We live in a society that increasingly drifts toward the form rather than the substance, which embraces the superficial, lives to play, will pay almost any amount of money to be amused, and prizes fun as the highest pursuit of life. Conviction has been replaced by thrill and few seem to notice. . . . One would hope that things would be different among Evangelical Christians, but such does not seem to be the case. It appears that the church is in lockstep with the world.
– Gary Gilley
While Jewish kids are memorizing the Torah and Muslim kids are memorizing the Koran, these kids are being entertained to death by singing hot dogs and hamburgers, and their parents, youth leaders, and church think all is well.
Here’s an excellent article from Voddie Baucham in response to those who inaccurately and unfairly misrepresent Family Integrated Churches.
Is the Church a Family of Families?
Any church that does not look like the ‘norm’ is always trying to explain itself. This is a fact we know all too well at Grace Family Baptist Church. We explain ourselves to those who visit us, those who call us trying to determine if it is a good idea to visit, those who are interested in finding or starting a church like ours, and those who are sure that we are some kind of “Patriarchy” cult. Sometimes we explain ourselves in painstaking detail. At other times we use shorthand. One example of that ‘shorthand’ is our ubiquitous and somewhat enigmatic statement, “The church is a family of families.”
For some people, this captures the essence of the distinction between the FIC, and the neo-traditional church.1 For others, their presuppositions, and/or misconceptions about the FIC (along with the lack of clarity inherent in the phrase) get in the way. This last group ranges from people who simply wish we were clearer in our statement, to those who find in the ‘family of families’ terminology the theological ‘smoking gun’ for which they have searched in an effort to discredit this “extreme overreaction” to the current crisis in contemporary youth ministry.2
We recognize that this may be an unnecessary stumbling block for those with a genuine interest in the Family Integrated Church concept, as well as those attempting to explain it to others. Therefore, allow me to offer a bit of clarity as to what we mean when we use the term ‘family of families’ to describe the church.
Shocking video. As if we needed one more reason to home educate our children.
Let us beware of the beginnings of backsliding, however small. We never know what we may come to, if we once leave the king’s highway. The professing Christian who begins to say of any sin or evil habit, “it is but a little one,” is in imminent danger. He is sowing seeds in his heart, which will one day spring up and bear bitter fruit. It is a homely saying, that “if men take care of the pence the pounds will take care of themselves.” We may borrow a good spiritual lesson from the saying. The Christian who keeps his heart diligently in little things shall be kept from great falls.
– J.C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
As a follow-up to yesterday’s sermon of the week by John MacArthur on creation (which touched on environmentalism), here’s a twenty minute radio interview with Phil Johnson on Christians and the distraction of environmentalism simply entitled, Is God Green?
For more on this subject I encourage you to check out these previous DefCon posts:
Priorities Completely Out of Whack
Distractions, Distractions, Distractions
Two weeks ago we concluded our evolution / creation series by John MacArthur entitled The Battle for the Beginning. As a follow-up to that series I present this week’s sermon of the week by John MacArthur entitled A Theology of Creation.
This is a great message that covers the subject of creation, evangelicals who reject the first two chapters of Genesis for other theories about creation, and concludes with examining evangelicals who have bought the lie of radical environmentalism (who are “working for the Lord” by trying to preserve the very earth God cursed back in Genesis).
This will surely step on the worldview toes of many emergents, liberals, and post-moderns.
If we’re not attracting the same people that Jesus attracted, it’s because we’re not preaching the same message that Jesus preached.
– Tullian Tchividijian
When we decry the current condition of the youth in our churches (and the church as a whole) we are usually met with angry resistance. Now the condition of the youth (and the church) has gotten so bad that even secular news outlets are sitting up and taking notice.
The Wall Street Journal has recently reported on the sad state of the youth in American churches in an article aptly titled The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity.
Increasingly, the “plan” has taken the form of a total image overhaul, where efforts are made to rebrand Christianity as hip, countercultural, relevant. As a result, in the early 2000s, we got something called “the emerging church”—a sort of postmodern stab at an evangelical reform movement. Perhaps because it was too “let’s rethink everything” radical, it fizzled quickly. But the impulse behind it—to rehabilitate Christianity’s image and make it “cool”—remains.
