I know this post is going to upset some of you. Believe me, that is not my desire. However, I feel led to open some of your eyes to the apostate condition of most churches in America. (not all!) But if I had to guess, I'd say over 80%. We are the Laodicean church spoken of in Revelation 3, you know the one whom Jesus vomits out of his mouth?
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:15-19
You might want to leave your church IF
Your pastors never preach:
- On the Book of Revelation (The only book in the Bible that guarantees a blessing if read)
- About current events and how they relate to Biblical prophecy
- On End Times (because it's too scary and controversial) Good grief we are living in them!
- On what is happening in our current culture as it relates to Biblical principals (LGBTQ, people living together before marriage, alcohol, porn, drugs, terrorism, violence, crime, gun control...etc)
- Politics as they relate to Biblical principals. (Candidates views, laws, what you can do)
- That homosexuality is a sin
- From the Old Testament .. or rarely
- That you will be judged for what you do after you got saved!
- On hell
- On heaven
- On demons and spiritual warfare
- On angels
- On the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
- On the power gifts of the Holy Spirit (tongues, prophecy, healing, miracles, discerning of spirits) and how to operate in them
- On regular fasting and denying oneself
- On the difficult, yet rewarding walk of faith
- On the importance of Israel in prophecy and in God's heart
- On Christian persecution across the world
Your pastor preaches
- That there's nothing you can do to lose your salvation. Once saved, always saved.
- That God forgives every sin, even ones you intentionally commit regularly without truly repenting. (In other words, you're living a life of repeated and purposeful disobedience).
- Saying a prayer and believing in Jesus is all that's required to be saved.
- Mostly on how to improve your life now in this life (Your best life now!)
- God wants you to be happy and have a good life here. (Yes, He loves you and wants the best for you, but we are told that anyone who follows Jesus will suffer in this life.)
- Healings and miracles don't occur today like they did in Biblical times
- That God is full of grace, mercy, and love without mentioning that He is also a judge
Your church
- Spends the majority of tithes received on buildings, maintenance, and salaries
- Does not help members who are financially strapped.
- Does little or no outreach to the surrounding city
- Spends more time on social clubs like sports, women's teas, etc.. than on growing one's faith
- Does not disciple people to grow in their faith (aside from the weekly sermon). As in one on one or small groups with a knowledgeable mature Christian as leader
- Puts on a show on stage each week and calls it worship, with hip music and entertainment to keep people coming back
- Calls itself seeker-friendly (which is another word for preaching a watered-down Gospel)
- Does not hold regular prayer and/or fasting meetings
- Never spends time praying for Christians who are suffering across the world.
- Does not call people who are ill to come forward and be anointed with oil and prayed over
- Does not offer any instruction on or help with demon deliverance for those who are oppressed
You may love your church and your pastor and he may preach about the love and grace of God. People may be coming forward to get saved. All that is great and good. God is Love! God is wonderful!! God is full of patience and mercy and grace! But that's only half the Gospel. It's the best part, but it's not enough to create real disciples, people who are 100% committed to Christ and willing to suffer for Him and who have the power of the Holy Spirit enabling them to do the same great things the Apostles did 2000 years ago.
Too many churches have become social, feel-good clubs where people go to be entertained, to have an emotional experience, to feel good about themselves and to believe that God wants them to be happy. We've become man-centric, not God-centric. It's all about us and what God can do for us, not the other way around like it was in the beginning of the church. Our enemy is smart and he's had years to infiltrate our church in his subtle sneaky way to make us ineffective and powerless for Jesus.
If your church exhibits even half of the list above, I caution you to pray seriously about leaving and instead seeking out a small group of committed believers who love the Lord with all their hearts... who don't love their own lives until death. Before too long, and mark my words, we won't be free to worship in a public church anyway. We will be forced underground where, finally, people will get serious about God.
