EYE OF THE TIGER: By Jack Diamond

It was the year of 1989, I was sixteen years old and house music in the UK had just gone crazy. I myself was at a bus stop one sunny July afternoon when I was stalked by three individuals with large claws, with the letters on NIV. They surrounded me with smiles, teeth showing and invited me along to a teen bible discussion. Being the faithless man I was I declined then the leader of the pack invited me to a barbecue.

I had no idea that my bus had just arrived and its destination was Salvation Central! The following few days turned my life upside down, by the end of the week I attended the weekly teen meeting in “kings cross” and was sold out by seeing hundreds of teen disciples that I quickly studied, had a few issues on confession but after I seeked God with all my heart I was baptized. This turned out to be the happiest time in my life.

My discipler who was a discussion leader asked me to move in with a brothers house which was challenging as that house produced an evangelist, a sector leader and two mission team leaders so for me, a young disciple I was able to grow at a rapid rate.

At some point after in the 90’s I allowed sin to sneak in and I became disobedient to God and left the church, but always had it on my heart to repent, but was weak, consumed by my own sin, my own guilt… I was no longer a tiger, I had become a mouse who was headed straight into the mouse trap of hell. In the years I was away, my sins had an impact on everyone around me, I hurt so many people but all this time God was poking me, reminded me he was willing to forgive me if I just repented.

Around 2003/4 I looked at my life and decided no more! I dusted off my bible, the same one I had for almost two decades, regained my tiger strips and was ready to seek god. I looked on the internet and found The Portland Church and watched, listened and saw what they was doing matched with scripture so contacted them, but alas no branch was in London at that time and I needed fellowship so I returned to the local ICOC church to where I was baptised in, I knew I couldn’t compromise with false doctrine. To my dismay the church I knew as the living church had crumbled to a former shadow of itself, it became autonomous with no direction and no love, an empty shell. Over the last few years it has improved for the better taking one step forward at a time but I do feel being so slow to change/repent has left the church luke-warm and it has been built upon sand. Currently, discipleship, evangelism, confession of sins, attending church, repentance and even being a Christian is optional. The church very much has conformed to mainline churches of Christ where there is correct doctrine without a purpose, a mission which Jesus commanded us.

There are a committed few of sold out disciples within each London church, many of which I know personally and love very dearly but they seem to be all waiting for a miracle change to happen instead of acting, so slowly becoming more accepting of the way things are. One church I visited the other day said they had three Baptisms in 2006 and this was seen as moving forward, despite allot more than three leaving. When a church has a Baptism it’s a big event and so it should be as angels rejoice but if when someone fell away this was also a big event, it would soon open peoples eyes to how bad things really are. I myself worked within the very small teen ministry where only teens we had was one’s who attend the church the parents go to and almost all of them aren’t baptized even though they had been studying for many years and this was acceptable!

I really don’t speak out against anyone personally, but it’s important that we speak out against Satan confusing people so when we stand before God at judgement we aren’t spat out.

When ever I say to people “we need to be radical, to fight a war on sin and to have the heart to see everyone we come in contact with baptized” I get time and time again “It’s not about Numbers”. I ask the people who say this how many people have you Baptized this year? How many people have you studied with this month? How many people have you shared the good news with (evangelized) this week? I always get the same reply “It’s not about numbers”. When I read the gospels, the book of acts I see the spirit moving. What would have happened in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost if they said “it’s not about numbers”? Would 3000 been added that day? I do agree it’s not about numbers before man but it is about having the heart of numbers… having the heart to seek and save the lost and having the heart to love the lost as Jesus loved them.

I hear “We can’t be legalistic” yet the Ten Commandments are pretty legalistic and Jesus laid it out very legalistically. Shall we say we can take more than one wife? As it’s far too legalistic to be told we can only have one? I feel it is easy to blame the mistakes of past rather than to forgive; it is easier to say Kip is a sinner than to get the plank out of our own eye.

I do feel no matter what had happened to the church I once admired God was still God and he was an awesome God!

Meanwhile the Portland movement was spreading the gospel all over the world including London and I knew it was time to find the eye of the tiger…

Risin’ up, back on the street
Did my time, took my chances
Went the distance, now I’m back on my feet
Just a man and his will to survive

That was the first verse in the song “The Eye of the Tiger” in fact not just that verse but the whole song really reflects our movement! The time has come for us all to rise up, get back on the street to make disciples of all nations and to glorify God!

When I was a member of my old church I set up a yahoo email list with the intention of getting all sister church members together as I felt there was no unity. I guess unity and autonomy don’t mix well as to my sadness out of the couple of hundred I invited to join only about ten people signed up so I gave up on unity and didn’t look at the account for six months. I found myself falling in sin with no one to really help me and I was desperately praying for help when one day I decided to check my old email account, alas nothing so I posted a goodbye message and closed the dead yahoo list down. Unknown to me one of the members who did want to see unity was on that list and in fact left the ICOC and joined a small handful of people in London who were getting things going spiritually. I got an email from the brother to which I immediately picked up my telephone and called him. By the next day I met up with Tim Kernan (who was coming back from Africa that week) and James Morgan and was so encouraged, I couldn’t sleep that night. A couple of days later I placed membership with the Portland movement and bought along a sister who like myself knew God was moving in an awesome way and she placed membership.

Being baptized into a Teen ministry of hundreds has left me with a passion… a dream… a righteous desire to see every teen evangelized! When I walk around my local town I see teens swearing, stealing and being sexually immoral right on the street. Society, although doesn’t encourage such behavior accepts this evil as normal and then wonders why crime rate and suicides are on the rise. I go to sleep every night with the vision of that one day soon I will walk around my town and see teen disciples evangelism their peers and baptism after baptism after baptism!

It’s my conviction that the world will be turned upside down once again and the Bus to salvation central will be stopping in your town… are you a tiger or a mouse?

Jack Diamond