The Passing Fancy of Fad-Driven Faith
This gal just gets it. She hits the bullseye, then draws back her bow and splits the embedded arrow right down the middle. Harriet Baber, a journalist for the UK’s Guardian comments on the Crystal Cathedral’s recent filing for bankruptcy, then proceeds to pinpoint the failings of modern evangelicalism. Here’s an excerpt:
So if you wonder why Americans are, anomalously, religious it is because we have evacuated religion of all content. There are of course theological doctrines on the books, which church members tick off, in the way that they agree to accept screenfuls of conditions for installing new software. But most have no serious interest in these theoretical matters. Whether signing on for a new therapy or self-help programme, trying out a new diet or a new church, they are looking for a bag of tricks, a collection of gimmicks and recipes that will get them the material prosperity, perfect health, beautiful bodies, ideal relationships and complete happiness to which they believe they are entitled.
Read the full article HERE.
HT: Crosstalk blog
One Month to Live
Note: Don’t be alarmed. The post title refers to a book, not my current state of health.
Last month I put out a post asking for book recommendations for a summer reading program one of our church deacons is starting up this summer to encourage reading in our congregation. Of course, we visualize taking up sound biblical materials. My leanings are towards theological works that have been well established – Christian classics. I submitted a fine list of books that aren’t heavy, dry or technical, written by a wide variety of well respected (and theologically orthodox) writers. Well, in a nutshell, my picks were shot down before they could take flight. My deacon friend doesn’t believe most people (that is, believing Christians in the church) will be interested in theology! This boggles my mind, frankly. I consider myself an ordinary fellow of average intellect. Yet, I have an unquenchable yearning for the knowledge of God. This comes from God’s call upon me to become his own possession, a beloved child in his vast, ever-expanding family. As such, I desire to know this God who has rescued me and washed me clean of all my sins. The doctrine of the bible is for the simple and unlearned as well as for the towering intellectual. Theology is not at heart a purely academic pursuit. It is the pursuit of God Almighty. I have a hard time grasping the concept that true believers don’t desire the same things. My yearning may be at a high level because of the calling on my life to teach eternal truths, but surely every believer wants to intimately know the God who saved them to some degree. Every Christian most certainly needs this knowledge to grow in the grace whereby they are saved.
Of course, I know where the deacon’s line of thinking stems from. It has flooded modern evangelicalism for decades now. The church growth\seeker-sensitive movement thrives on a non-doctrinal paradigm of Christian pragmatism. Don’t give church-goers what they need, give them what they want – in liberal doses. This pragmatic approach may attract multitudes of church-goers but does little to produce true disciples of Christ. So the wants of a typical church filled with ‘seekers’ (those who haven’t made any kind of commitment to Christ but are interested) do not match those in the church who are truly Christians. The focus of seeker-sensitive churches sits squarely upon the seeker and his carnal wants instead of the classic doctrines of the bible: teachings such as man’s sinfulness, God’s wrathful judgment against sin, the means of salvation and sanctification he has provided through Christ’s atoning work on the cross and the heart-changing ministry of the Holy Spirit. I suppose congregants who have no zest for doctrine and theology are considered ‘babes in Christ’ who need to be nurtured in a pastel colored nursery by coochie-coochie-coo care-takers that speak condescendingly about moral platitudes from the life of King David. Unfortunately, seeker-sensitive churches often have no plans to move toddlers out of the nursery. They keep them content with toys and entertainment. (more…)
The Collapse of Evangelicalism
I just picked up a recent copy of The Baptist Messenger and one of the articles immediately caught my attention. It was originally written last year by Michael Spencer, known in Cyberspace as the Internet Monk. Sadly, Michael went to be with the Lord earlier this month.
The article is entitled The Coming Evangelical Collapse. It is a thought-provoking and somewhat chilling read.
Here is an excerpt:
Many who will leave evangelicalism will leave for no religious affiliation at all. Others will leave for an atheistic or agnostic secularism, with a strong personal rejection of Christian belief and Christian influence. Many of our children and grandchildren are going to abandon ship, and many will do so saying “good riddance.”
This collapse will cause the end of thousands of ministries. The high profile of Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Hundreds of thousands of students, pastors, religious workers, missionaries and persons employed by ministries and churches will be unemployed or employed elsewhere. Visible, active evangelical ministries will be reduced to a small percentage of their current size and effort.
Nothing will reanimate evangelicalism to its previous levels of size and influence. The end of evangelicalism as we know it is close; far closer than most of us will admit.
Click on the link above for the full article.
Mixed Martial Arts Ministries
Here is a link to a New York Times Article concerning a growing trend to base church ministries on the violent sport of mixed martial arts.
