It’s a sad sign of the times that a question like that even has to be asked, but such is the way of life in Laodicea, USA.
If you thought last year’s Easter sermon series at New Spring entitled Sex, Money and Power reached a new low, brace yourself for more evangelical apostasy, because nothing says ‘Ichabod’ like the following examples of scheduled sermons to be preached across the tattered landscape of what was once American Christianity.
– If you go to New Spring in South Carolina, this year you’ll be subjected to AC/DC’s Highway to Hell.
– If you go to SOS Church in St. Louis, you will see the message of the Gospel mocked as Jesus is depicted as an extreme cage fighter. They even boast “For the kid fighters, join us in the ring for your own Easter smack down (infant to 12 years)” on their website.
– If you go to North Point Church in Springfield, Missouri, you’ll hear the first sermon in a series entitled “God at the Movies” about the film Slumdog Millionaire in which you’ll get to experience Easter in 3-D.
– If you go to Crosspoint in Alabama, your sermon will be Rockstar: Live Famously.
– If you go to Eastlake in California, your sermon will be something about a man dressed in a rabbit costume singing “I like big butts . . .”.
– If you go to Cross Roads in Indiana, you can “ditch church” this Resurrection Sunday for a party.
– If you go to Discover Church in Ohio, you can enjoy a day filled with an Easter egg hunt, free food, a prize drawing, and you can even meet the Easter Peep.
*** CLARIFICATION: The Easter egg hunt, free food, prize drawing, and the Easter Peep, will all be part of the fun and frivolity on Saturday, not Sunday, at Discover Church. The sermon on Saturday will be about The Cross where you can, “Find out some eye opening facts about the cross and how it is affecting our culture today.” ***
– If you go to Mecklenburg Community Church in North Carolina, you may be asked to ponder this simple question: “What if . . . we make an Easter promo video that excludes any mention of Jesus Christ?”
– If you go to Momentum Church in Georgia, you will be subjected to a mockery of Jesus Christ and a man in a bunny suit punching people for eating chocolate . . . all in one video (which is a complete rip-off of the 6th video in this post)
– If you go to Christ Church in Montgomery, Alabama, you’ll be subjected to this juvenile idiocy.
– If you go to Calvary Church in Irving Texas, you can be involved in this stupid pastoral stunt.
– If you go to Converge Family Church in California, you’ll get a dose of potty humor.
– If you go to Revolution Church in Canton, Georgia, you can learn all about “Jesus” the rebel (and perhaps what the risen Savior has to do with motorcycles).
– If you go to The Gathering in Tennessee, your Easter sermon will be Wimpy Jesus Has Gotta Go.
– If you go to Granger in Illinois, your Easter sermon will be Sync: Your Life in Rhythm.
– If you go to The Orchard in Illinois, the sermon will also be all about you: Livin’ Venti, complete with a helicopter Easter egg drop.
– And finally, if you go to Velocity Church in Powder Springs, Georgia, your Resurrection Sunday service sermon will be a series entitled Beer, Babes, and Baseball.
The God-mocking hirelings are out of control and the goats are loving it!
Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.– 2 Timothy 4:1-5
That time has come!
Christ Alone Wyoming 
Those goat pens make me sick in my soul and very thankful to God for leading us to a biblical church. This Sunday, Voddie will preach from Matthew 5:17-20. No doubt, the seasonal topic of Easter will not be front and center, but the eternal topic of Christ’s perfect life, death, and resurrection will be.
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nothing says ‘Ichabod’ like the following examples of scheduled sermons to be preached across the tattered landscape of what was once American Christianity.
“Ichabod.” Hmmm. I was thinking more along the lines of “Anathema.”
I sent the people at Crosspoint an email, stating as humbly as possible why they should repent from using Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and The Who to promote worship of our Lord of Glory. I hope they accept it in the manner it was intended. If not, then we will know where their heart lies.
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fourpointer – May the Lord bless you for your efforts. My former church turns the sanctuary into what could pass as a Roman Catholic grotto for “Easter” – lots of candles, iconic art, mood music, prayer stations. I guess they think it’s right and honorable to do so, for they are at it again this week. It was good for the Lord to lead us away from there, as the elders were mostly condescending when approached about such things.
