How would you like your eggs today, over-easy, scrambled, fried, sunny-side up, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, poached, or shirred?? How about your steak; rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, or well done?? Choice of potatoes? This sounds like questions for a meal in a restaurant right?
Can you relate the above questions to today’s Church? Depending on the meal you choose when eating in a restaurant, you the patron sometimes have many choices within the meal you chose.
Today’s Church seems to be all about choices as well. The Church seems to be gravitating towards self-indulgence. Yes the corporate church can do this as churches are made up of people, and people decide what they want out of church.
Some churches today will tell you all about how God wants to bless you; He wants to give you all things. These same churches neglect to tell you God wants to give you all things according to His will…not yours. This means that you will not get everything you desire, that is completely un-biblical!
Other churches today are taking sides over the gay marriage debate. There is no debate. Gay marriage is wrong in the eyes of God, so it is wrong and has absolutely no place in the church. The bible states that homosexuality is wrong, period…why is there any debate???
Still more churches are splitting and choosing sides over whether or not a person that is a homosexual should be a pastor of a church. God has said that homosexuality is wrong, why then would anyone choose to have a self-professed homosexual lead their church? Let me ask you another question or two before you get too fired up about what I just said.
What if the pastor is having an affair? What if the pastor is stealing from the church? How about if the pastor is abusing children? Would these offenses not trigger serious action from the church?
Then there are the churches in which the pastors preach what the people want to hear, and that is all. The sermon is more or less a pep talk to make you feel better about yourself. This is tickle my ears preaching, which is no preaching at all. This is akin to telling someone all they have to do is believe Jesus existed and they will be saved…that is it, nothing more.
Really???? Because you believe Jesus Christ existed means absolutely nothing! The Demons and Satan himself all believe Jesus existed and still does…where do you think they are going?
The church of today is a social club, a place to gather and hear some encouragement. Share a few stories, ask a couple questions, and drink a cup of coffee all the while congratulating yourself on having been in church again and so fulfilling your duty. Your duty to whom; yourself, society, or God? It surely was not to God.
How about the churches that just plain ignore sin in their midst? Like what? Like the husband who is known to be cheating on his wife, or the person who is stealing a “little” from the church? Serious sin, things that should not be ignored.
There are of course great churches out there; I am in no way saying all churches today are no good. Unfortunately however, this is the way today’s Church as a whole is heading. The bible foretold this would happen, that people would not endure sound teaching. So of course when it is talked about, that will not be endured either.
Some may read this article and disagree with it that is fine. Think on this a moment if you will, church is not supposed to be about you or me. Church is not supposed to be a welfare system for people to live on. Church is not about getting that dose of encouragement so you can make it through the week. Church is about God…period! Church is all about God, it is for God, and it is of God.
If we exist to glorify God, and we do, why then do we go to church expecting self-fulfillment? Are we not in church to glorify the Creator of the universe?
If church is conducted the way it is meant to be, we will be fulfilled. Our greatest joy will come from doing what God created us to do, glorify Him. When we seek to elevate ourselves above God by serving our own designs and purpose in and through the Church, we will not be fulfilled! Nothing will ever bring joy and fulfillment to us when we serve ourselves first, and the Lord after.
It is fine to have encouraging messages in church we need those. However, if the sermon does not ever convict you, if the words of the pastor do not ever make you feel uncomfortable…then you are not hearing the Gospel. The pastor’s words should completely resonate with the Bible; the pastor’s words should not ever go against the Word of God. Yet sadly this happens again and again in today’s Church.
It does not matter what you or I think of what God says in His Word. It does not matter what your pastor thinks either. The only thing that matters is that God’s Word is preached, the way that God wrote it, not the way that we want to interpret it, not the way that we choose to speak it. I’m not talking about your view of the rapture and when it will happen. I’m talking about Jesus Christ is God…no debate. Jesus is the only way to the Father…there is no other way…none. Sin is a death sentence for all, your only way out…Jesus Christ. Salvation is a gift; you cannot earn it…period. Jesus Christ was, is, and always will be eternal just as the Father is…no question about it. If it is written in God’s Word, it is true…it is not open to negotiation. The Bible was written by men, the words came from God. To suggest that the bible is just a collection of stories written by a few men is completely ludicrous not to mention ignorant. Hundreds and hundreds of years (over a thousand years actually) of writings and prophecies where the books agree with one another, and the prophecies have come true (about half of them so far, the others are yet to come), written by over thirty-five different people…this is the work of God not man.