And what does “cool” look like?
There are various ways that churches attempt to be cool. For some, it means trying to seem more culturally savvy. The pastor quotes Stephen Colbert or references Lady Gaga during his sermon, or a church sponsors a screening of the R-rated “No Country For Old Men.” For others, the emphasis is on looking cool, perhaps by giving the pastor a metrosexual makeover, with skinny jeans and an $80 haircut, or by insisting on trendy eco-friendly paper and helvetica-only fonts on all printed materials. Then there is the option of holding a worship service in a bar or nightclub (as is the case for L.A.’s Mosaic church, whose downtown location meets at a nightspot called Club Mayan).
And then the article asks the million dollar question.
But are these gimmicks really going to bring young people back to church? Is this what people really come to church for? Maybe sex sermons and indie-rock worship music do help in getting people in the door, and maybe even in winning new converts. But what sort of Christianity are they being converted to?
Another secular news source giving attention to this problem is CNN. In their article More Teens Becoming Fake Christians, it begins with the following:
If you’re the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning: Your child is following a “mutant” form of Christianity, and you may be responsible.
And then there’s this quote:
Dean, a United Methodist Church minister who says parents are the most important influence on their children’s faith, places the ultimate blame for teens’ religious apathy on adults. Some adults don’t expect much from youth pastors. They simply want them to keep their children off drugs and away from premarital sex.
And this one:
Churches, not just parents, share some of the blame for teens’ religious apathy as well, says Corrie, the Emory professor. She says pastors often preach a safe message that can bring in the largest number of congregants. The result: more people and yawning in the pews.
And what I think is the best quote from the article:
“We think that they want cake, but they actually want steak and potatoes, and we keep giving them cake,” Corrie says.
Finally, USA Today chimes in with the article ‘Forget the Pizza Parties’ Teens Tell Churches.
Only about one in four teens now participate in church youth groups, considered the hallmark of involvement; numbers have been flat since 1999. Other measures of religiosity — prayer, Bible reading and going to church — lag as well, according to Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif., evangelical research company. This all has churches canceling their summer teen camps and youth pastors looking worriedly toward the fall, when school-year youth groups kick in.
You can’t help but read these articles and feel the irony that this problem is being reported by the non-believing secular world. Sadly that’s because those from within Christianity who point this stuff out are summarily dismissed as “legalists” and “Pharisees.”
It’s time for fathers to take charge of your families once again and stop abdicating the responsibility of your children and their spiritual upbringing to strangers.
What are most youth groups like? You get a real personable young leader who’s usually not married and a lot of mousse in his hair. And then he gets a lot of young people around him, and what do they become? According to Proverbs they become companions of fools. When you put young people with young people in this atmosphere of adolescence you have no growth to adulthood, you have no maturity, no elders are involved, no parents are involved. It can’t work because it’s not Biblical. – Paul Washer
For those unaware of what these scathing indictments from secular news outlets are about, please review the following past DefCon posts for a sampling of the the train wreck known as “youth ministry.”
Peanut butter salvation and other stupid church tricks
Youth ministry: A “50-year failed experiment”
When the world’s your mistress
Who’s pastoring the youth pastors?
The problem with youth ministry today
Another church sanctuary turned into a stage for a worldly dance exhibition
A story of injured clowns and evil chickens
Sin goes in a disguise, and thence is welcome; like Judas, it kisses and kills; like Joab, it salutes and slays.
– George Swinnock
1627 – 1673
While many in this country with a left-leaning political slant bemoan the security threats to this nation–placing unwarranted suspicion at the feet of Evangelical Christians, home educators, talk radio, gun owners, war vets, etc.–they remain strangely (and suspiciously) silent regarding the only real threat–the same threat that keeps spewing its venomous hate speech day after day, week after week, year after year: Islam.
While this nation slumbers, those who seek it’s demise are wide awake and ever planning . . . planning on murdering you, your children, your family, and friends. Yet half of our nation will continue to see threats where they don’t exist while ignoring the real threat breathing down our necks, and the other half of our nation is simply too busy to care–continuing to entertain themselves into a coma.