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I will be at home listening to a sermon from sermon audio. It would be good to somehow relay ” Sinners in the hand of an angry God” Johnathon Edwards to them. They profane everything that is holy, and there is no fear of God in them. They are truly goats.
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Hey, I don’t know if you are aware of this, but I have done a lot of research on the Driscoll/Johnson controversy at my blog. I hope it’s helpful to your earlier post on this same subject.
Blessings,
Jonathan
You can find it here:
Driscoll/Johnson
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Hello, my name is Wendie. I wanted to take some time to tell whoever reads this about My savior and my church. I attended a very traditional church for almost 12 years. As I grew in the Lord, over the years, I was convicted that this church was too white, too wealthy and too preppy. The message of the gossple, Jesus’s Good News, was being reserved for a choosen few. I was one of those few. My heart ached for the people I encountered who could not/would not be accepted in my church to to the lack of “proper” clothes to wear, or maybe the fact that they had a tatoo, or maybe even that they were living in some sin nature. My spirit weeper for their souls! God started pointing out to me things that hurt my heart. My spirit was heavy burdened. One Sunday I went to the alter and asked my Lord to either fix my heart, if it was wrong about the feelings I was having, or make it so I had to leave this church-my home and family for so many years. With in less than a week, God did just that! My family began to visit other churches. The LAST one on our list to visit was Crosspoint. I went there begrudingly for my child who had visited this church with a friend. I thought, what is this?! Church in a movie theatre! It can’t be a REAL church! But, we visited,non the less out of love for my son. On that first Sunday I LEARNED soethi g about the bible from the “pulpit”! Something I could honestly say had not happened in years! Not only that, but I looked Around and I was sitting among, gasp, sinners! The Holy Spirit comforted my soul and I knew, as did my family, that we were where God wanted us and in God’s very presence!!!! The next week my entire family joined Crosspoint. Our Easter service is called “rockstar”. The message that will be preached, will be from God’s Holy word, by a man chosen by God himself, and it will be heard by sinners. Hearts will be changed for the glory of THE risen Savior!!! Jesus once said that He came into the world for the sick, what use did the healthy have for a doctor? Crosspoint is operatinga rescue mission at the very gates of hell! God is working through a not traditional method to reach the lost. That is exactly what Jesus did! I do believe Jesus called people who were “religious” a brood of vipers. He, on the other hand, was out ministering to the lost, unclean, and dying world!!!!! I want to be where my Savior was! I want to follow the Savior’s example! I want to love like Jesus, whose blood set this captive free!!!! Crosspoint does just that! Jesus had a non traditional message. He was crucified. Could I expect any less for a church which is truly His?
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Thank you for posting this Pilgrim! It saddens me to see the total lack of “holiness” exemplified by these churches. When entertainment becomes the “drawing card” by which to pull people into the church, then the Scriptures (God’s Holy Word) takes second place to the pastor and his sermon. I pray for those people who enjoy the entertainment all in the name of “biblical preaching.” When a pastor truly exposits God’s Word, the person will go home remembering what God’s Word actually says, instead of remembering the jokes or the stories the pastor told!
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DEAR BRIAN
It really puts things into perspective when one views all of this foolishness in one sitting. And what makes these “shows” especially egregious is that all this shameless “marketing” is done on one of the most sacred days in Christian history.
DEAR WENDIE:
My “heart hurts” and is “heavy burdened” too when I see what hirelings are doing to the Bride of Christ that was purchased with the very Blood of God.
I applaud you for your zeal and I couldn’t agree with you more about Jesus the Physician coming for the sick, not the well.
What I disagree with is your assertion that because you didn’t like the traditional church you were in previously (citing your list of grievances), you’ve in effect painted with a broad brush all “traditional” churches as being like that one, and no other conclusion can be drawn but that the cool, hip, relevant churches are where it’s now at because they preach a non-traditional message just as Jesus taught “non-traditional messages.”
You further imply that there are no “traditional” churches that help the needy. You may not have intended to project those axioms by your comment, but that’s certainly what came out. I don’t believe that’s what you meant, but it does appear that way.
You may very well have been in a bad church, however, I do not look for a church based on relevancy, because “relevance” changes from generation to generation (and sometimes from week to week). But are they preaching the true, pure, unadulterated Word of God?
