Tim Ellsworth

Evidently Cincinnati Bengals clown Chad Johnson has legally changed his name to Chad Javon Ocho Cinco.

I think the Bengals should make him wear number 18.

Many people attribute Edmund Burke – though perhaps inaccurately — with the quote, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Sadly, all you have to do to prove the truth of this statement is look at many churches.

I can’t tell you how many churches I’ve heard about where a small group of evil people in the congregation succeeded in destroying the church, often running off godly pastors and other staff members in the process. And the reason they are able to do this is because too many men in the church – men who could be classified as “good men” – don’t have the courage to stand up and oppose the wicked actions of their fellow church members.

Oh, they’ll give lip service to standing up for what’s right. “We support you, pastor,” they might say. But that’s about the extent of it. They’ll refuse to lovingly confront the sin of others in the church, all the while allowing those people to run roughshod over others. They adopt a “peace at any cost” mentality, and think they are being obedient to the Lord simply by not stirring up trouble.

But they are wrong.

Men, let me encourage you to be bold in fighting for the holiness of your church. Don’t let griping and grumbling church members who are hell-bent on destroying the fellowship of your church — and the lives of godly ministers — get away with it. Oppose them vigorously.

Support your pastor and your staff members who are doing their best to teach God’s word – and do it with more than a simple pat on the back and an “Attaboy” or an “I wish there was something more I could do.” I’ve even heard of men who have approached a pastor – after he’s been forced out of church – and said something to the effect of, “Well, pastor, I agree with you, but I’ve got to live with these people.” How cowardly.

Rebuke those who are sin. Follow the guidelines established in Matthew 18. Recognize that when church members criticize their pastor for baseless reasons, they are in fact sinning against you and against God. Confront them and demand that they stop. If they refuse, take someone else with you and do it again. If they continue in their sin, bring the matter before the church.

If some of the malcontents in your church get mad at you for it and leave the church, so what? Your church is a better place without them. Too many men, I fear, think that by standing up for righteousness they will only contribute to the disintegration of the church. By believing this, they are essentially saying that peace is more valuable than holiness.

In reality, however, the opposite is true. A congregation that tolerates openly rebellious church members is a church not being faithful to the Lord, and one we are better off without.

And if those causing the problems in your church refuse to leave, see to it that they are removed. Be a leader in insisting that Scripture be obeyed when it comes to matters of church discipline.

In short, be a man. Don’t be wishy-washy, and don’t be passive. Such a mentality does nothing to promote the holiness of your congregation.

For my last story from my trip to Beijing, I wrote about Yu Jie, a Beijing writer and the leader of a house church in Beijing. My original piece was lengthy, so Baptist Press chose to split the article into two parts — China house church leader weighed Scripture & culture and Finding a house church leader in Beijing.

I understand the reasons for doing so, and signed off on the way they handled the story. But my original preference was one article. And since I have a blog where I can post the entire thing, here’s the original article in its entirety.

————–

BEIJING –Yu Jie sat in his living room talking about his church in Beijing. It’s called the Ark Church. And he’ll quickly tell you that the church is not underground.

Though not the pastor, Yu was one of the church’s founders and is one of the three elders there. Many churches in China are indeed underground and try to operate without government detection. But the Ark Church operates openly and unashamedly, and defiantly refuses to submit to the government’s unbiblical demands.

Communicating with Yu was difficult. He doesn’t speak English. I don’t speak Chinese. A translator I had hired certainly helped, but even she was hard for me to understand at times. As I sat in Yu’s home listening to him tell me about his church and about the growth of Christianity in China, I pondered the events that had brought me to this place.

Read the rest of this entry »

John McCain has selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Way to go, John. This is a stroke of genius.

In an interview with Christianity Today, “Blue Like Jazz” author Donald Miller tries to justify his support for the pro-abortion Barack Obama by claiming that a Republican president and Republican Congress haven’t done anything to curtail abortion anyway.

