Category Archives: The Church

Signs of the times. . .?

Posted by Dan C. on

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.

Live from Denver, Colorado . . .is it coming to your town?

Posted by Dan C. on

The article below was sent to me by a friend of mine who lives in Denver. It demonstrates the ‘many paths to God’ heresy common to New Age and is becoming accepted by some who call themselves ‘evangelical Christians’.

TORKELSON: New Mile Hi sanctuary: Idea becomes reality
By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News
Monday, April 7, 2008

A vision, dressed head-to-toe in blazing, squint-your-eyes-white, glided up the steps of Mile Hi Church in Lakewood. Barbara McGhee was trying to match the energy of the new $10 million sanctuary. It opened Sunday, six years to the day the idea was launched.

“I just had a thing this morning – I felt new and clean and white,” said McGhee, 60. She wore a white crochet cap over her shaved head, a beaded Indian pendant on her chest, giant hoop earrings and a long, white cotton dress. The ensemble reflected her American Indian heritage and her rapport with “Wiccan” nature religions.

McGhee might have looked less conventional than everybody else, but she still reflected the eclectic spirit of Mile Hi. It draws from the teachings of many religions and mixes in the possibility-thinking of the self-help movement. At its core is religious science, which champions the mind as the manifestation of the divine.

You could say Sunday celebrated the victory of the mind over what mattered – turning the “vision” of 2002 into reality.

“My heart is so full today it’s almost beyond words – but don’t worry, I’ll find some,” said the senior minister, the Rev. Roger Teel, drawing laughs from the packed auditorium. The church has 1,500 newly-minted seats that were filled for three services.

Teel attended this church as a kid and became its leader in 1993. Under his guidance it’s become the largest U.S. church in the 80-year-old religious science movement, which is now called the United Centers for Spiritual Living. This July, Denver will become the center of the entire organization when the church moves its headquarters here from Los Angeles.

“This God of ours,” Teel boomed, “is not a passionless God but throws itself into creation with mighty abandon!”

A fitting description, that, of Mile Hi’s success. It opened in 1959, holding its first services in a vacuum cleaner store. In 1973 it built the distinctive landmark at Alameda and Garrison, often called “the flying saucer.” That’s now dwarfed by the new, pantheon-shaped, state-of-the-art sanctuary, which will welcome regular guest speakers and self-help icons such as Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer and Marianne Williamson.

“I tried some conventional churches where the church was lovely, but the message wasn’t,” said Tom Cauch, a house-flipper, who came with his 9-year-old grandson, Shean. “There, they talked about guilt and fear. Here, they talk about our endless possibilities.”

“The first time I ever walked into this church I felt I was loved,” said longtime member Janet Day.

Ditto for McGhee, a former hospice worker who, years ago, shaved her head to show solidarity with a cancer patient. She then dropped 158 pounds and mustered the courage to be herself:

“It’s all about this church,” she said. “You can do whatever you set your mind to.”

I pray it does not. – B4B

The Rise of Extreme Tolerance

Posted by Dan C. on

The following is an excerpt (the opening paragraph) from an article found here.

“Many evangelicals (once known for a very prudent and biblical approach to doctrine) are fast becoming as doctrinally clueless as the unchurched people they are so keen to please. At least three decades of deliberately downplaying doctrine and discernment in order to attract the unchurched has filled many once-sound churches with people who utterly lack any ability to differentiate the very worst fast doctrines from truth. I constantly encounter evangelical church members who are at a loss to answer the most profound errors they hear from cultists, unorthodox media preachers, or other sources of false doctrine.”

Here is the summary of the article:

“What’s needed today is a generation of men and women who will take a stand on biblical truth. People like that fear the Lord, not men, and will find power and courage from the Lord to uphold His truth in an age of extreme tolerance.”

There’s more worth reading in the middle. . .

The article was adapted from The Truth War, © 2007 by John MacArthur, also worth reading.

Grandma’s House and God

Posted by Dan C. on

When I was just a little boy (isn’t there a Simon and Garfunkle tune somewhere in there?) we would visit my Grandma ‘s house in Wisconsin, out in the country several miles away from the nearest town.

Among the memories of my grandparents’ farm, apart from all the great times playing in the barnyard, looking for arrowheads and picking fresh strawberries, peas and sweet corn from Grandma’s garden, are thoughts of God.

