Amos 8:11-12 which says, "The days are coming, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land - not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 12) Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it."
Also, Ezekiel 33:30-31 says, ".... Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord. 31) My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain."
Might as well get right to the point... The other day I was at Fred Meyers , my social networking site, and I ran into a young christian couple I hadn't seen for some time. After a short chat, they asked if I was attending any church, and I told them that I had joined a Baptist fellowship here in town. ... After a somewhat surprised look, the young lady said something like "well, at least they teach right out of the Bible." ..... Since that encounter, I could not get that statement out of my mind. Why did it have such a profound impact on me? .. And then it finally dawned on me! ... She is absolutely right! Everything we do at our church is right out of the Bible .. literally!
For the past 12+ years, I have attended a fair number of churches only to eventually leave each one of them for various reasons. Along the way, being involved with teaching and worship teams, I met quite a number of people, many of which I am still acquainted with. Also during this 12 year journey, I spent a great deal of time studying scripture so as to learn as much as possible about my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So why was I having such a hard time finding a church I could call 'home?' Something was always nudging me ... an unsettling feeling that something was wrong ... that something was missing ......... In fact, I had reached the point to where I felt there was no 'church home' out there for me. ......
..... And then, last fall, we walked into our current church ... and even though it wasn't large and the building wasn't fancy, it had a feel of 'simplicity and honesty' about it. There was no entertainment ... no teaching series on 'how to be a better me' .. it was simply pure, straight-forward teaching right out of the Bible. ... Somehow I new we were "home."
OK - so let's now go back to that statement ... "well, at least they teach right out of the Bible." This is the key to the whole thing! This is what was missing in all those other places I couldn't come to terms with. Their focus was on things of this world and not of the Kingdom. ... Church growth in numbers, bigger buildings, entertaining worship agendas, and on and on ...
The tragedy is that so much of the world is in the church and so many of the churches are in the world that there is no difference between the two ... and when referring back to the opening scripture of this commentary, this is exactly what is taking place in the vast majority of our churches today! We have allowed our leaders to 'water down' the gospel so it fits into our degenerating society, thus not offending anyone so as to chase them away.
So why are we so afraid to speak the truth? ... Some folks call it "judgement" preaching, or , the "Hard Gospel." Truth is, this is not a popular concept in today's compromising world. ... Consider this ... Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Paul, and Jesus all preached judgement in their messages. In fact, no one in scripture spoke more of judgement than Jesus. No pictures or illustrations of judgement are more intense and sobering than those Jesus portrayed. ... Can or should we do any less?!
Dr. D. A. Criswell reminds us of the true character of a prophet of God: ... "Whenever there is a true prophet of God, he will preach judgement. These modern so-called ministers of God speak all things nice. Modern pedagogical (or the art or science of teaching) methods admonish never to mention things negative. Ignore them and they will not exist." He continues, "There is not any hell and there is not any devil and there is not any judgement of God. All that is now intellectually passe. We have evolved beyond that ... so we stand up and speak of the love of Jesus, and we speak of peace, and we speak of all things pretty and beautiful. ... But the same book that tells us about the good, tells us about the bad. The same revelation that speaks to us about heaven, speaks about hell."
It is true that America is suffering a 'famine' of the true word of God. Our hearts should be breaking over the church's tolerance of easy 'believism' and watered-down doctrine. It is truly tragic the lengths of which many of our leaders will go to achieve popularity ... and when it comes to 'judgement' teaching, it's mostly 'off the table'.'
One thing I truly believe is that the church is making a great mistake by trying to make Christianity popular and pleasant. As Billy Graham once said, "we have taken away the cross and substituted cushions." ... But didn't Christ say the world hated Him, and He predicted that it would hate us. As Brother Billy also said, "He invited us not to a picnic but to a pilgrimage. He offered us not an excursion but an execution."
In closing, I thank God that I have found a church that takes the Bible literally, and where the pastor can and will speak against a sinful lifestyle .. and that there are serious consequences for it ... Some may call this the "hard gospel" ... and while consequences for sin may seem hard and harsh, isn't it better than the "Soft gospel" that leaves people in their sin and tolerates milk-drenched, undernourished, immature Christians - Christians who know little joy because they know little of gospel truth?
Too many Christians have geared their program to gain worldly favor. We argue that humanity is more Christian and civilized now, that we need not suffer as our forefathers did. .... But times are not brighter. Christians ... those of us who follow the uncompromising word, are becoming the extreme minority in this heathen world. If the church is acceptable to this present age and is not stirring up trouble or suffering reproach, then God have mercy on the Church! ... If we are at peace with this world, it may be because we have sold out to it. ........... I pray that not be you .................
Until next time,
Red