Here are a couple of interesting excerpts with commentary:
The young man was a member of a fight team at Xtreme Ministries, a small church near Nashville that doubles as a mixed martial arts academy. Mr. Renken, who founded the church and academy, doubles as the team’s coach. The school’s motto is “Where Feet, Fist and Faith Collide.”
A church that doubles as a MMA academy? What a perfect example of the marriage between the contemporary church and the world. Hey, I love the sport of football but would absolutely abhor the idea of starting a church that doubled as a facility for teaching football fundamentals to youth. You cannot mix the spiritual with the flesh and remain true to the call of the gospel.
The goal, these pastors say, is to inject some machismo into their ministries — and into the image of Jesus — in the hope of making Christianity more appealing.
This is the fruit of the Seeker Sensitive/Church Growth movement. These ministries attempt to lure in a specific demographic of ‘unchurched’ people by catering to their perceived felt needs and wants, then molds an idolatrous facsimile of Christ that appeals to them so that they make some sort of ‘commitment’ to it.
The lack of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ as a savior from sin is staggering. The fact that this ministry confesses it is trying to make Christianity more appealing is quite revealing. They believe the message of God’s perfect, holy, immutable, soul transforming word somehow needs an extreme makeover to win converts in today’s sophisticated and enlightened culture. This kind of philosophy toward ministry is devastating to the visible church and soul destroying to those who buy into it.
The idea of injecting machismo into the church and altering our perception of the person of Jesus Christ into a big and buff bouncer of religious hypocrites is an extremely dangerous trend. I dare say that the world’s ideal of machismo and God’s view of godliness are two entirely different entities. I don’t recall Jesus doing any chest-thumping or choking Pharisees into submission the last time I read through the gospels.
As the article reveals, a decade ago MMA was denounced as too bloody and violent. It was illegal in most states. Now it is legal in 42 states and embraced by recognized Christian ministries such as the National Association of Evangelicals. How quickly the culture’s perception of right and wrong changes. I shudder to think what American evangelicals will embrace next in order to win the culture over.
The Diminishing Doctrine of Sola Scriptura
The Protestant Reformation in the 16th century recovered many pivotal Christian doctrines that had become buried beneath an avalanche of time-honored traditions and blatantly anti-biblical teachings. The doctrine of Sola Scriptura helped to restore orthodoxy back to the visible church. Sola Scriptura (or Scripture Alone) is the conviction that the bible alone is God’s authoritative and infallible message to his people, sufficient for all faith, life and godliness. This doctrine has come under intense fire over the past century. it has suffered immeasurably at the hands of liberal theologians who question the authenticity of the bible as God’s word and also false prophets, who utter extra-biblical revelations, claiming that God is doing a ‘new thing’. Well, despite the attempts of many a heretic, Sola Scriptura has stood firm her ground, even if multitudes fall away from belief in it. Check out this post at Herescope concerning the latest volley of fiery arrows falling upon this fortified bunker of divine truth. The shocking part is that we may be a victim of friendly fire! Here is an excerpt: (more…)
True Discernment
“Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather, it is telling the difference between right and almost right.” – Charles Spurgeon
I don’t know if there is a greater need in the Body today than the gift of discernment. The number of teachers and preachers in the modern church who sound good and seem right but truly are not, has multiplied exponentially just in this generation. I have rejected a great number of fine-sounding televangelists, teachers, authors and bible commentators over the past couple of years that I had once respected. So much so in fact, people often wonder if there is anybody I do like.
Fair question.
My answer is ‘oh yes, a great many fine teachers exist, you just have to seek them out, because most refuse to parade themselves or exploit fellow brethren.” (more…)
Five Tools to Develop Spiritual Maturity – Saddleback Style
I stand in amazement at the audacity of Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren. He has deceived himself (along with countless multitudes of star-struck pastors) into believing that his self-manufactured, man-centered methodologies will bring about tremendous growth in our churches and in our spiritual lives. This article from Christianpost.com that I found through a link on Christian Research Network has Warren explaining the five tools he uses to develop spiritual growth. For those who don’t like clicking on links, I will list them here: (more…)
Simple Church
My church is starting a new series this coming Sunday on ‘The Simple Church’ that has me more than a little nervous. I believe (but has not been verified yet) that it is based on the book, ‘Simple Church‘ by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. Pastor will preach 4 messages each Sunday morning over the month of July. Evening services will not be held. In its place, we will divide into small groups and discuss the morning message.
So what has me on edge? (more…)
Coming Out From Among Them – Epilogue
Are you familiar with the tale of the pied piper?
