Another Ninety-Five
I N T R O D U C T I O N
ANOTHER 95: Another 95 Theses For Another Reformation is an amplification of my 95 Theses published in two newspapers in Kelowna, B.C. This is a brief account leading to that publication….
While attending a conference, during corporate worship, the Lord ‘spoke’ unexpectedly. I discerned He wanted me to relay insights He had deposited over the years to evangelicals back home in Kelowna, utilizing the local newspapers.
Evangelicalism is found wanting. Reformation of the evangelical’s heart will only come via outsiders; insiders have forfeited extensive opportunities. (It must be quickly said that not everyone attending evangelical services is an evangelical, though most are.) Many evangelicals are insulated from alternative perspectives by lords of the pulpits and a herd mentality. Purchasing newspaper space to preach reformation might be a violation against religious protocol, but such honored decorum means nothing to “the head of the church”.
“Yes, Lord, I will do it.”
I discerned this project was not for the moment, but I was to consider the matter seriously, and be prayerful and careful. About a year and a half later, I felt the stirring of the Holy Spirit; the time was drawing near.
While considering how to package my message I happened to pick up a book I had written many years ago, Financing the Great Commission. The back cover included these words: In 1517 Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of catholicism. It was a shaft of reason challenging a mentality that threatened to snuff out any dignity and freedom which may have survived that very dark age. While reading, I felt a flutter, a witness, of the Holy Spirit.
I will compile my own 95 theses!
I immediately began writing….
A Challenge to Evangelicals, Etcetera.
Etcetera? Etcetera is everyone. Non-evangelicals, all christians, non-believers… everyone. But these 95 theses are especially directed to evangelicals. I define an evangelical as one attached to an evangelical church, one who believes in the born-again experience, one attesting to the inerrancy of the Bible.
Theses is the plural of thesis. A thesis is a proposition or statement to be considered, discussed and possibly disputed. Martin Luther wrote his famous “95 Theses” in 1517, a challenge to accepted religious beliefs and practices of that day. Evangelicals consider him to be a hero of the faith.
My “95 Theses”, interesting to most and relevant to all, are my opinions regarding certain spiritual matters for the reader’s consideration. This compilation of reflections and teachings is the result of 37 years of christianity, many of those years lived within evangelical influence. Hopefully they will stimulate many conversations. Certainly there will be a response from several pulpits.
I divided my 95 theses, listed on the back pages of this book, into eleven sections.
I supposed there would be a dissenting reflex from many christian readers – Church affairs should not be discussed publicly before the secular world! – and I hurriedly responded to this supposed objection thus: Jesus proclaimed truth – the good and the ugly – before the religious society and the secular. And: Obscurity corrodes the good; transparency reforms the defective.
And while writing I was sensitive to the majority of readers who had not received Christ as Lord and Savior, and included such verses as John 3:16 and 17. I was confident my 95 Theses would be a draw toward Christ’s salvation, not an aversion. I addressed the last eight theses to “The Non-christian”.
On June 24th, 2009, both The Daily Courier and the Capital News of Kelowna, B.C. printed and distributed my 95 Theses. ANOTHER 95: Another 95 Theses For Another Reformation is an amplification of each of the 95 theses.