Quote - "Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise." - Sam Pascoe
I received an interesting e-mail this past week from a Christian brother and this quote was the opening salvo of a well-written "indictment" of the condition of the American church, by Dave Daubenmire.
Needless to say, it stirred my interest because the article went on to list many of the problems in the church that I've been ranting about of late.
Also interesting is that my wife and I are currently sharing the Gospel of Mark and the same day this e-mail came, we touched on Chapter 7, verses 6-8 which say,
"He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
" 'These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
So -- is it true? Has America's churches become an enterprise? -- The word enterprise in our culture generally relates to business and certainly some churches would fall under that heading.
We do have quite an accumulation of church "personalities" that have evolved over the landscape of our land in recent years. - Accompanying the "big business" mentality today are doctrines that preach personal wealth, how to be a better you, earth worship and the like. We even have the "emergent church" mentality that’s watering down the basic fundamentals of our faith to accommodate sinful lifestyles.
How convenient! - Church has become a place in our society to come and "salve the spiritual guilt" of our lifestyles. - As Coach Dave says so well, "The self-serving American church is a pathetic step-child to Christianity's founding fathers."
Plainly said, the aforementioned modern church's "adjusted doctrines" are false and misleading. To be blunt, this so-called "feel-good" gospel of today is a fraud!
2 Timothy 4:3-4 puts it before us in plain and simple terms -
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
So what is the truth? - Jesus taught self-sacrifice, not self fulfillment. Hebrews 9:26-28 depicts this sacrifice -
Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Then, Hebrews 10:10 shows how this sacrifice made us holy --
"We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all."
And what about the rich young man who asked Jesus what he must do to receive eternal life? Jesus answered in Matthew 19:21,
"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
Plain and simple, he was told to get rid of his earthly wealth and this would give him treasures in Heaven. -- Just because some 2,000 years has gone by doesn't give us license to reverse this teaching.
Matthew 19:23-24 goes on to explain the dangers of earthly wealth. It says,
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
To put a wrap on this position, let's look at the original apostles. With the exception of John, all paid the price of self-sacrifice with their lives -- and John's walk was no picnic. He ended up in exile.
We all know that love demands sacrifice. We need to ask ourselves what we've sacrificed for our faith. Are we involved in spiritual warfare or spiritual welfare?
In my recent studies, besides prophecy of course, I've been seeking God's wisdom as to the real truths of scripture. - Like many of you, I was raised in the Americanized, watered down, altered for convenience approach to church. What I am discovering is that we've missed an incredibly important point in this ever-evolving process.
I certainly won't, and can't, go into it's entirety in this writing, but to briefly highlight, the Evangelical movement in America today is using a "flat Bible" approach to define its overall doctrine. More specifically, the "flat Bible" concept puts the Old and New Testaments on the same level.
What this creates is that except for Jewish ceremonial and dietary laws, Evangelical morality closely resembles Old Testament morality. Oaths, accumulations of wealth, participation and justification of war, and divorce and re-marriage are acceptable for Evangelicals because they were acceptable in the Old Testament.
But what does Jesus say? - Let's look!
2 Corinthians 3:6 -
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Hebrews 8:6-8 -
But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises.
For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
But God found fault with the people and said:
"The time is coming, declares the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
Hebrews 9:15-
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Also see Hebrews 12:24)
Luke 22:20-
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (Also see I Corinthians 11:25)
So what does all of this mean? - I'm simply trying to illustrate that when we are given the opportunity to pick and choose what is best or most convenient for a given situation, we will almost always take the path of least mental and physical resistance.
Consider these scriptures for a moment.
Matthew 7:21-23 says,
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
Matthew 7:13-14 says,
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
As the title says, its not easy, but truth is truth. -- And its better than self-deception.
I urge you to look closely at your own 'walk with Jesus'. -- Are you going through the motions of church for an hour or so a week and nothing else? -- Can people tell you apart from the world? -- Are you picking and choosing the elements of your spiritual life that make you comfortable and unchallenged? -- Are you rejecting, like so many today, the parts of scripture that don't fit your lifestyle?
2 Timothy 3:16 states,
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...
I'm sure that when Jesus and the writers of the New Testament penned the 'inspired' teachings, the intention was never multiple choice!
To close, in a final quote from the coach's article, he says, "People have asked me to start a church. I tell them that they are nuts. Truth empties churches, it doesn't fill them. A friend of mine says guys like me would be the Dr. Kervorkian of church growth." -- I'm sure some of my friends and acquaintances feel the same about me. ---
But, wait a minute! -- I thought this was a prophecy website!
- Thanks for indulging me ---
Until next time,
Red