The story goes that a small German village called Hamelin suffered from a terrible rat infestation. A man calling himself a rat catcher boasted he could rid the town of every single rodent. The villagers promised the man, (known around those parts as the pied piper) a great sum of money for accomplishing this task. He played his flute, mesmerizing the entire colony, leading them to the nearest river, and drowning them all in the rushing waters. However the villagers weren’t as thankful as they ought to have been. Like many of us would do in the midst of a desperate situation, they made a wild promise they could not possibly hope to keep in order to rid the town of its plague. But once they were relieved of their burden they had no intentions of paying the man his due.
After all, the problem wasn’t all that bad in the first place, right? It’s similar to how quickly a sailor’s fear of drowning fades after the storm subsides. The pied piper did not take the villagers’ snub very well, so he plotted revenge. One day, while the adults were all gathered together for church service, he came into town and spellbound all the children with his soulful tunes. He led them away to a dark cave. All of the children entered without hesitation, but none of them ever walked back out. (more…)
Coming Out From Among Them – Part 4
I had arrived at a crisis point in my spiritual life and I just didn’t know what to do. Our church had bowed its knee at the altar of Purpose, worshiping the Church Growth Goddess, who had seductively lured it away to her sinful bed. She had successfully inflamed passion for numerical growth, fame and influence to a fever pitch among our leadership. They had yielded to her will in matters of faith and practice. I strongly felt God’s call to come out of her, that her sins would not be imputed unto me or my family. However, I didn’t know where to go. I felt I needed a well thought out plan before exiting stage left.
I still had not found a church home for us to root ourselves in. After 11 years in a pentecostal\charismatic type church and seeing a lot of goofiness done in the name of God, I was looking to make our home in a more conservative, scripture-saturated atmosphere. I didn’t completely rule out a ‘full-gospel’ church since there are a couple in our town with good reputations, but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to attend them. I have too many questions and concerns about tongues, prophecies, prophets and spirit baptisms to be comfortable in one right now. Most of the other churches I considered have been influenced, to some degree, by Rick Warren. So many choices, so few options. So while I pondered and prayed over our future, we continued to attend services on Sunday morning and on Wednesday nights. (more…)
To Fight or To Frolic
“In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men and women conceived the world to be a battleground. Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other. By their very nature, these forces were opposed to each other forever in deep, grave, irreconcilable hostility. Humans, our fathers held, had to choose sides-they could not be neutral.
For them it must be life or death, heaven or hell, and if they chose to come out on God’s side they could expect open war with God’s enemies. The fight would be real and deadly and would last as long as life continued here below. People looked forward to heaven as a return from the wars, a laying down of the sword to enjoy in peace the home prepared for them…
How different today. The fact remains the same, but the interpretation has changed completely. People think of the world, not as a battleground, but as a playground. We are not here to fight; we are here to frolic. We are not in a foreign land; we are at home. We are not getting ready to live, but we are already living, and the best we can do is rid ourselves of our inhibitions and our frustrations and live this life to the full.”
- AW Tozer
Coming Out From Among Them – Part 3
The writing was on the Banner. I just didn’t immediately notice it.
I pulled into the church parking lot one bright Sunday morning, going through my normal routine. I delivered my kids to their various classes and sat down in our gym-turned-auditorium. Service began as usual, with our pop-star praise and worship leader grooving and crooning to the beat. I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and attempted to worship God despite the distractions. When our pastor stepped up to the pulpit he declared, “Welcome to XXXX XXXXXXXXXX Church.”
Excuse me? What did he just say? I looked around, first to assure myself I had not taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Yep, it was the right place. Next, I gauged the reaction of the congregation. However, nobody blinked an eye at his calling the church by a different name. (more…)
Random Ramblings – TD Jakes, Mimes and Helping Yourself
Ok, this is a quick post – a little bit of live-blogging if you will. I’m sitting here at home watching in disbelief as TD Jakes promotes his new book, Reposition Yourself – Living Life Without Limits on TBN. First of all, he has four mimes complete with white face make-up, acting out his sermon in the background as he talks about breaking free of the bonds of mediocrity.
Yikes! And I thought Powerpoint presentations had great potential to divert our attention away from the word, Oh my! Four clowns making wild hand gestures and overly dramatic physical contortions to the tune of a Christian message cancels out the effectiveness of Bishop Jake’s usually compelling delivery. Welcome to the brave new world of self-defeating ministry, folks.
