The Way It Used to Be
October 15, 2007 by Ingrid Schlueter
“Whenever a church meets, either as a whole or representatively, there is a solemn dignity cast about that assembly which is not to be found in a parliament of kings and princes.”
–Charles Spurgeon
Last night my husband and I were out to eat with a Christian friend from Ohio. He told of trying to find a biblical church in his area. Visiting a conservative Baptist church one morning with his family, they witnessed a boxing ring set up in the middle of the, er, “stage”. Before long the pastor’s wife came out and proceeded to “box” with a person dressed up as the devil. People were screaming with laughter, tears running down their faces at the ridiculous sight. Church music that morning featured a re-make of the Beegee’s 1970’s hit, “Stayin’ Alive”. They had changed the words to “payin’ my tithe.”
I wonder if men like Charles Spurgeon could even take in what goes on in the name of worship today. Even in churches without boxing matches, jello wrestling and so forth, the atmosphere in most churches is anything but reverent. Earthly monarchs get trumpet fanfares, even in 2007. The King of kings gets trash from the secular culture thrown at Him in the name of worship. The Lord long ago departed these churches, if He was ever present. It’s very sobering.
Amen…
It puts me in mind of these verses:
Ezekiel 36: 22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.
and then:
Exekiel:36:24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 …. and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. … 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.
33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, … 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; … I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.
When we look at what the Lord, in His Word, tells us about the New Covenant’s purposes and reality it is clear that much of professing Chrisitianity has no part of the New Covenant people. In their actions, much of professing Christianity, continues in the path of profaning His name. They have not be cleaned from their uncleanliness. They remain full of idols, and happily so; flaunting and revelling in their idolatry as if it was worship. They remain enslaved to their flesh, their own pleasure, their own entertainment, and their own way. They have no loathing or shame or confoundedness for their iniquities or abominations. In fact they cannot even see them; calling what is evil good, etc. They are their own gods and their satisfaction and getting their needs met is supreme.
No one looks at them and knows that He is the LORD.
It is very sobbering. They are deceived and lead others (albeit happily and willingly) in deception.
I can see many Baptist churches going in the direction of the mega church and it saddens me. There is nothing wrong with a big/mega church but we must ask ourselves in all we do to build and serve the church, ‘will this advance the Kingdom’? Will pool tables, video games, athletic clubs etc..etc.., will this advance Gods Kingdom? I understand the convenience in offering certain amenities to the members of the church in order to grow the Christian community but not at the cost of losing the message. I have noticed certain TV preachers that are so focused on teaching by example that their sermons are no more than drama and entertainment designed to appeal to the audience. The danger in this is the word of God, the saving message of the Gospel gets lost. Grace church, Kerry Shook and Ed Young jr are so occupied in entertainment they have made a road show of the gospel. If the Word of God is not sufficient to draw a crowd, then we shouldn’t be worried about drawing a crowd by the possibility, how ever remote, of losing the truth of the saving gospel.
I have said it before and I will say it again; the majority of today’s worship music concentrates on crowd pleasing. Many people say we are each unique individuals and the body of Christ is diverse in culture and personality; therefore I want to be free to worship my way. Have you ever considered how God wants the church to worship Him? In what manner does God want to be worshiped? Our songs to the Lord should be filled with the truth of Gods word as well as recognizing the dire need of a savior in our lives. They should praise God for redeeming mankind through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Kim, your remarks make a good point but you must remember that Ez 36, 37, 38 are dealing with Israel. The church falls under the “new creation”, not a covenant. There is a distinct difference between the church and Israel. one is earthly, one is heavenly. I believe Lewis S. Chafer’s theology on this is the most accurate. Miles Stanford held the same belief but was too aggressive, IMO, in the way he taught. However, Israel will come into salvation, God does have a covenant w/ them as well as a plan.
Well, apparently we have “gone to hell in a handbasket” to use an old phrase! FYI.. church humor has NEVER been remotely funny to non-Christians. (Even back in the old days of quaint jokes). This still holds true. Could you imagine a group of non-Christians watching a pastor’s wife doing a skit like this?? I imagine EVERYONE would be VERY confused at why ANYONE would think this is funny or even appropriate! Is this what Christians want non-Christians to associate them with?? Apparently the vast majority of Christians find the oddest things hysterically funny - if I’m to believe all the strange “circus” church entertainment going on lately from clown services to Elvis impersonators, etc.
There’s no fear of God in their eyes or else they wouldn’t make a mockery of their “presentations” in their assemblies. They are so caught up in their entertainment that the Word of God and holy reverence for Him has gone the way side.
It’s a sad shame to think that “conservative” churches have fallen away as well.
