Have you ever pulled a book off the shelf because you just wanted to reread it it in it’s entirety, or maybe to revisit certain themes contained within? I did last evening – for both purposes I just mentioned. I just wanted to share a couple of tidbits from that book.

“Everywhere there is apathy, Nobody cares whether that which is preached is true or false. A sermon is a sermon whatever the subject; only, the shorter the better.” – C. H. Spurgeon, 1888, The Sword and the Trowel

“For centuries the Church stood solidly against every form of worldly entertainment, recognizing it for what it was – a device for wasting time, a refuge from the disturbing voice of conscience, a scheme to divert attention from moral accountability. For this she got herself abused roundly by the sons of this world. But of late she has become tired of the abuse and has given over the struggle. She appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make what she can of his power. So today we have the astonishing spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven. Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding the serious things of God. Many churches have become poor theaters where ‘fifth-rate “producers” peddle their shoddy wares with the full approval of evangelical leaders even quote a holy text in defense of their delinquency. And hardly a man dare raise his voice against it.” – A. W. Tozer, 1955, The Root of the Righteous

“Tozer. . .was not condemning games, music styles or movies per se. He was sounding an alarm about a deadly change of focus. He saw evangelicals using entertainment as a tool for church growth, and he believed that was subverting the church’s priorities. He feared that frivolous diversions and carnal amusements in the church would eventually destroy people’s appetites for real worship and the preaching of God’s word.” – John MacArthur, 1993, Ashamed of the Gospel, When the Church Becomes like the World

In his book Ashamed of the Gospel, John MacArthur describes conditions in American evangelical churches fifteen years ago using a series of C. H. Spurgeon articles published in The Sword and the Trowel more than 100 years before that focused on what Spurgeon called “The Down-Grade”.

Looking around at the current ‘evangelical landscape’ I fear that in some places “The Down-grade” has nearly reached bottom. – an old soldier, 2008.