He’s promoting this book pretty heavily. The sermon he’s preaching is lifted from the book and he interrupts himself every few minutes to run a mini-infomercial giving us an inside flap style synopsis of the book’s contents. He says it’s about personal fulfilment that can be achieved by making small adjustments to your life that, oh by the way, you can only discover if you buy his book. He made a remark that God had given him fresh new perspectives that he is unveiling to the world so we can live the abundant life. The hair on the back of my neck rises every time I hear preachers using words such as ‘fresh’ and ‘new’ in the same sentence with ‘God’ and the ‘bible’.
And in an ‘Oh my goodness, no he didn’t’ moment, he actually spouted the old worn cliche’ ‘God helps those who helps themselves’ in the midst of his message! He even quotes the ‘faith without works is dead’ scripture in support of it. Does he have any inkling of what the grace of God really is? Can man help himself in any way in regards to salvation? Does God expect us to work our way to glory in our own strength? It is utter foolishness at best and rank heresy at worst to make this unsubstantiated claim as if it had any basis in scripture.
I’ve had enough, time to change the channel. If you are a fan of TD Jakes, may I humbly suggest you do the same.
Coming Out From Among Them – Part 2
In Part 1 of this series I wrote that three major events led directly to my departure from my old church several months ago. I want to chronicle those events here in hope that some of my readers may be able to detect the infiltration of the heretical principles of the church growth/seeker sensitive/purpose-driven movement creeping into their own congregations.
In October of 2005 I underwent my own personal reformation of belief, turning away from Arminianism to Calvinism, away from a man-centered theology to a Christocentric theology. This startling change began, due in part, to my intense dissatisfaction with the church and the preaching from the pulpit. As I examined the messages I couldn’t help but feel the biblical content was minimal, with the wisdom of men used as filler. That sent me on a journey to discover the truth about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This, in turn, led me to embrace Reformation Theology. However, I did not leave my church immediately. Instead, I turned on my discernment radar and listened closely to every word spoken from the pulpit. Sadly, I must report, the results were appalling. (more…)
Coming Out From Among Them – Part 1
In the past year I went from blessed believer in my church to blessed subtraction. The events leading to my exodus can be traced back to about three years ago. Circumstances culminated quickly within the past year-and-a-half as the veil of deception lifted from my heart. After serving this Assembly of God fellowship for over eleven years I finally came to the crossroad between conviction and compromise. I chose conviction.
So, my family and I have left behind friends, ministries and memories to embark on a new mission that God is leading us into. I am excited for the glories that lie on the horizon, but my heart aches also for those things I have left behind. Leaving a church is akin to getting a divorce from a beloved spouse. You might love her deeply but unfaithfulness must by necessity drive you apart. It is painful; resentment and bitterness can fester on both sides if the Lord is not sought to help heal wounds and forgive trespasses. Feelings of loneliness and isolation can at times be overwhelming. Opposition from those you called brothers and sisters in Christ can suck the life out of you; stirring feelings of guilt and doubt.
Does God Send People to Hell?
It’s been several months ago, but I distinctly remember having dinner one Friday evening over at a friend’s house with his family. Another recently married couple ate with us too. They all attend a different church than we do, but our beliefs had always been very similar – at least until I embraced the doctrines of grace. The differences in our theologies had become apparent, and somewhat troublesome to them. Despite their apprehension, I proclaimed the gospel truth as I understood it in an after dinner conversation. The wife of the recently married couple sat at rapt attention as I gave a brief overview of the doctrines of Grace. At one point I made a remark about God casting the reprobate into hell, whose sins have not been washed away by the blood of Jesus. She perked up, eyes wide, mouth agape and chimed in with this gem, “God doesn’t send people to hell!” (more…)
Purpose Driven Drivel
Several months ago, I sent out an email to several of my friends and former members of my old church. In it I let my pent up impressions of Rick Warren pour out like a tsunami into digital text. The reaction I received surprised me a bit. The response was overwhelmingly and enthusiastically positive. It seems most everyone could affirm the points I had made. I received several phone calls from concerned believers, confirming with them the dark turn the modern evangelical church as a whole has taken. A turn that leads down a path of heresy and ultimately apostasy from the gospel of Christ if left unconfronted. In the last year I’ve read many accounts from Purpose-Driven refugees; people forced out of their churches by false teaching, watered down preaching and flesh-titillating outreach methodologies. In the past year I and many others have joined the ranks of the disenchanted. We have made our stand against the ungodliness that has seeped into the church, firmly rooting our feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and His word. God has been faithful to me through it all. He has led me to attend a baptist church that centers their ministry upon God’s grace through the cross of Christ.
I am reprinting the email here in hope that it will stir awareness and discernment within my readers, opening their eyes to the insidious errors walking through the front doors of our churches unchallenged.