I’ m actually glad this stuff is happening. Babylonian christianity is “coming out of the closet” to show the world what it really is-a sickening lie. What you are seeing is a natural outgrowth of people’s love for men’s traditions instead of God’s Word. People say they love God’s Word, but they want “church” to look, feel and act like a worldly organization rather than the body of Christ. They want their Jiffy Lube christianity, they are not the church so they have to “go to” church, they don’t have ongoing communion with Jesus so they need to be “serviced” They don’t want to follow an invisible God so they setup “pastors” to see, hear, and touch until their fleshly cravings are satisfied. When you reject God’s ways in favor of man’s ways, what do you expect to find? Men need to stop following other men, and start following Jesus. Every true believer is now a priest with DIRECT ACCESS to the father, get rid of the hired hand intermediaries. Most so called christians do not want to acknowledge that they are priests, they’d rather “outsource” that function, why is that? Here’s why-wearing the cloak of a “layman” makes a great excuse for living a carnal life. The truth will set you free if you don’t love lies so much that you blind yourself.
We’ve truly lost it with churches and standards.
The sermons at many churches are politically correct today and do not mention basic principles of faith, or even discuss the hard issues such as sin.
I’ve challenged our music ministry leadership on issues of theology of music, and they refused to listen to me.
Upon a further review, I read the lyrics from one piece the church music ministry used last year, “Our Love is Loud.” It was performed to a driving karaoké rock DVD, and the lyrics were clearly of the “sappy secular love song” type that irked me badly. I thought, what are they doing when they sing their pop tunes, dance their hip-hop, and rest of that? Is it aimed at God, or is it another “Jesus is my boyfriend” song? It was the latter.
I compared it to a hymn mentioned in an August article which CRN linked, and it was clearly “nolo contendere”. The modern “worship” tunes cannot hold a candle to the masterpieces.
Then two weeks ago at the county fair, the church’s music ministry featured as its top tier the teens who dance to pop, rock, and hip-hop (often secular) music as the attraction. The number of the teens who do dance and puppets more than doubles the number of adult choral singers, and the singers have been weakened because the young leader (who is younger than I am) puts the focus on the teen dancers. In college he made the church music focus on teen dancers, and ignored the singers. But nobody attends such events, as was proven at the fair event. The featured “music ministry” attraction is teens dancing to “Saviour Song” and “Shackles”.
Choral singers, especially classical singers, are persona non grata; when it comes to singing, you have to be one of the rock band singers. Some older members have complained but their complaints fall to deaf ears because he ignores them as he wants everything centred to him. Man-centred “religion” is the focus of many Emergents because they believe it.
Last month, I attended an event in Charleston (SC) at a friend’s church (where I volunteered my time to participate in their Messiah production last year) featuring Albert Mohler. Days after the event, he posted on his blog his thoughts of a new recording of Händel’s As Steals the Morn, and I reflected on it when he asked, “The release of As Steals the Morn comes with the 300th anniversary of Handel’s first oratorio. What music popular today will be recorded again in 300 years?”
I cannot see any of today’s Chris Tomlin skullduggery making it past ten years. He turned “Amazing Grace” and “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” into man-centred, first-person songs that were more pop rock secular than the sacred masterpiece. I don’t think my voice teacher could identify the songs either.
And when a teacher at that Charleston attempted to do a Warren-style psychological evaluation “SHAPE” class, the Sunday School teacher for the class I attend when I am there told me nobody attended, as the congregation was well-versed in the dangers of such a class. That’s right — nobody attended because they know the false teachings are dangerous.
I enjoy the churches that stay strong by sticking with standards that will have people saved, not the politically correct skullduggery that is pushed by Emergent leaders.
It’s tragic when people who attend church regularly are Biblically illiterate. They may read the Bible, but it’s more like read their verse/paragraph/chapter quota for the day, but not taking in the information through spiritual wisdom of the Holy Spirit breathing on them. Or they blindly trust their leaders that their sermonette will give them their weekly Bible requirements.
It’s a mentality that the “believer” will do the least amount of effort of time into something and thinking that is what a Christian does and how a Christian lives. I don’t know why people have allowed this minimal effort theology to be acceptable.
There is no depth to their beliefs, no passion put into their worship or spiritual life. There is no true Biblical understanding of who God is or what Jesus did for us. They don’t take their faith seriously, as a moment by moment walk. I find it tragic that so little effort to walk closer or be more obedient or humble. It’s all about appealing to one’s fleshly desires. Feeling good about oneself, feeling comfortable with one’s lifestyle, feeling good and having their “best life now”…no vision of the life to come, no preparation for the bye and bye. They go through some sort of ritual but their hearts are not on God.