Nowadays it seems that one’s church is either sound in doctrine and weak on deeds, or it’s strong on deeds and weak on doctrine. It should be both, but first and foremost, above all else, the preaching of Christ and Him crucified she be of utmost importance.
Without a church sound in doctrine all the deeds in the world will not save one soul. The deeds done for the poor and hurting should come from a changed and pure heart; a heart that loves God and people.
Too often people attack a church solely on the fact that they don’t have enough outreaches. They inevitably prop up the church with the outreaches they like and boast of their works. All the while the preaching in that church may be watered down, compromised, and void of anything confrontational or objectionable to the unregenerate heart. If our deeds eclipse or become more important than the Gospel, then we have become no better than the apostate Romish church.
Both are important, but as I said, it’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves, and that is what should be of most importance.
When your church offers a “sermon” entitled Rockstar: Live Famously as it’s message for Easter, it begs the question, “Who is the focus on here, man or Christ?”
And if the response is, “Well, it’s just to attract the people to get them in, then we ‘switch’ it to Jesus,” then I have to ask, is this not disingenuous? Is this not a market-driven strategy conjured up by man who thinks that God is not capable of “adding to His Church” without the clever marketing schemes and bait-and-switch tactics of man? It makes me long for an Old Fashioned Church.
The Church has never seen such foolishness in all its history. We truly are living in the times 2 Timothy 4:1-5 predicted and we don’t even realize it.
I strongly recommend you view the short video on this post(if you haven’t already) and read the comments too, to better understand where I am coming from on this.
Sincerely and respectfully,
– The Pilgrim
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I get fired up about most of this stuff, too. But you really need to be careful not to mislead and falsely accuse people.
For Discover Church in Ohio, the easter egg hunt is clearly an activity on Saturday, and does not at all replace their Easter Sunday service. If you disagree with churches doing these types of activities, but you are leading people to believe that this is in place of a Sunday service that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.
If you want to be involved in discernment ministries, you really need to be accurate with your details. It is a needed ministry, and I pray you’ll be blessed for doing it. But please be sure not to jump to conclusions or be too generous with criticism.
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Just to follow up on my previous comment. If you would have looked at Discover Church in Ohio’s web site, you would have discovered Easter Sunday’s message to be about “The Cross”
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Hello Joseph,
Thanks for stopping by. Maybe you could help clear something up for us. Maybe you could share from a Biblical perspective where we as churches 1) are to celebrate Ishtar (Easter), 2) where Easter eggs and Easter bunny have anything to do with true Biblical Christianity, and 3) why it is easy for people to call blogs like ours on the carpet for pointing out the Biblical illiteracy, fluff, and Scripturally irrelevant (and irreverent) nonsense that takes place in many churches across our land but find it hard to accept the fact that much of what passes for Christianity is NOT Christian at all but is a mockery of the Risen Lord!
Jesus Himself stated, “MANY will say to Me in that day, have we not done all these things in Your Name – and He will reply ‘DEPART FROM ME, FOR I NEVER KNEW YOU.'”
***************
The Pilgrim, as far as I am concerned, I encourage you to keep speaking and writing the truth even though many will be against you. I noticed that even Phil Johnson is taking a lot of flack lately. Strangely, it has NOTHING to do with his Biblical exposition of the Scriptures, but merely because he stepped on somebody’s sacred cow!
When the Lord returns, He will ONLY find A REMNANT who are faithful to His Word. The remnant will not be considered hip, cool, relevant in all worldly matters, riding motorcycles across the stage, speaking about 40 days of sex, etc. Stay faithful to the Word ALONE.
The Desert Pastor
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Just an observation, having taken a look at the Discover Church’s web site: it’s a worldly joint. Here are their “Goals”:
1.Our goal at Discover Church is to create an exciting environment that inspires and produces faith. We believe the reason why most people don’t go to church is either they don’t feel welcome or it’s just plain boring. Church should be fun, exciting, liberating, safe and inviting!
2.It has been estimated that 70% to 80% of the people in any given community do not regularly attend church. Our goal is to reach those people.
3.Our goal is to touch the community through our services, outreach activities and events. Most recently we helped needy families at Christmas time with gifts and food. Our most popular outreach is the annual Easter Egg Hunt.
A church trying to be fun is on the wrong track. Getting people to attend church is the wrong goal. Giving needy people food but not the Bread of Life is false religion.
