From Ignorance to Enlightenment: One Man’S Biblical Journey

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Early Years

Chapter 2: Inspiration: Filling the Void

Chapter 3: Changes: Beginning of a New Life

Chapter 4: Confusion: Conflicting Values

Chapter 5: Disenchantment: Confusion Magnified

Chapter 6: Enlightenment 101: Light at the End of the Tunnel

Chapter 7: Intermediate Enlightenment: Light Penetrates the Tunnel

Chapter 8: Advanced Enlightenment: Light Almost Fills the Tunnel

Chapter 9: The Seven Churches: Jesus Speaks to the Church

Chapter 10: The Devil’s Deception: Strategies for Destruction

Chapter 11: The Model Church: A Goal to Pursue

Postscript

This book is dedicated to our seven offspring; Steven, Charles, Rhonda, Darryl, Cheryl, Christopher, and Michael, and to my bride, Mrs. Delories M. Johnson,

my sounding board,

my harshest critic,

my staunchest supporter,

my confidante,

my best friend,

and

the love of my life.

Thank you for your love, support, and help in all that

God has called me to do.

A special thanks to our dear friend

Ms. Diane White for lending her

advice and computer expertise to this project.

I am eternally grateful to you.

God bless you always in all your endeavors in life.

Foreword

Have you honestly … honestly, conducted a spiritual evaluation of yourself or your church? That is the question that jumps off the pages of Pastor O. L. Johnson’s latest masterpiece, From Ignorance to Enlightenment: One Man’s Biblical Journey. Too many of us join a church to meet our felt-needs while too few of us come to Christ to have our real needs met. Pastor Johnson poignantly meets us where we are and challenges us to really consider what we are doing individually as Christians and collectively as the Church to hear the words well done, good and faithful servant from our God. Pastor Johnson testifies with honesty and transparency rarely seen in today’s realm of ministerial autocracy and teaches with sincere clarity. The lessons with Solly are the crown jewels of this masterfully exciting journey through the book and study of God’s word. This book is a must-read for all, no matter where you are in life’s journey.

Mark Gayden, Pastor

Mt. Carmel M.B. Church

Los Angeles, California

Preface

I am aware that readers of religious writings like to know the credentials of the authors they choose to read. My credentials are very brief, and to some, I suppose, very unimpressive. I am not seminary trained; hence, I can boast of absolutely no degrees in divinity, theology, or the like. I am neither a scholar nor a theologian, so I trust you are not expecting deep theological dissertations of any kind. Instead, what you will find on these pages are down-to-earth thoughts based upon forty years (nineteen as a called minister of the gospel) of church membership and my experiences and observations during those years.

For the first twenty-one of those forty years, I considered myself a loyal church member, a regular attendee, a choir member, and one of the leaders of the church. Over that time period, I listened to literally thousands of sermons, most of which had little or no impact on me or the conduct of my life. Yes, I was listening, but I did not hear what was being said. I was living, unknowingly, under serious deception. I say serious because had I died during those twenty-one years, I would have been knee-deep in an eternal situation not to my liking. I had no knowledge of salvation—what it was, or how to get it. I believed I was a Christian (though I had no idea what the word meant) because I was a member of a church that claimed to be a Christian church.

Knowing my situation, the enemy supplied me with what I call a face of righteousness, which I wore when the occasion called for it to be displayed. I always wore it inside the church building and when in the company of Christians at other places during church-sponsored events. At other times, I removed it but always kept it within reach in case I needed it. I saw no serious problem with the life I was living and was satisfied with my spiritual condition due to one simple reason—ignorance. I was ignorant of the Word of God. I had not read it for myself and didn’t even own a Bible. All the preaching I had listened to (but not heard) had fallen on deaf ears.

I am sharing this part of my life with others because it is God’s will that I do so. I believe, and God surely knows, that there are others in Christian churches who are living under this same deception and who are in the same danger I was. This work is for all who are brave enough to admit that they identify with these experiences and who have a sincere desire to make the necessary changes to get out of harm’s way. Paul encourages us to make our calling and election sure. If you have read this far, you are still alive. And if you are still alive, it’s not too late! Read on, enjoy, and make an honest assessment of your situation.

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Early Years

God, Jesus, salvation, and church were foreign words to me growing up in a small midwestern town. The paternal grandparents who reared me were not churchgoers, so I have no memory of ever attending a church service with them. I was an only child, and, for the first twelve years of my life I lived the proverbial good life. Thereafter, things changed drastically for me. At age thirteen, my only-child existence came to an abrupt halt when I went to live with my maternal grandmother and her family. Lil—she liked for all of us to call her by her first name—was a loyal, consistent churchgoer, and through her influence, I experienced my first encounter with church. As you may suspect, my motivation for attending had nothing to do with a desire to find God or Jesus. I was looking for something, I truly was, but I was not searching for divine guidance! Girls were the motivation, because at that time in my life I had discovered the difference between me and them. Once I found what I was looking for, I stopped going to church.