Thankfully, I can happily say my church is in the 20%. My pastor (who's under 40 years of age, by the way) is preaching a series from Jeremiah and this Sunday's message (Jeremiah 8) was about being truly broken-hearted over those who are lost. Sunday evening we had foreign missionaries who are home trying to raise money to go back to the countries they were serving in, come to our church and we made them dinner to show our appreciation for them and they're work and then took up an offering to help with their accounts. We frequently anoint the sick with oil, and we make no apologies on where we stand on marriage (one man/one woman) or any other PC topics. Obviously, no church is perfect and I know mine isn't either but I'm blessed to be a part of believers who I feel are trying to bring the LIGHT into our community.
ReplyDeleteYou are truly blessed to have found such a great church. Amy!
DeleteAmen! My old pastor's motto used to be that a church shouldn't be a country club for saints but a hospital for sinners. I miss him...he lives in Hawaii now.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great pastor!
DeleteHe is. We miss him and his wife. We keep in touch on FB. He's the person who encouraged me to read through the Bible each year.
DeleteI'm curious, are you saving that "Once saved, always saved" isn't true?
ReplyDeleteBecky, I believe in eternal security and eternal salvation and that we are saved only by the Grace of God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. But, I believe that keeping that salvation is up to us. In other words, we can't just go off and intentionally live a life of sin on a daily basis and never really cultivate our walk with the Lord and commit our lives to follow and obey Him and expect to be saved in the end. The Bible is very clear about this. It's an issue of the heart... believing in Jesus is more than just believing. It is making Him Lord of our lives and taking up our cross and following Him. Yes we all sin, but those sins should not be intentional and if we have an attitude of repentance, God always forgives. Often this part of the salvation message is not preached in most churches. Paul says to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Delete"Your pastor preaches
DeleteThat there's nothing you can do to lose your salvation"
This is why I was questioning you about once saved always saved. I agree with your reply. But, in the paragraph, it sounded like you were saying that if your pastor says that one can not lose their salvation then the pastor is wrong.
I can't agree with some of the points here: especially with regards to deliverance. Yes, there is a place for it, but I think some 'Deliverance ministries' are decidedly dubious.
ReplyDeleteThere was one in the UK I knew of a few years back which basically attributed almost every health condition to demonic causes, from heart conditions to depression.
Telling people that because they are sick, they need 'deliverance': and need it on a regular basis if symptoms persist is not helping anyone. In fact, its probably just bringing them into further bondage. Especially if some advise people not to seek medical treatment or take medicines for those conditions to prove their 'faith'.
I completely agree! Churches and pastors can often get very unbalanced with deliverance and call anything and everything as being a product of demons. It's very important to allow the Holy Spirit to guide when it comes to this sort of thing.
DeleteOne verse of many that makes me cringe-- I do not want to be lukewarm and have my Savior spew me out of His mouth like Vomit-- or do I want to sit on the fence dangling one leg over one side and the other on the other side. Nor do I ever want to be face to face with My Lord and Savior and have Him look at me and say -- I do not know you. I want to see His eye's light up with recognition- even if He has to think a minute before -- that He does remembers me. I want that look that says--"Ahh My Daughter Elsie". I am not saying that I am always perfect-- I stumble and stub my toes and I know-- it is then that I have to check my thoughts and ways . it is then I know that I want to be able to hear that sweet voice saying to me-- keep your eyes on Me. do not look to the left or the right-- but walk this Way towards Me. I need Him always and want Him always. He is my Life!
ReplyDeleteThe world that we have known is dwindling.. Our youth are being taught things that I can't even imagine. Hatred is the norm and life means nothing . The evilness of The LBGTQ and what ever other letters fit in that title have climbed to the top of list of goodness. How God must cringe. I just pray-- God Help those who are blinded by the evil one. The one thing we all can do is seriously pray for our family and friends and our neighbors that they see a spark of Godly light and go to it before it is too late.
Help us Oh Lord to be that Light!!!!!!
Elsie, I have a keen feeling that when Jesus sees you, He's going to run and catch you in a tight embrace and twirl you around, laughing and crying (in a good way) that you are finally home. :-)
Delete💕💕💕.
ReplyDelete