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Hi Desert Pastor,
The Easter bunny has nothing to do with Biblical Christianity (neither does the Easter Peep). Had The Pilgrim written about why churches should not condone or associate with these things, you would not read any rebuttal from me. That is not why I posted a rebuttal. Further, I do not call anyone on the carpet for Biblical illiteracy, fluff, or nonsense. I only ask for honesty and accuracy when doing so. The article clearly leads the reader to believe that if you attended this church in Ohio on Easter Sunday, instead of a Biblical sermon, there would be an egg hunt, food, prizes, and the “Easter Peep.” A simple look at the web site reveals this is absolutely false. Further, the subject of the Easter sermon is announced as “The Cross.”
Again, it is fine to say the church should not have an egg hunt, or the Easter Peep or any such things at any time, but to say that is what their Easter service consists on is false. Am I being nitpicky about the details? Yes, I suppose so. But if there is one type of ministry that especially loves truth and accuracy, isn’t it discernment ministry? That’s all I’m asking.
Manfred,
Whether you disagree with an egg hunt or the desire to make church “fun”, that is no excuse to provide false information about the church. If they are apostate anyway, that never makes it okay to twist the facts to make it sound worse.
Again, I have no problem with pointing out nonsense that doesn’t belong in churches, I only ask that it be done honestly and accurately.
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Another observation about Discover Church, from her web site: The message for the period of March 29 – April 12 is “The Cross”. “The cross has been a Christian symbol for centuries. But what does the cross really stand for?Is it just a religious symbol, or is there more? Find out some eye opening facts about the cross and how it is affecting our culture today.”
The cross’ affect on any culture is that of offense. For the chosen ones of God, it is the message of salvation. Don’t see any evidence at that church’s web site that they understand the Gospel.
Please be so kind as to point out what false information about the church I provided and twisted. I quoted from their web sites and commented.
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Dear Joseph:
Although I did not mention in the post which day the festivities were to be held, and that the day before Resurrection Sunday makes no difference to the point of the post, I do still thank you for your comment and your clarification of Discover’s Easter Activities being held on Saturday, not Sunday.
However, I still don’t understand what in the world a church is doing offering prize drawings and a chance to meet the Ester Peep in relation to the resurrection of the Lamb of God. I suppose, as Manfred pointed out, the answer can be found in one of their goals to make church “fun.”
Dar Desert Pastor:
Thanks for your encouraging words. The watchmen are usually the one’s feared by the attacking army, and despised by the people of the city they’re trying to protect. Sadly they have to be on guard from arrows from both directions. It’s an often thankless endeavor, but honorable nonetheless.
Dear Manfred:
Makes you wonder where sin, death, repentance, Hell, judgment, the wrath of God, and the preaching of Christ and Him crucified fits into all those goals, huh?
– The Pilgrim
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Manfred,
Neither of us know whether they understand or preach the true gospel. But you still haven’t told me why it is okay to post an article saying that the topic of their sermon for Resurrection Sunday is going to be about “Egg Hunts, The Easter Peep, Prizes, and Food” when that is clearly not true. If a church is probably not teaching the truth, is that a license to say anything we want to against them? or would we be better served by letting our words and especially our accusations be true?
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Pilgrim,
Thanks for your response. To be sure, I am firing no arrows at you.
—-
However, I still don’t understand what in the world a church is doing offering prize drawings and a chance to meet the Ester Peep in relation to the resurrection of the Lamb of God. I suppose, as Manfred pointed out, the answer can be found in one of their goals to make church “fun.”
—-
That is fine. Please see my above reply to Manfred to understand my complaint with Discover Church’s inclusion in this particular article. To summarize, the information you post in context of the article’s subject and title is not true. That is a legitimate concern, isn’t it?
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Joseph,
You did not answer my question – you accused me of libel and failed to specify the content thereof.
I did not, by the way, claim they do not preach or understand the Gospel. I said that I saw no evidence that they preach or understand the Gospel – there’s a HUGE difference.
Pilgrim,
Sadly, there are so many worldly churches that spend much effort avoiding the Gospel that I no longer wonder about it. It’s grievous but not surprising or puzzling. They are fulfilling Scripture – that’s the only comfort to be found in this mess.
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I have updated the post. I apologize if the post was misleading, but any misunderstanding was not done intentionally.