Everyone needs to watch this video clip to understand what’s coming from the “Religion of Peace.” This is especially enlightening when you consider that this video was made long before the Quran-burning controversy arose.
While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. – 1 Thessalonians 5:3
(Journal of Discourses, volume 3, page 247)
For more reading on the subject, check out the online book Mountain Meadows Massacre.
For more on the Mormon doctrine of Blood Atonement see:
The Mormon doctrine of Blood Atonement as taught by Brigham Young.
The doctrine of Blood Atonement as taught by the Mormon organization.
Also check out additional LDS quotes and information on Blood Atonement here, here, and here.
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See also What do Mormons think about Islam?
With all the drama over the Quran-burning controversy, I thought the following news article from 2007 was a little ironic:
Christians in Gaza Fear For Their Lives as Muslims Burn Bibles and Destroy Crosses
Although the religious group in this article is erroneously identified as “Christian,” the example of the hypocrisy is still very telling.
Your sermon of the week is–without a doubt–going to step on some toes, but it is one that needs to be heard. Paul washer pulls no punches in his message simply entitled: Dating.
I found myself saying out loud, “Amen, Paul Washer, Amen” when he compared a teenage boy’s desire to date his daughter without his consent like that of the theft of his truck. (You have to hear it in its context to truly appreciate it.)
This message is a combination of three shorter talks he gave on the subject of recreational dating (for a total run time of around 90 minutes) and it is a must-hear for those whose kids are dating or about to engage in dating.
If you’re not sure whether this sermon is worth your while, just listen to the first ten seconds. It’s not a message everyone will want to hear, but then again, DefCon’s not known for posting sermons that tickle the ear.
If you want to hear more on the subject of dating, see Pastor Tim Conway’s message The Ungodly Practice of Dating found on this previous post.
If you take away God, you take away conscience, and thereby all measures and rules of good and evil. And how can any law be made when the measure and standard of them are removed? All good laws are founded upon the dictates of conscience and reason, upon common sentiments in human nature, which spring from a sense of God; so that as the foundation is demolished, the whole superstructure must tumble down. A man then could be a thief, a murderer, an adulterer, and could not in a strict sense be considered an offender. The worst actions could not be evil, if a man were a god to himself, a law to himself.
– Stephen Charnock
1628 – 1680
Your sermon of the week is the final installment from John MacArthur’s series The Battle for the Beginning, entitled The Implications of Evolution. We’ve been featuring this series every other week since May and you can find the whole series on MacArthur’s website here.
We will be featuring one more sermon from MacArthur on the subject of creation (unrelated to this particular series) in two weeks.
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
– Psalm 1:1-2
Our primary mission field today is within the church. The latest survey reveals that 86% of Americans say they believe in Jesus. Yet, a much smaller percentage of people say they are born-again Christians. How can so many people be deceived or deluded? Many of them have been told by misguided pastors or evangelists that repeating a prayer, signing a card, being baptized, joining a church or coming forward in an alter call has made them a Christian. Others have been asked to “accept” a Jesus they don’t even know. It is no wonder the Apostle Paul exhorted his readers to “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). We are to test ourselves and encourage others to do the same. The test: have we believed the true Jesus as he is revealed in the Scriptures or a “Jesus” who has been created by the imagination of men?
– Mike Gendron
Paris Reidhead (1919-1992):
The following quote comes from a great article by Randy Lovegreen regarding a recent episode of Glenn Beck’s T.V. program in which Beck brazenly advanced a Mormon fallacy:
Beck is using his show to break the ice for Mormon theology, and promoting a worldview that supports the beliefs of his church. His hour long infomercial for Mormon history only makes it easier for those well groomed young men on bicycles to strike up a conversation, and lead folks astray. . . . As Christians, we must constantly be on guard against anything which may seek to corrupt our faith. This includes charming conservative talk show hosts, even if they are on Fox News.
Read the whole article, Glenn Beck’s Mormon Infomercial, here.
Christ Alone Wyoming 