When you or I walk through the door of our church, the first thing on our mind should be praising and glorifying God. It should not ever be what can I get out of church today. God took our death upon Himself, paid the price for our wrongdoing. He deserves our praise and worship.
Glory to God in the highest
Glory to God forever
Praise His Holy Name
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
About the author: Greg is a strong believer in Jesus Christ and is also a political analyst, author, and is the Editor-in-Chief for the National War Council. By day he is a self-employed non-emergency medical transport driver, as well as being an author and blogger. His articles are first published on Inspirational Christian Blogs, and I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ! His articles have been widely published on many well-known conservative websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so leaving all links intact and crediting the author and the website that the article appeared on.
Greg is the author of the newly released book: Spiritual Darkness is Destroying America and the Church
Categories: FAITH FOR TODAY, THE WORD OF GOD FOR TODAY
AMEN!!!
What a refreshing blessing to come here and read this!
I endorse every word, though – sadly – I am sure many will disagree with some points.
Here in Australia the “discrimination” flag would be waving frantically. We had the head of a major denomination speaking on a popular ‘serious’ panel show, chosen as “the most senior Christian leader in Australia”. He spoke in favour of same-sex marriage. He denied the existence of hell and said that even Hitler would one day be ‘purified’ enough to enter heaven. He denied that Adam & Eve were actual people and more or less denied the existence of satan.
I accepted the Bible as the very Word of God 54 years ago. I have studied it ever since, believed and acted on its promises and found it to be completely reliable. God said His Word will endure for ever and it will. Sure, some will try to denounce it, but they are fighting a losing battle.
1 Peter 4:17
The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God.
Wow, that guy is so misguided it would be laughable except that kind of thing is not funny. The world at large seems to be taking this path more and more. Tragic really when you think about it.
The purpose of mankind is to praise God, forever and ever. AMEN!
And so we shall!!
Very good stuff, Greg. We are here for God’s glory alone… anything else is just worldly rubbish. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Blessings good friend.
Amen to that, thank you my friend! 🙂
The breakfast looks yummy,, But I gotta say how sad it is that the world is the way it is .. All I can say God is good for the mercy he bestows upon us humans on a daily basis.. It’s too much to even start thinking about what the churches are doing or not doing? And again it’s really sad that we as christians are pushing non-believers out of the church instead of into the church.. I pray for God’s mercy and forgivness for our ignorant nature ..
I agree, all should be accepted in the church. The church should be a place of healing, not derision and unacceptance. Thanks for the comment.
Can you please tell me how you got the Christian blessings thing in the sidebar, and does it update itself whenever someone posts? I would love to support them by having that, but don’t know how to do it. Thanks! You can email me to tell me how if you want lyn.leahz@att.net
Sure Lyn will do!
Thank you..I know you are sooo busy..just whenever you have the time…thanks and God bless you for that!
Glad to be back. And glad to have your stuff to read. I really didn’t want to delete all my emails this summer, but I had to be true to my sabbatical. God bless and I’ll see you soon.
Thank you so much Steve, you are a blessing brother. I understand what you are saying, no worries here. 🙂
WOW! WOW! I just re-read this and I am so blessed and agree with EVERY WORD! In fact, I am in the middle of writing a blog series called, “Is the church drawing people or driving them away?” Of course, my belief agrees totally with your and others who posted here. I’d like to ask your permission to use this post as one of the posts in my series on the church. I would be honored to post it, and, of course include a link back to your blog. Oh, did you hit the nails on the head. Spot on, Greg. I feasted on this post. Hung on every word. How true. How true. P.S. Like Lyn, I would also like to have a the same christianblessings in my sidebar as well. I have them on my blogroll, but I’d love to have the same link you have.
Thank you, my brother, for a wonderful, wonderful post. We are EXACTLY on the same page in our thinking and concerns about the church today. Thank you and God bless you richly.
Use away my friend, I would be honored if you did so. I’m glad this blessed you, thank you so much for the kind compliment! I will send you an email about the other thing shortly!