Two things in particular reminded me of God at Grandma’s house. The first was being outside and looking at the night sky and seeing so many stars! If you have ever been in the country where there aren’t any street lights, city lights, neon signs, etc., you know what I mean. My little mind would go WOW – God made ALL THAT!

The second thing that left a “God’ impression on my little heart was the little white country church with the tall steeple and stained glass windows, surrounded by tall fragrant pine trees, across the road from Gtandma’s house.   Well, not the church itself – I don’t remember the inside, the preacher or a Sunday school teacher. I remember being being outside on Sunday morning and hearing the organ and the hymn ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’, echoing through those tall pines and fill the atmosphere! It was awesome!

I knew I was just a little boy and just about everything and everybody was bigger than me (except kittens and puppies), but God was bigger than the whole WORLD and everything it!  It was kind of like Abraham’s attitude when he bargained for Sodom:

“Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27

It was a sense of my own smallness and God’s greatness. Well, that God is still my God , the God who is sovereign over all the affairs of men, the God who sent his own son to die for my sin and who will come one day to judge the earth.

It seems that somehow that much of the church today has made mortals bigger and God smaller. God seems more like a kindly grandfather that wants to ‘spoil’ us – that he lives just to gives us all the things we want in our quest for our ‘best life now’. Or, that God cannot imagine heaven without us in it, and that he sent his Son to die for us, hoping that some of us might (all on our own) someday choose him.

The Bible is full of this idea that God does everything he does first and foremost for his own glory – even our salvation! Listen to these few words from Ephesians.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
      To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:1-14

Many years have come and gone since I visited Grandma’s house, but I NEVER want to lose that picture of God!

Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats? – C.H. Spurgeon

Posted by Dan C. on

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it during the past few years. It has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.

From speaking out as the Puritans did, the church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the church. If it is a Christian work, why did not Christ speak of it? “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). That is clear enough. So it would have been if He had added, “and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.” No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him.

Then again, “He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers .., for the work of the ministry” (Eph. 4:11-12). Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the church to the world? Ye are the salt” (Matt. 5:13), not the sugar candy—something the world will spit out not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, “Let the dead bury their dead” (Matt. 8:22) He was in awful earnestness.

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear him say, “Run after these people Peter and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick Peter, we must get the people somehow.” Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.

In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of this gospel of amusement! Their message is, “Come out, keep out, keep clean out!” Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.

After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the church had a prayer meeting but they did not pray, “Lord grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.” If they ceased not from preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). That is the only difference! Lord, clear the church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the church met them halfway, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God’s link in the chain of the conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today’s ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

CHARLES  HADDON  SPURGEON (1834-1892)

C. H. Spurgeon is a most unique minister of the Gospel in English history, often called the “Prince of Preachers.” Thousands attended his early ministry in London at the New Park Street Chapel and then later in the new building, Metropolitan Tabernacle (1854-1892). The term “Tabernacle” was selected because “We believe this building to be temporary, meant for the time in the wilderness without the visible King.” The commodious Tabernacle was attended constantly by capacity crowds of more than 5,000. Members were encouraged to alternate their visits to accommodate the crowds anxious to hear the lively sermons delivered at the rate of 140 words per minute (20 words more than the average rate for public speaking)! Thousands of hearers testified to having been converted under Spurgeon’s ministry, and thousands more told of being saved by reading the printed sermons. Without the benefit of amplifiers, musical attractions, methods of crowd manipulation or any sort of “gimmick,” depending solely upon the power of the Gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ, Spurgeon’s ministry was unusually effective.

The Tabernacle was one of the largest church buildings of its time. A few years after Spurgeon’s death, it was destroyed by a fire during the pastorate of one of Spurgeon’s twin sons, Thomas. It was rebuilt, but in World War II it was again ruined by bombs. It was rebuilt a third time and the ministry of the church continues to this day under the ministry of Dr. Peter Masters (since 1970).

The Old Cross and the New – A. W. Tozer

Posted by Dan C. on

All unannounced and mostly undetected, there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different. The likenesses are superficial; the differences, fundamental.

From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique–a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as before.

The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam’s proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. The new cross is not opposed to the human race. Rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good, clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged. He still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.

The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands. Rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.

The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, “Come and assert yourself for Christ.” To the egotist it says, “Come and do your boasting in the Lord.” To the thrill-seeker it says, “Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship.” The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.

The philosophy back of this kind of thing may seem sincere, but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.

The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing. It slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.

