Reimagining The End-Time Church

By Wayne Manning Bass

The pastor-author of Reimagining The End-Time Church boldly speaks biblical truth to power with the intention of maximizing the authenticity, effectiveness, and spiritual authority of the institutional church. His primary objective is to mobilize servant-leaders to prayerfully and creatively reimagine, reconfigure, and reenergize church corporate cultures, practices, ethics, and structures to manifest greater grace for all. Christ’s end-time disciples are commissioned as salt-and-light ambassadors with a sacred mandate to courageously address any social or organizational norms that impact our kingdom vision, mission, and message. Unbridled ambition, greed, influence peddling, politics, nepotism, classism, and other patently carnal agendas are becoming the acceptable order in various branches of the institutional church. Christ returns soon, but will He find the true faith that was once established and delivered unto the saints? We hold the spiritual keys.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 19, 2023
• ISBN: 9798385002269

Wayne Manning Bass

Wayne Manning Bass has a passion for inspiring and edifying the Body of Christ. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Yale University, and prepared for pastoral ministry at I.T.C. (C. H. Mason Theological Seminary). A lifelong member of the Church of God in Christ, he is the founding pastor of Evangel Temple and LoveStream Ministries. He and his beloved wife, Lady Belinda, served in South Africa as resident missionaries. They are the proud parents of five adult children, with fourteen beloved grandchildren. Their life-verse is Philippians 1:6 which states, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

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Copyright © 2023 Wayne Manning Bass.

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ISBN: 979-8-3850-0225-2 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0227-6 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-3850-0226-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023913124

WestBow Press rev. date: 07/18/2023

CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

1     Institutional Church Issues

2     New Age Humanism and Gospel Dilution

3     Ichabod: The Apostate Church

4     Satanic Siren Songs

5     Idolatry in Church Hierarchy

6     Systemic Nepotism and Classism

7     The Mythology of Human Deity

8     Ethnic Christianity: A Spiritual and Cultural Pitfall

9     Jesus Christ, All-American?

10   Prosperity Gospel: Distractions, Deceptions and Delusions

11   Socialism and End-Time Wealth Redistribution

12   Overcoming Fiscal Temptation

13   The Bema Scrutiny of Ministry and Motives

14   Prophetic Signs of Christ’s Return

15   Repentance and Restoration of Kingdom Vision

16   Our Extraordinary Value and Purpose

Afterword

Endnotes

DEDICATION

Spiritual mentors are mission critical to sustaining authentic faith in the presence of powerful cultural matrices that deny or defy the true and living God. Thankfully, I am bountifully blessed by foundational access to extraordinary Christocentric individuals. My natural and spiritual parents, Bishop Joseph Edison Bass, Sr. and Mrs. Mary Watts Bass, provided overflowing love and exceptional tutelage during my formative years, and thereafter. Their input as Godly role models is both remembered and treasured. As a young Yale student, Bishop Hester D. Bordeaux guided and empowered faith. I gleaned generously from the late Bishops H. Jenkins Bell and Jonathan Greer, II while serving their congregations. Nine gifted siblings shared unconditional love and invaluable counsel: Bishop Joseph Bass, Jr., Mrs. Wilma Bass-Keys, Ms. Izetta Bass, Bishop Richard Bass, Mr. Dwight Bass, Bishop William Bass, Ms. Ruth Bass, Bishop Edwin Bass, and Mrs. Doris Bass-Wade. I am profoundly grateful for the enduring love of three adult children, Bishop Wayne Bass II, Mr. Michael Bass, and Mrs. Kimberly Bass-Seaton, and my three bonus daughters, Dr. Niki Nash, Ms. Whitney McClendon, and Ms. Nadia Whited, along with our 14 delightful grandchildren: Dylan, Sydney, Savannah, Kennedy, Michael, Elonna, Jermaine, Elijah, Christian, Indiya, Brooklyn, Taylor, Payton, and Kayden. Three dear friends, Dr. Ron Eagleton, Pastor David Byars, and Dr. George Perry are covenant brothers and colleagues. Always, I am enlightened, strengthened, and sustained by my beloved companion and ministry partner, Lady Belinda McClendon Bass, whose practical wisdom and mother-wit nurtures, focuses, and inspires. Finally, I am immeasurably favored by the matchless grace, mercy, and love of my Sovereign Lord and Savior, without whom life would be unfulfilling and meaningless. I absolutely love Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of my faith and the ultimate Source of my hope, peace, and joy.

