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The Churches of Today Sadden and Disgust Me
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Original Message
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I'm a follower of Christ, but I haven't been to a church in a while, because every time I go to try to find one where the Spirit of the Lord is moving, it's nowhere to be found.
The Lord told me yesterday, Saturday, to go to this particular church today, and so I went. It was referred to me by a Christian months ago. I hadn't thought of it until yesterday when the Lord put it on my heart to go to this service today.
There were several disturbing things I heard that grieved my spirit all day long. First, while we were having the adult service, the children were downstairs having their own alternative to Halloween service. They were dressed as Biblical characters. Why in the world would Christians, who know of the pagan origins of Halloween and God's repeated commands to not mix pagan practices with His own and call them of the Lord, try to "dress up a whore" and call it Christian? It's still a whore, no matter if it's donned in fine Christian apparel. This boggles my mind.
Next, the pastor was wrapping up a months-long series sermon on the new covenant of Jesus Christ. He goes on to talk about how, once you've said the sinner's prayer and accepted Jesus into your life, God looks at us and sees nothing but Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and God doesn't see our sins anymore but only Jesus' atonement for our sins. The pastor then says absolutely nothing about the circumcision of our hearts that must occur, the taking up of the cross daily, the crucifying of the flesh experience that occurs in the new birth. The way this pastor presented it, it's all over and done with at the sinner's prayer, and that's it, you're saved, you're on to glory, hallelujah, amen, I'm a recliner-chair Christian.
Another disturbing thing he said is that when Christians stray from the path, God is going to come after us and "hound" us because He wants to bless us. Ok, certain aspects of that I agree with, but on the other hand, the most important point of all is that sin separates us from God and allows the enemy to work all kinds of evil in our lives. The pastor said nothing about this.
The pastor also said that Jesus abolished the 10 commandments and did away with them, because, the pastor said, the 10 commandments were impossible to keep. This is not exactly the whole truth. Yes, in our fallen state, it is impossible, and no one does good and can fulfill every letter of the law in the fallen state, but at the same time, Jesus didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Does this mean we're to altogether abandon the 10 commandments? No. Jesus said, "if you love me, you'll keep my commandments." Love the Lord God with all your heart, and love your brother as yourself being the sum of all the commandments.
And then there was his diatribe on the rapture, that it could happen at any moment, and wouldn't it be lovely if we all were in the service together worshiping the Lord and we were to be raptured out of there all together and wouldn't have to face any more hardships.
But the clincher for me was the altar call. Several people raised their hands to accept Jesus at the end, and the pastor had them come up after the service to receive some handouts on being a Christian. Hello?! Some handouts?! Shouldn't these people be shepherded and carried along like a baby would at the beginning of this new life they're embarking on and possibly be assigned a mature Christian mentor to guide them?
Frankly, I'm saddened and I'm disgusted with the whole experience today, but it honestly doesn't surprise me. What truly disgusts me is that the church of today thinks they're actually ready to be raptured and meet the Lord, that they're spotless before Him. Well, I'm saying the Lord told me today that they stink to high heaven, and He's as disgusted with the state of affairs in the church today even more than I am. And this is why we need so desperately Joel's latter day rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit prophecy to happen soon. The body of Christ is in dire straits.
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