Many years passed before I started attending church services again. During my military career—all of three years, nine months, and twenty days—it never occurred to me to seek out and regularly attend religious services, not even those held on military installations. Shortly after being discharged, my wife (a girl I met in church back home) and I found a church to our liking not far from our apartment. For the next eight years, we were semiregular attendees. We had four children—a son, two daughters, and another son, in that order—which precluded our attending regularly. As I sit here now with pen in hand, I have not the slightest notion why I went to church all those years. It wasn’t to find female companionship; I was happily married to my childhood sweetheart. I suppose it was just because that’s what people do for a couple of hours on Sunday mornings.

Again, drastic changes occurred in my life. After about eight years, we purchased a home on the opposite side of town, a house big enough to fit all of us, plus Lil and my mother, Blanche. Things went well, but for some reason we stopped going to church, probably because it was too far to travel each Sunday. About seven years later, our marriage fell apart, we divorced, and for the first time in my life I was living all by myself. I still had my city job and was not hurting for female companionship, but I knew something was missing in my life. I felt that the answer was church. So I started my search and embarked on an adventure that would be both inspiring and disenchanting.

Chapter 2: Inspiration: Filling the Void

I’ve always been an advocate of punctuality, so I was impressed when, at exactly 10:45 a.m. on a beautiful November Sunday morning, the pastor began the service. As he moved from his seat to the center of the platform, he extended both arms outward, creating a crosslike effect with his body. On cue, the entire congregation stood to its feet and in a loud, booming voice, the pastor bellowed, I’m glad, and the people echoed him, I’m glad! Then he continued, to be in the service, and the people repeated, to be in the service. Finally, he ended this sentiment with, one more time, which was repeated by the entire congregation. So far, I liked what I had seen and heard. The pastor was punctual, and obviously the people had been trained well. But little did I know that the best was yet to come.

Music has always been an important part of my life, especially jazz. As a youngster, I was introduced to jazz by the older brother of my best friend, and I never lost my appetite for it. I especially like old standards given the jazz treatment. This is why the next event in the church service excited me. As soon as the people had said, one more time, the pianist, whose name was Andrew, and the organist, a lady named Carol, each situated on opposite sides of the choir loft, began playing an old familiar church song with an obvious jazz rendering. The jazz chords and timing I heard were really inspiring and very different from anything I had previously heard in any church. And then, the icing on the cake was the voices of the choir, three-part harmony, in the jazz idiom! It was a small choir, all ladies, but they had been taught well and sounded magnificent. As they marched down the center aisle toward the choir loft, their voices rang out:

"It’s a highway to heaven,

None can walk up there,

But the pure in heart.

It’s a highway to heaven,

I am walking up the king’s highway."

As I scanned the Order of Service, I saw that they were scheduled to sing four more times during the service. I could hardly wait! The choir members reached their places in the loft, and the pastor asked all of us to be seated. From this point, the service was very liturgical and ritualistic. I appreciated the fact that the service was structured and organized and that the people followed the Order of Service to the letter.

In spite of this atmosphere, the service was not without times of emotion and spirit. The choir saw to that! When they sang, the sanctuary came alive. I was rather surprised to hear the amens and other expressions of emotion that came from the people. It seemed a bit out of place to me at the time, but in retrospect the quality of the music was so good that such outbursts of emotion are understandable. I was beginning to think that I had finally found the church I was looking for to fill the void in my life.

After the choir had finished the sermonic hymn, the pastor approached the pulpit and began delivering his sermon. I listened as he spoke, and although I was not especially moved by what he was saying, I was pleased that he was not a long-winded preacher. At the end of the sermon, the pastor extended an invitation to new members to join the church. I accepted his invitation, walked down the center aisle, and expressed my desire to become a member of the church. It was a simple process. He asked my name, my prior church affiliation, who was responsible for my joining the church, and where within the church organization I would like to work. I answered each question, ending with my desire to join the choir. I was immediately accepted as a choir member and invited to attend the next choir rehearsal. That was it. I was now a full member of the church. There was no direction to attend any new member orientation, nor was I ever asked whether I knew Jesus, whether I had accepted him as my savior, or even if I was saved. Had these questions been asked, my answer would have been no. At that time in my life, I was totally ignorant of Jesus and his Gospel, and had no idea how one got saved.

I was unaware that salvation is simply a matter of choice and belief. Had I bothered to buy a Bible—I still didn’t own one—and study a couple of passages on the means of salvation, I would not have been in such a state of spiritual darkness. I found out much later that the Apostle Paul tells us exactly how to get saved in two brief passages of scripture:

• Ephesians 2:8–9: For by grace are ye saved through faith: and not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

• Romans 10:9: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe