The Numbers Game: Round One

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    The Numbers Game: Round One                  by  Mike Reed
  
 A short time after Pentecost, a man named Maxwelleous, a minister from the
temple of  Diana met secretly with the Apostle James. In hushed tones
Maxwelleous (also known as Mephistopheles) explained to James how he knew a
method to greatly increase the numbers of the fledgling "church" that he
pastored there in Jerusalem. He explained that this method had worked
extremely well for him in Perga and Iconium.  He presented James with bar
graphs and amazing statistics of how he had taken just a few worshipers of
Diana and increased there numbers into the thousands in just a matter of
months. He boasted that in the upper coast of Ephesus there had only been a
few Baal worshippers, but after the Prophets of Baal had been to one of his
seminars they had increased their congregations to upwards of  fifteen
hundred. Maxwelleous explained that for a fee, he could teach James and
anyone else that would attend his seminar the secrets of church growth. 
 " First James, you need to get to know the politicians in the area, meet the
governor or the mayor. If you could make them honorary members of your
congregation....maybe give them some kind of certificate to hang on their ego
wall. By doing this you can kill two birds with one stone, you show them
respect (and the people see this) and that in turn gets them votes. Not only
that but more importantly,..... it gets you  "favors"
  "Mr. Maxwelleous, I am not interested in favors!"
 "Well I didn't mean that as it may have sounded James, what I meant was it
is always good to know people in high places. What really matters is
increasing the numbers in your congregation. When the people see that you
hobnob around with powerful people they will see how important you are and
have a greater respect for you thus increasing your numbers."
 "Listen here Mr. Maxwelleous, I will not  have  the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons!"
 " Have it your way James, I am just giving you a little preview of what will
be in my  seminar. Let me give you another idea that has really worked well
among the pagans. You need to talk up numbers! Numbers! numbers! numbers! It
really gets people excited. If you have a little revival, say over in
Jericho, and say you get ten new members, exaggerate the numbers
slightly...you know , make it twenty, or even one hundred. and then get some
friendly competition going among the local bishops."
  "Exaggerate the numbers? Mr. Maxwelleous! That would be lying!"
  "Well I wouldn't call it a lie, just a slight stretch of the truth.
Besides, we all do it.... and consider the end result...more numbers, and
that is what it is all about, right?"
 "No even if it is a small lie, it is a sin. Don't you know whosoever shall
keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. ...I
won't do it."
  "Whatever James. You really should be a little more open minded. You need
to be a little more... shall we say...tolerant of the idol worshipers, you
could learn things from them, look how many of them there are!"
 "I am a patient man Mr. Maxwelleous, in fact I preach patience, but you have
about used up all of it. I believe in ONE GOD! not three or three in one or
any combination like that. The scriptures tell me 'The LORD bringeth the
counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none
effect.'so why would I want to listen to you?"
 "Numbers James,..numbers..."
  "Numbers of what? The Lord will add to the church daily such as should be
saved! Our plan is to continue steadfastly in the Apostles Doctrine, and THAT
is our outreach program!"
   "Calm down James, you don't have to use all our ideas, some of this stuff
will take awhile to accept....did I tell you about the program our people
have started on the northern coast of Africa Alexandria Egypt?"
 "Your wisdom desendeth not from above, but is earthly , sensual and
devilish!"
 "But Brother James...the numbers!...can you just talk to your brethren about
it? What could it hurt?"
  "Mr Maxwelleous, unless you have repented, been baptized in water in Jesus'
name and received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in
other tongues, you are not my  brother. You may leave now, but first I want
you to understand, I know these men, you could try for the next two thousand
years to convince these men to use your pagan methods, they are men of
principle, men of truth, they would never bow to that!"
 "We shall see."