INTRODUCTION

Although he possessed phenomenal talent, Orel Hershiser was unable to translate his natural capability into success on the baseball diamond during his inaugural season as pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Early in the 1984 season, he struggled with maintaining ball control. Dodgers’ manager, Tommy Lasorda, called the young pitcher into his office for a verbal consultation, one that Hershiser later characterized as the Sermon on the Mound.

Lasorda firmly admonished Hershiser that he was capable of infinitely better results than he had achieved, insisting that he owed it to the team to stretch vigorously and consistently toward his potential. Thankfully, Hershiser took his manager’s advice to heart and approached the game with an entirely different attitude. He went on to win the Cy Young award as baseball’s best pitcher in 1988, while leading the Dodgers to a World Series title. If Hershiser had not responded positively to his manager’s verbal chastisement, it is conceivable that he would never have achieved that prominent level of success.

In a spirit similar to Coach Lasorda’s timely and effective guidance referenced above, this book does not seek to denigrate any of our religious institutions, servant-leaders, or constituents. It solely aims to unlock the magnificent endowment of divine favor and blessings that are the heart and heritage of Christ’s church by motivating higher awareness of societal pressures and cultural mores that powerfully impact and potentially impede our mission. We will accomplish this objective together by gazing intently into the Biblical Mirror that accurately reflects and assesses the nature of our implicit and explicit messages, methods, and motives.

During this challenging, perilous, end-time season, it is mission critical for prophetic voices to speak truth to power – cogently and courageously. My former dean at C. H. Mason Theological Seminary, the late Bishop Oliver J. Haney, Jr., once shared some tongue-in-cheek but totally wise advice with the church. He declared, "It’s thirteen o’clock, later than we think!" The unvarnished truth of his statement yet resonates in my spirit. The church writ large must proactively uphold the banner of truth and righteousness as we soberly prepare for the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

Why is our vigilance and consistency especially urgent in this hour? Because the spirit of antichrist, which has long since been released into our world system, is now strenuously striving and often prevailing in both the natural and spiritual families of those who hold true faith and allegiance to Christ. So many seem to be in hot pursuit of ala-carte religion – meaning their spiritual modus operandi is to cherry-pick God’s Word, to solely accept passages personally deemed to be applicable for the present season and circumstances. Hence, The Holy Bible is considered less relevant or reliable because hosts of spiritual dropouts have assimilated and promulgated diverse (and often contradictory) systems of thought. In the wake of this powerfully confusing, quasi-spiritual tsunami, Jesus Christ is viewed as just another prophetic voice, simply seen as a good man or a noble teacher, not as the only begotten Son of God. Ironically, many who hold these erroneous views self-identify as bona fide Christians, ostensibly faithful and supportive church members. However, like the coin that Jesus described as being lost inside the house, in a remarkably similar sense, such persons are saved from the world but lost in the church.

Be forewarned that (for some readers) certain subsequent observations might seem to be hypercritical or objectionable. It is important and beneficial to retain top-of-mind a clear understanding of the author’s positive intent in order to maximize illumination and insight. Finally, all should remember that any individual who offers strong or substantive critiques of the institutional church (no matter how heartfelt, accurate, or incisive) is also subject to inadequacies, imperfections, passions, pride, selfishness, and sin. Mindful of my personal shortcomings, this is my candid love letter to the church.

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CHAPTER ONE

Institutional Church Issues

Late one evening a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, desperately calling out to his son, Jump! I’ll catch you! The father knew that his son had to jump to save his life. But the child could scarcely see through the flames, smoke, and twilight.

Because he was absolutely petrified by the idea of plunging blindly into the darkness, his father kept shouting, "Jump! I will catch you!"

The young boy timidly protested, crying out, "Daddy, I can’t see you!"

The father wisely and calmly replied, But I can see you, son, and that’s all that matters.

Implicit in this anecdotal story are two critically important questions for the institutional church: (1) Are we truly trusting the Light of the World to navigate through the monumental, ever-deepening darkness of this world system? (2) Are we now more focused on our individual or collective status-in-life vis-à-vis establishing and sustaining spiritually healthy relationships with the Savior of life?

Candidly, the institutional church stands in extreme danger of abdicating its God-ordained identity, vision, and mission due to an escalating emphasis on politics, power, prestige, positions, and possessions, as opposed to advancing our foundational kingdom mandate and message.

Many organizations appear to be abandoning their theological roots, thus annulling their divinely intended destinies and gradually morphing into secular assemblies. Thus, they are in the process of becoming the posterchildren of institutional ambition run amok.

As a result, we eagerly engage in distracting diatribes to support our carnal quests for intra-organizational power. We are