I hope the clarification avoids any further confusion.
– The Pilgrim
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Manfred,
I am not saying you provided any false information. I am saying that this article is false concerning Discover Church. Their sermon topic for Resurrection Sunday is “The Cross”, not Easter Egg hunts, the Easter Peep, and prizes. I did not accuse you of providing this false information, I simply asked if you think it is okay to (for anyone) provide such false information about the church simply because there may be problems with the church’s teaching otherwise.
The Pilgrim,
Please understand I am not trying to fire arrows at you. I am only trying to point out the need for accuracy, especially in discernment ministries. I agree that there may be reasons to be legitimately concerned about that church, but that doesn’t change the fact that in context, their inclusion in this article is misleading. That’s all. I would encourage you to remove Discover Church from this article (which is about sermon topics for Resurrection Sunday) and write a new one about the celebration of Easter in the church. Discover Church would serve as a good example in such an article. But for present, this article still suggests the sermon topic is Easter Eggs, etc. instead of “The Cross”
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Thank you,
I now have no problem with the article and appreciate you compiling all of this information. It is appreciated and so is tolerance of nitpicky people like me.
Blessings!
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Joseph,
In you 12:09 post, in comments addressed to me you said, “Whether you disagree with an egg hunt or the desire to make church “fun”, that is no excuse to provide false information about the church. If they are apostate anyway, that never makes it okay to twist the facts to make it sound worse.”
All I’m asking is for you to specify what lies I allegedly told.
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Manfred,
Please forgive my lack of clarity. Sometimes my fingers fail to keep up with my brain. There’s been several times where I wished for an edit feature on these comments. I did not mean to accuse you.
“…that is no excuse to provide false information about the church. If they are apostate anyway, that never makes it okay to twist the facts to make it sound worse.”
I am referencing the information (now corrected) that was in this article. Nowhere did I state that you had twisted facts or provided false information, only that your agreement or disagreement with the activity had no bearing on whether it was okay for anyone in general to twist facts.
Again, please forgive me if I did not make myself clear.
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Joseph – thanks for clearing that up. Not my reputation that I’m concerned about – Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog stands on his own 🙂 We who claim Christ must be truthful in our conversation.
Peace in Christ* alone.
*Note – Mary not included.
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I wonder why those who claim to preach the truth would participate in a pagan activity like easter egg hunts and handing out candy in the first place- regardless of what day they do so. Why is it so hard to understand and follow scripture? ‘Do not love the world’; that means we should not copy what the world does on one day, then preach God’s word on the next.
Most kids equate Easter with a bunny, Christmas with Santa, and expect gifts to be given them. How is the church any different than the world if they condone these pagan holidays?
Christ bleeding and dying on a cross is hardly a reason to buy kids candy or have them hunt for eggs.
If you want to preach on the cross, AMEN! But why must we partake of paganistic rituals one day, then proclaim Christ the next?
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Dear Pilgrim,
First, let me say thank you for the heart with which you responded to me. I appreciate that you didn’t slam me. Let me say first and formost, I love Jesus above ALL. Second, let me say that the church I left was a good and noble traditional church. People ARE getting saved there. But, God let me see that there are OTHER people out there that the traditional church would never reach. God has given me a heart for those people out there who would never be accepted in a traditional church…those same people that Jesus Himself reached out to when he walked the earth. I prayed for God to give me His eyes, to let me see what He sees in people, and He has. My heart hurts for those people who are “untouchable”. I can say with all sincerity of heart that in my personal experience, the lost of the lost are not accepted in traditional services. Most times the lost seek in the midst of their sin. We, as Christ followers, can not expect sinners to behave as those who are so blessed to be saved. Our series, Rock Star, while not the traditional sermon title, is 100% bible based. It is just being presented in a way that a totally lost person would be able to relate to. It is not watered down, it is simply presented in a way which anybody could understand! Jesus himself, spoke to the people who followed Him in everyday language! He did not put on airs…He just loved the people where they were, THEN, he said “go and sin no more”. That is the pattern we at Crosspoint use to reach the lost.