The race of Adam is under a death sentence. There is no commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of life.

That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane–we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.

We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports, or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.

God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God’s just sentence against him. What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God’s stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.

Having done this, let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner, and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ.

To any who may object to this or count it merely a narrow and private view of truth, let me say God has set His hallmark of approval upon this message from Paul’s day to the present. Whether stated in these exact words or not, this has been the content of all preaching that has brought life and power to the world through the centuries. The reformers, the revivalists have put their emphasis here, and signs and wonders and mighty operations of the Holy Ghost gave witness to God’s approval.

Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth? Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or alter the pattern shown us? God forbid. Let us preach the old cross and we will know the old power.

NOTE: This article first appeared in The Alliance Witness in 1946 and in the book Man: The Dwelling Place of God – 1966.  It has been printed in virtually every English-speaking country in the world and has been put into tract form by various publishers, including Christian Publications, Inc.  It still appears now and then in the religious press.

Also from Man: Dwelling Place of God

“It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God.”

 

The First Word of the Gospel?

Posted by Dan C. on

There is a subject that isn’t broached much these days from the pulpits of many or our evangelical ‘seeker friendly’ churches. Whoops! Did I say ‘pulpit’? I meant ‘stage’. We got rid of pulpits along with the church steeple, crosses, all organs and most pianos. But I digress. Back to the subject at hand.

You know, I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon message about repentance. I guess it’s too closely connected to that other uncomfortable topic, ‘sin’, which in turn could remind you of that dreaded “J” word (that would be ‘judgment’).

The question I have about all this is this – If the gospel message is about Christ dying for our sin and his subsequent resurrection, how can we call a message ‘the gospel’ if sin and repentance aren’t even touched upon? Granted, while Paul did not use the word ‘repent’ in his summary of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5, it is implicit in Christ’s death for sin. Sin MUST be dealt with and the only thing to do with sin is repent (turn from it and turn to God)! We also have some pretty good examples in the New Testament that demonstrate a fairly high priority on the subject of repentance to the gospel.

In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming, “Repent,  for the kingdom of heaven is near.”  Matthew 3:1-2 (The beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry)

From that time Jesus began to preach this message:  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Matthew 4:17 (The beginning of Jesus’ ministry)

So they went out and preached that all should repent. Mark 6:12 (The twelve disciples, sent out by Jesus)

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:28 (Peter preaching in Jerusalem after Pentecost)

“Therefore, King Agrippa,  I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God,  performing deeds consistent with repentance. Acts 26:19-20 (Paul before King Agrippa)

It appears that rather than omit the topics of sin and repentance from our gospel message that they should be of the highest priority!

I would submit to you that if we think we are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and we omit the issue if sin and the need for repentance, we are deceiving our listeners. If our intention is to lead the listener to a decision for Christ without dealing with sin, but to bring it up at a later time, we might be con artists guilty of a spiritual ‘bait and switch’.

Truth – Timeless or Relative?

Posted by Dan C. on

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception….” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

“The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart.” Jeremiah 14:14

There is an excellent chart here that shows the progression from Biblical Belief to the New Spirituality currently sweeping across the religious landscape of America. The chart lists topics of Belief and shows the Transition from historic Biblical Christianity to this New Spirituality. The information presented is supported by quotes, citations and links to source material from which it was drawn.

Below is the entry for the topic of TRUTH – Timeless or Relative?

Biblical Christianity

God’s eternal, unchanging Word! Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

Transition

Truth is de-emphasized to avoid division: “Humanity is recognizing the need for a more vital approach to God… men are tired of doctrinal and dogmatic differences….”

New Spirituality

“…a portion of truth… is found in every religious and philosophical system…. There is no room for absolute truth…. But there are relative truths.”

“When we can contact our own inner God, all truth will be revealed to us.”

Of course there is really ‘new’ about this New Spirituality.  It’s nothing more than  centuries old heresy dressed up in a new suit. The Emperor however, is still naked!  What troubles me with this regurgitation is not so much it’s apparently widespread appeal to the ‘postmodern’ intellect, but infiltration into the church, aided and abetted by some so-called ‘evangelical’ leaders!

There are some apologists that would tell you that it might well be developing into the one world religion spoken of in the Bible.

The question for believers is what to do about it. I really see only two options;  we can ‘cluck’ about it like barnyard hens, or we can present the TRUTH. . . with LOVE.