Note: The last link no longer works. The site publishing the article no longer exists. That is unfortunate because it was the inspiration for my email. Oh well… (more…)
The Psychology of Rick Warren
In my Previous posts on Rick Warren’s appearance on Nightline I quoted the following:
Warren said that there is a danger in merging Christianity with psychology.
“Absolutely, there’s a danger,” he said. “Because what it does is feed this self-centeredness … I say, it’s not about you. It’s all about God.
OK, it sounds like he is opposed to the merging of psychological philosophy with the church.
Great!
Oh, but wait… then there’s this. An article from Christianpost.com written by Warren entitled Six Physical Factors that Affect Your Worship Service is all about psychology. He advocates manipulating environmental factors to help grow the church!
Here are some selected quotes from the article with commentary. (more…)
Rick Warren on Nightline – Part 2
If you thought the quotes from Rick Warren highlighted in my last post were jaw-dropping, well hold on to your chin! Here is round two from the article Rick Warren & Purpose-Driven Strife.
So the debate goes on: Is the purpose-driven method simplifying Christianity in exchange for church growth? The founder of the movement says the conflicts and divisions are inevitable costs.
“You know, I wouldn’t intentionally want to cause pain to any person or to anyone,”
My comment: No. He would be pleased as punch if all the churches would conform to his image without debate.
Warren said. “Am I willing to put up with pain so the people [that] Jesus Christ died for can come to know him? Absolutely.”
Warren said that if some churches may suffer as a result of applying some of those principles, then “that’s the price.” (more…)
Rick Warren on Nightline – Part 1
I am compelled to post my thoughts on several things Rick Warren said to Martin Bashir in an interview on Nightline several weeks ago. Here is an excerpt from the article Rick Warren & Purpose-Driven Strife from ABCnews.com. It is essentially a word for word transcript from the Nightline segment.
Warren said that there is a danger in merging Christianity with psychology. “Absolutely, there’s a danger,” he said. “Because what it does is feed this self-centeredness … I say, it’s not about you. It’s all about God. And one of the biggest myths is that all mega churches are alike. Well, they’re not.” (more…)
Blessed Subtraction
“Be willing to let people leave the church. And I told you earlier the fact that people are gonna leave the church no matter what you do. But when you define the vision, you’re choosing who leaves. You say, “But Rick, yes, they’re the pillars of the church.” Now, you know what pillars are. Pillars are people who hold things up … And in your church, you may have to have some blessed subtractions before you have any real additions” – The Purpose Driven Church
This quote by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of the bestselling books ‘The Purpose Driven Church’ and ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ exemplifies why I left the only church I have attended in the eleven years since embracing Christ as my Savior. I count myself as one of these ‘blessed subtractions’ for the simple reason that I don’t share Warren’s vision for the postmodern church. Unfortunately, I appear to be in the minority, as thousands of churches nationwide have adopted the principles he espouses in his books, which many have exalted to near canonical status in laying ecclesiological foundations. (more…)
Breaking News: God stripped of His Power and Authority
I don’t make this stuff up, people. The modern church is impossible to satire. The truth is much more absurd than fiction. Dr. Albert Mohler in his daily blog discusses a recent article from the Arizona Daily Star about a growing trend among churches to refer to God as anything and everything but ‘Lord’. You really must read this to believe it…
I have an opinion on the origin of all these PC gender-neutral terms and hierarchical and patriarchal phobic beliefs – and someday I may be brave enough to post about it. For now, enjoy as Dr. Mohler sinks his teeth into this postmodern rebellion.
The State of Modern Evangelicalism
“If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.” – AW Tozer
This is perhaps my favorite quote concerning the postmodern trends in the church. It eloquently and succinctly sums up the man-centered apostasy of this age. Today’s popular evangelicalism diminishes the cross of Christ, while exalting man’s efforts to attain its benefits. Surprisingly, this was written over 50 years ago. Imagine what Tozer would think of the circus church acts so prevalent in our congregations today!
In modern American society, we have been desensitized by all the forms of amusement we give ourselves over to on a day-to-day basis. For us, witnessing this sort of worldly entertainment in the church appears perfectly natural. We are quite comfortable disengaging our intellect, and by extension our discernment, to enjoy a good show. The church needs a wake-up call from the Holy Spirit to snap us out of our half-conscious media-induced zombie state, making us keenly aware of God’s Holiness. Once we understand the righteous character and majestic nature of God through the lens of the holy scriptures, we should bow our knees in reverence, fear, and awe. After an experience like that, we should all grieve at the foolishness we have wrought in the House of God.
Oh Lord, reveal yourself to us in all your glory that we may see the error of our casual, irreverent approach to your throne as we enter into the Holy of Holies. May we all repent and glorify your name with thankful, grateful hearts.
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