As for painting churches with a ‘broad stroke’, I feel that is what has happened in reverse with this article. The nontraditional church is being painted as the “bad” ones. How can anyone say a Christ driven church is wrong, when people are saved, and lives are 100% changed? I was saved by My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in a quiet moment…in my heart. It did not happen because of a building, or a setting, but at the prompting of the Holy Spirit on a sinful heart. But, if I had not heard the Message, and those seeds planted, I would still be lost!!! We, at Crosspoint, are planting seeds. We don’t have an organ, or stained glass windows, or for that matter, even a baptistry! But what we do have is hearts that love and trust in the amazing power of Jesus the Christ to change lives!!!! Please don’t assume that because we are non traditional that we are bad! I KNOW that people are getting saved in a traditional church, but I also KNOW that people are getting saved in non traditional churches as well! We all serve the same Master! HE has placed us each in a different environment to reach different lost!!! Esther was placed in a very non traditional environment for a Jew, but God used her, “for such a time as this” to accomplish His will!! All I am asking is that before you cast that stone, think about the fact that God, in His infiniate wisdom and power can certainly work in more ways than one! I REFUSE to put MY Savior in a box and say, “Jesus, you can only work THIS way or THAT way”. My SAVIOR is much bigger than that!
Sincerely and with respect,
Wendie
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Wendie,
I sent an email to Crosspoint, which I hope they received in the spirit of humility in which it was intended. I asked them why they would use music like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith, and TV shows like Charlie’s Angels in their service. I asked if they truly believed God would be happy using groups that wrote songs glorying in drugs and sex in the house of God.
I would ask you the same thing. Doesn’t the apostle Paul tell us, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.’ Therefore Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you'” (2nd Corinthians 6:14-18)
Now, before you say that Paul was “all things to all men,” let me ask you this: would Paul approve of Timothy using temple prostitutes in his messages to the church at Ephesus? Would he give approval to the sorcerers bringing back their books of sorcery (Acts 19:17-20)? No. Why? Because we are to “be holy, even as [Christ] is holy” (1st Peter 1:16). We are to be “in the world, but not of the world.”
Also, how are you going to tell people they need to stop listening to that kind of music, when this church is using it in service, giving implicit approval to it? It’s an issue of credibility, they will see you as saying “Do as we say, not as we do.”
I hope Crosspoint will change their minds and stop using Satanic methods in the house of God.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Four* Pointer
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Wendy, May I graciously ask you this, why would a church which claims to preach truth {as you have indicated} want to drag Satan into the service? Why would it be necessary to play Led Zeppelin, a heavy metal band which in no way glorifies God? Did rock music originate from God? Actually, Alan Freed [a discjockey from the 50’s] coined the phrase ‘rock and roll’. The meaning is a reference to sexually immoral behavior in the backseat of a car.
These are questions we must ask, the main one being this, ‘is what takes place in the entire worship service all for the glory of God’?
No one is putting God in a box, we are simply questioning the motive of bringing worldliness into what is supposed to be reserved for worship, reverence and praise for a Holy God. He should be the center focus, not worrying about being cool with the culture and trying to increase the head count.
I see NO holiness in listening to the Who, or seeing a picture of the scantily clad dressed ‘angels’ of Charlie, or anything from the seventies. That era was just as wicked and sinful as any other. How is God honored and glorified in this little stint? What is the motive?
There seems to be a lack of understanding {and reverence for} in the attributes of Almighty God. When we lack proper discernment on His holiness, His righteousness, His faithfulness, His love; then we cannot separate what is acceptable before Him as God-honoring worship. At that point, everything becomes hip, cool, and relevant.
Men of God are called to preach the whole counsel of God; this is limited to the 66 books found in the Holy Bible. Only preaching from these books is acceptable to Him. To bring in outside help is to muddy the preaching, thus making it null and void. The power to transform lives is found in His word. The true Gospel is offensive and will NOT fill the pews, however, cool stunts will bring them in. We should never worry about ‘numbers’, we are called to preach the truth, the results are in the hands of the Almighty.
All this extra curricular activity in today’s churches stems from a LACK of preaching on the attributes of God…namely…His holiness. When this is understood, then discernment and reverence will guide us in what is truly holy and acceptable as opposed to what is trash and cheap imitations of ‘worship’.
May we never defend man’s actions; may we always go before the Lord and seek Him on EVERYTHING.
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Don’t forget about the “church” (social club) in Los Angeles that spends $100,000 to rent out the Hollywood Bowl for their Easter service … not sure why, so they can look important I guess.
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