Denny Burk responds by pointing out that the two Supreme Court justices appointed by Bush and confirmed by a Republican Senate “resulted in a majority that for the first time since Roe v. Wade actually limited abortion rights.”

Burk concludes:

The fact of the matter is that the President appoints the judges that will decide whether Roe v. Wade will be upheld or overturned. The next President will likely have the opportunity to fill 2 to 3 vacancies on the Supreme Court. In other words, the next President will decide whether or not Roe v. Wade will be overturned.

Unfortunately, Donald Miller is but one of many so-called “evangelicals” who are saying that it’s okay for pro-lifers to vote for Obama and that having a pro-life President won’t make that much difference anyway. In this opinion, they are sadly mistaken. Once again, Donald Miller is proving himself to be an unreliable guide.

Here’s the start of the Opening Ceremony from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, recorded live on my digital camera.

Here are some photos from my trip:
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

Here’s the collection of Olympics-related stories I’ve done for Baptist Press over the past several days. I have one story left to write — an interview I did with a house church leader in China — that will probably run in BP later this week sometime.

Olympic archer: Faith is most important
Archery became Olympian’s family sport
At Olympics, believers carry hope onto Beijing streets
By rowing, Olympian intends to worship
Cyclist’s perseverance lifts her to Olympics
‘Buzz’ in China yields to elaborate opening ceremony
Opening ceremony reflections
At Beijing church, ‘all nations’ worship
Cyclist disappointed but still thankful
Family’s love carries U.S. swimmer to Beijing Olympics
Archer ties record; falls in 2nd round
Outfielder credits prayer for helping him make Olympics
8 Americans make new friends in Beijing
Olympian finds victory over fear
Nancilea Foster’s next challenge: Olympic diving
‘God is my biggest fan,’ Olympics rower says
Triathlete relying on God’s strength
Olympian ready to showcase his sport
American diver set to begin her final Olympic event
Decathlete wakes up to God’s expectations
U.S. swimmer thankful she ‘kept going’ toward Olympics
Now saved, boxing manager helps others
God’s call motivates marathoner in Beijing
Olympic impact echoes in eternity, volunteers say

And here are my blog postings during the Olympics:

Welcome
So this is jet lag
Opening Ceremony, here I come
Unbelievable
Nichols ranked 24th after qualifying round
Lomong’s story worth reading
Sunday church
An unusual pet peeve for U.S. rower Cummins
Union’s Sissoko playing for Mali women’s basketball team
Phelps: Three golds and counting
Monday coverage in BP
Nichols thankful for Christian upbringing
Breeden qualifies for 200m butterfly finals
Rumball’s team advances to finals
U.S. baseball drops opener
Rained out at the Great Wall
Stephanie Brown Trafton
Goodbye, Beijing
Cummins wins gold
Trafton takes gold in women’s discus
Kemper places seventh in triathlon
Kemper makes good on promise
Trafton comments on winning the gold
Wilkinson, Robinson advance to semifinals
Wilkinson on to finals
Wilkinson places ninth in finals
Clay, Hardee in 1st, 3rd positions of decathlon
Clay wins decathlon gold; Hardee withdraws
The end

Hat tip: Denny Burk

Just a quick update and some links. What did you think of the opening ceremony? Here are some of my reflections.

Some other stories of mine that Baptist Press has published over the past couple of days:

At Olympics, believers carry hope onto Beijing streets
Olympic archer: Faith is most important
Archery became Olympian’s family sport
‘Buzz’ in China yields to elaborate opening ceremony
Cyclist’s perseverance lifts her to Olympics
By rowing, Olympian intends to worship

For the next several days, while I’m in Beijing for the Olympics, I don’t anticipate updating the ‘ole blog very much. I will, however, be blogging in a couple of different locations.

Most of my writing will be for Baptist Press at www.bpnews.net/olympics. In addition, Baptist Press will run stories that I’ll be writing on a daily basis.

I’ll also be doing a little blogging at The Jackson Sun.

I hope to be able to post periodic updates here, but they’ll most likely be summaries of what I’m doing at those sites.