evento es reunir a cristianos de todo el mundo de todo el espectro del cristianismo que afirma al Dios trino y reconoce a Jesucristo como Se\u00f1or y Salvador. Ahora entiendo por qu\u00e9 el Obispo Leggett encontr\u00f3 este evento tan inspirador. Los m\u00e1s de 200 delegados se dividen en grupos peque\u00f1os donde se les asigna el tiempo para compartir sus testimonios. Es maravilloso escuchar las historias personales de otras personas y su caminar con Jes\u00fas. El grupo con el que me reun\u00ed ten\u00eda gente de Albania, Alemania, Suiza, Tasmania, Polonia, Brasil, Finlandia y los Estados Unidos. Casi todos comenzaron su testimonio refiri\u00e9ndose a crecer en un hogar cristiano. Un hombre habl\u00f3 de la influencia de su abuela piadosa. Otros compartieron escuchar la Palabra de Dios y las oraciones de un padre y madre. Uno mencion\u00f3 que su abuelo siempre le\u00eda en voz alta un cap\u00edtulo de la Biblia en la mesa despu\u00e9s de una comida. \u00a1La familia no fue despedida hasta que el Pan de Vida fue le\u00eddo en voz alta! Comenc\u00e9 mi testimonio haciendo referencia a mis propios padres cristianos. Descubr\u00ed que mi coraz\u00f3n se volv\u00eda hacia el valor central de IPHC de All Generations. \u00bfCu\u00e1nto valoramos como seguidores de Jes\u00fas a los que nos siguen, a los ni\u00f1os que son el futuro? \u00bfSe les da tiempo y atenci\u00f3n, ya sean nuestros propios hijos biol\u00f3gicos o no? En relaci\u00f3n con este tema de compartir la fe de una generaci\u00f3n a la siguiente, tambi\u00e9n he estado pensando en nuestro valor central de Generosidad. La mayor\u00eda de las veces pensamos en dinero, y eso es ciertamente parte de eso. Pero me encuentro pensando en la generosidad en expresiones m\u00e1s b\u00e1sicas y relacionales, como ser generoso con mi tiempo y mi atenci\u00f3n. Entre los recursos m\u00e1s valiosos de nuestras vidas est\u00e1 el tiempo. \u00bfC\u00f3mo paso mi tiempo? \u00bfCon qui\u00e9n paso el tiempo? \u00bfQu\u00e9 es m\u00e1s valioso: dedicar tiempo a alguien sobre nuestra fe o hacer lo que me agrada? El tiempo con alguien requiere atenci\u00f3n, estar realmente presente al escuchar, cuidar, compartir una carga o sentir los efectos completos de una risa. La atenci\u00f3n significa que estoy presente donde est\u00e1n mis pies. Significa que no estoy mirando por encima del hombro de alguien para ver qui\u00e9n m\u00e1s est\u00e1 en la sala durante una conversaci\u00f3n. Significa darle a esa persona \"a m\u00ed mismo\" como una expresi\u00f3n de gracia y amor. El tiempo y la atenci\u00f3n son tan valiosos que Satan\u00e1s usa todas las herramientas posibles para distraerlos. \u00c9l usa nuestras propias necesidades para ser escuchado en lugar de escuchar. Utiliza los dispositivos tecnol\u00f3gicos que llevamos en nuestras manos y bolsillos. \u00a1Tenemos que luchar contra el desorden de d\u00e9ficit de atenci\u00f3n espiritual para estar presente con Dios y con otra persona! Pero la batalla vale la pena para las almas de las personas. Entonces, por favor, hagan tiempo y presten atenci\u00f3n a quienes les rodean. Comparte tu jornada de fe con Jes\u00fas. Cu\u00e9ntales las historias de la Biblia. Se generoso con los dem\u00e1s con tu fe. Por Doug Beacham<\/strong> Este art\u00edculo fue publicado en la edici\u00f3n de mayo de 2018 de Encourage<\/a> .<\/em>","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/06\/PHOTO-Beacham-e1528840671489.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Bx-Ap","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/gso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}