Need More Help To Memorize Scripture? How About The Topical Memory System?

Posted on October 15, 2014 by tdillmuth

WLO_searchingscripturesOut of all the blog posts I (Pastor Tim) have written, which by the way isn’t very many (163 to be exact), I was surprised to find out what my most popular post is.

Far and away, it is a post I wrote in December 2013 entitled A Unique Way to Memorize Scripture. Needless to say, it is quite encouraging to see the level of continuing interest in Bible memorization despite the overall decline in biblical literacy in the Western Church.

A little over two years ago, I was convicted when I saw the example of the North Korean underground church. Most Christians in North Korea have almost no access to the Scriptures, but when they do receive a verse or two they immediately commit it to memory. Since that point my family has tried to memorize a different Scripture passage every week, often reviewing the passages on a yearly basis to ensure that we’ve really memorized them for the long-term.

That being said, I certainly haven’t learned any method that makes the practice effortless! That’s why I’m always on the lookout for helpful hints and encouragement from others.

Matthew Johnson from Seedbed.com recently wrote a blog post on why he started memorizing scripture. In it he referenced the Topical Memory System (TMS) as a great place to start. TMS was started by the Navigators as an easy-to-use system to help believers memorize Scripture verses. It divides the Bible into key topics and gives a list of Scripture verses for each topic. For example, under the topic of “Proclaiming Christ” is listed Romans 3:23, Isaiah 53:6 and Romans 6:23, among many others. If you buy the official TMS it comes with perforated cards to help your memorization.

There are some similarities between the TMS method and the way my family has memorized Scripture the past 2 years. We’ve studied a different topic area each month (we organize Scriptures by Work of Mercy) and memorized Scripture passages related to those topics.

But one of the dangers I see with the Topical Memory System is memorizing Scripture verses out of context or with no context at all.  My friend from Bible College, Michael Surran said,

Many Christians treat the Bible as a buffet. They go straight to the “promise” verses, you know, the “ask and you shall receive” verses. Like a buffet, they’ll take two or three helpings from the promise “table”, but you won’t see them anywhere near the “we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God” table. It’s human nature – many of us find the dessert bar much more attractive than the salad bar. But it is also very dangerous.

My own remedy for this problem is memorizing whole passages of Scripture rather than just individual Scripture verses. For example, instead of memorizing Isaiah 53:6, we memorize all 12 verses of Isaiah 53. It sure seems like a lot, but I bet you’ll be surprised that memorizing a passage of Scripture does not take much more time than memorizing a single verse.

This past month my family was studying discipleship. We memorized three passages related to making disciples (2 Kings 2:1-15, Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 9:57-62). Along with memorizing passages, we’ll also often read the chapters before and after to understand what is truly happening.

Matthew Johnson said these words about Scripture memorization, but they might as well have been my own.

I began following Christ when I was 15 so it took me nearly twenty years before I got into this discipline, but it has been one of the most rewarding practices I have ever experienced and I would love for you to join me in hiding God’s word in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).

Posted in Making Disciples, Preparation | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A North Korean Defector Realizes Years Later Her Father Was An Underground Christian. His Breakfast Spoon Was The Giveaway.

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Pastor Foley

WLO_prayingFrequently North Korean defectors in South Korea will look back on peculiar behaviors of parents and grandparents in North Korea and realize with great astonishment that their family members were actually underground Christians.

JBM, one of our Underground Technology students, recently shared just such a story with us. Think on this as you eat your breakfast this morning and your children or grandchildren silently observe your behavior:

My father studied medicine at [X] University in Japan. After he graduated, he opened a hospital in [NK city] and worked as a health minister in NK. My mother was a housewife. Because of my father’s background, I lived well when I was young and had enough food to eat. My mother was also from an educated family. Because my father was a doctor, he was respected by many people. During that time, the Korean War occurred and we ended up being separated from my father and we did not have any news about him. I was left with with my mother and sisters and my brothers were left with my grandmother. We had to be scattered and live separately. From that moment on, we had no contact with my father and even now we do not know what happened to him.

Whenever I remember my father, one thing always comes to my mind. My father always closed his eyes and said something while holding a spoon before he would have a meal. I was just five years old at that time, so I did not know what he was doing. However, now I know that he was praying to God before having a meal, and the song he used to sing was a praise song to God. After I came to SK, I realized that the song is from a hymn. The lyrics were “make me whiter than snow,” and I found it in a hymn book. I was so surprised to hear the song the first time in SK that I shouted, “Oh, this is the song my father used to sing before!” Also, one of my relatives was an elder in the church who was killed in the war. I thought that his name was Elder, but later I came to know his duty in church was as an elder.

With my first daughter’s help, I came to SK through Mongolia. I did not know about God, but I just blindly folded my hands and prayed for my safety. It was the winter season and I suffered from frostbite. There was one NK man in my group of defectors who was a Christian. He was always praying to God and told us to believe in God. His words encouraged me a lot. After I came to SK, I came to know more about God and had the desire to be close to him and know his Word more. I realized that it was all the blessing of God throughout my life in NK and it touched my heart and encouraged me.

Perhaps it gives you a little insight into what (or, perhaps more accurately, who) the father was praying for as he held his spoon and called on his God as his world and family life were slipping out of his human grasp. And perhaps you will note that God answered, decades later, in another country, long after the pray-er was silenced.

Because God never forgets what we pray. And he answers more frequently than we can imagine, just beyond the reach of our awareness, patience, and control.

Posted in North Korea | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Neglect Of Family For The Sake Of The Church Is…A Virtue?

Posted on October 8, 2014 by tdillmuth

WLO_worshippingI recently heard this shocking statement from a pastor in a restricted country. He said, “Church leaders are trained to believe that the neglect of family for the sake of the church is a virtue!”

In truth, this is not as shocking as it should be. I’ve known a lot of pastors who were good in the pulpit and could lead a “deep Bible study,” but who were not faithful in discipling their own household.

We recently led a DOTW (Doers of the Word) training with pastors, seminary students and business leaders in a restricted country. While many people wrongly assume that these leaders lack Biblical literacy, we find that their theological training rivals ours in the U.S. We also learned that guest speakers were nothing new for them, as their church had many famous teachers coming in and out all the time. And our participants were certainly not shy in asking difficult theological questions as it related to the materials we were teaching.

Yet these well-educated and theologically savvy Christians quickly recognized that their lives lacked a commitment to the Lord in their homes. In other words, they were very dedicated in their churches, businesses and seminary classes, but they were so dedicated that they were ignoring their households.

We shared with them the words of Paul to Timothy when he said,

He (the overseer) must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? (1 Timothy 3:4-5)

This passage from 1 Timothy was particularly important in that it helped the pastor I mentioned (and others) see that church and family are not separate priorities, but instead the pastor’s household is always his first church and a “model” for the wider church, whether the pastor intends it to be or not. This particular pastor has already committed to reorganize his priorities so as to attend to this “first church,” investing in daily household worship with his family.

Discipleship of one’s household isn’t only for Christians in persecuted and restricted nations. It isn’t only for pastors, youth pastors, and elders . . . it’s for the whole body of Christ. Before discipleship can be done in the church or in the community . . . it has to start in the household.

Over the next six weeks the Christians who attended our conference have committed to practice daily household worship  . . . studying and memorizing the Scriptures, singing together and praying together. Will you join them?

Posted in Worship | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments