Another angle on the problem with Western Christianity.

In this message Paul Washer asserts that American Christianity is more like a cultural religion than a religion of faith in Christ, based on the word of God.

Is something wrong with American Christianity?

 

There are some concerning signs in the world today which I believe directly reflect the state of western Christianity. None more so than the signs eminating from the United States.

 

I’m going to make a bold assumption here and so I’ll be as straight as I can and tell you how I’ve come to this conclusion.

 

Could it be true as I’m suggesting that much of the nation is presently in the process of turning away from the one true God. That is to say that the nation is well down the slippery slope of apostate Christianity, “the falling away” referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2.

 

How can I be sure that we are in the midst of departing the One true God, of His faith and calling.

 

I’ve said this before, I’m an Aussie, and maybe it looks like I’m pointing the finger at the US, but truthfully, we are in this thing as well. I just think the U.S. is leading the way. Ultimately I think the falling away will be evident in all of the prosperous Western “Christian” nations.

 

Now to the evidence. All the way back at the beginning of the Good Book, the Lord assures His people of great blessing if they follow Him and walk in his ways. Deuteronomy 28.Perhaps the most telling of these promises in light of the day we live, would be a promise to the nation of Israel that it would not be the tail, but the head. Would not be below, but above, and most tellingly, would lend to many, but borrow from none.

 

Deu 28:12 He will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

Deu 28:13 “And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.

Deu 28:14 “So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Deu 28:15 “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

 

Today the US is still the head in many respects, it still takes the leading role in world affairs as it seeks to influence the world for it’s own benefit. Though you will note that this influence is diminishing with the rise of Europe, China, and now Russia making a comeback.

 

But tellingly the US is also the greatest debtor nation in the world today. She was once the greatest lending nation in the world but now owes substantial amounts to the poorer nations of the world. She no longer lends to many but the reverse is true, others lend to her. Interestingly the nation started this love affair with borrowing back in the 50s, not long after the restoration of Israel to the land.

 

How can we be sure something is terribly wrong with Western Christianity. Because God said it in His word in Deutoronomy, and now it is being fulfilled.

 

When the nation which is supposed to be the head, becomes the tail, we know that all is not well.

 

The warning bells ought to be ringing rather loudly for those of us who have any sense of just how God will deal with His people. Always, long suffering, slow to anger, abounding in Grace, He relents from doing harm. What does all that mean……….well it just means it all takes a little while for His correction to take place.

 

Remember when Christ looked over His nation of Israel and wept, “How I longed to gather you together …………but now your land is left to you desolate” Mat 23:37 . Well it was another 40 years or so before the fullness of that statement came into effect. It was AD 70 when Rome overan Jerusalem and an estimated one million perished. Wikipedia ref.

 

Look I’m pretty sure it’s all coming undone, and all according to His word which He gave us, from the beginning. Clearly we are no longer walking in the fullness of the blessing as promised. From this authors perspective we are well on our way down the slippery slope of apostasy. This is simply one more sign.

 

Hold on Christian!

 

Here is short clip on the topic of US Debt.

 

Economic News - August 20th, 2008

Ive included some links to some current world financial news below.

Maybe I’m wrong about this, maybe it’s all too soon. Maybe there are a whole lot of people wrong about this talk of a world depression, a financial apocalypse. Perhaps Babel is not in the process of crumbling just yet.  

Whatever happens though, I believe those of us who call ourselves by the name of Christ ought to make sure we haven’t stored up treasure on earth in the days ahead. Nothing like a stock market or housing crash to assist the transfer of your wealth into the hands of others. I’m pretty sure God would liken it to theft, but we label it capitalism and call it “all good”.

Matthew 6:19 “Stop storing up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

The apostle Paul taught Timothy that food and clothing ought to be sufficient, and that we ought to be content with these. My goodness, how far we have come from this doctrine.

Be careful Christian!

1 Timothy 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, [fn3] and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 8 And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Large US bank collapse ahead, says ex-IMF economist : Reuters August 19, 2008. U.S.

If the Global economy is as safe as houses, then there’s a crash on the way - The Age - August 20, 2008. Australia

Economic slowdown: World markets fall sharply amid fears that credit crunch has further to run. August 20, 2008 - The Guardian. UK.

Do you look like Jesus?

No of course I don’t mean, do you physically look like Jesus. The question is do I, or do you look like the picture that Christ painted in His words?

I’ve included an audio link to Mathew 6 below. In this one chapter alone, Matthew 6. Christ paints a clear picture of several aspects of the life of the one who would call themselves “Christian”.

In one short chapter He addresses

1. Giving in secret, 2. Praying in secret 3. Forgiveness 4. Fasting in secret 5. You can only serve one master

6. Don’t expend all your efforts on carnal needs 7. Seek first the kingdom

Enjoy the word, but ask yourself. Does this sound like me?

Matthew 6 - Does this look like you Christian?

Lukewarm Church - Why are we blind? Part 2.

Rev 3: 17 “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–

Perhaps the most tragic part of the above statement of Christ’s, to His lukewarm church, is the bit about being blind.  For if we are not able to see our sorry state, how ever shall we know.

It’s a bit like that question you will often hear in church “how do you know if you are deceived?” Well you don’t, how can you, for you are deceived!

But the question begs asking, how does a church that has so much, that believes it has need of little, find itself here, in a state of spiritual blindness. Undoubtedly they had plenty of access to bible teachers, to the word of God, to biblical recources, for as they themselves declare, there is nothing we need…..

I guess the dilemma is once more to be found in our unwillingness to grasp hold of the word and count the cost in our lives. If we had been willing to truly believe Christ’s teaching I doubt we would have found ourselves in this blind condition.

The following words of Christ on the subject of spiritual blindness are to the point and don’t leave alot of room for us to manouvre.

Mat 6:23  “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Mat 6:24  ”No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. 

Paraphrased: You cannot serve two masters, you cannot serve God and mammon. If you attempt to, I want you to know how it will affect your walk with Me. Here is what will happen ; Your eye will be full of darkness, you will be spiritually blind.

 

Here is the problem of the Laodicean church…….. Spiritual Blindness.

 

It’s no mistake that the stumbling block of the Laodiceans was their prosperity. Now don’t get me wrong, the Lord does want you to prosper, but He also said “sell what you have, give alms ; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old…………..for where your treasure is, their your heart will be also”

 

I suppose from my perspective the issue I see today is that most Christians think they are serving God with their church attendance on Sunday and Bible study on Wednesday night.

Reality is that most of us labour like the world; for food which perishes, we give like the world; to worthy causes, we are enslaved like the world; to bankers and financiers, we invest like the world in the area of sharemarket and investments, which are exactly the things Christ told us not to do.

 

Do not live like the world Christian!

 

Consequently our hearts are not truly invested in the eternal unseen kingdom of heaven, but in the kingdom of this world. We may tell everyone we meet that we love Jesus, GREAT…..but do you really if you haven’t done what He asked you to do.

 

How do we find this eyesalve that Christ desires to give us that we might see.

We repent, that means we change our ways, we stop living like the world, we stop loving the things of the world, and we truly invest our lives into advancing the kingdom of heaven. Giving alms to the poor, not labouring for food which perishes, and investing ourselves wholeheartedly into the unseen kingdom come.

 

If we do these things then we will love the things Christ loves, we will be conformed into the image of the glorious saviour and He will gladly cover our nakedness with His garment of righteousness.

Brooke Fraser - Albertine

In some ways it’s a shame that Brooke is such a beauiful looking woman. I know that might sound a bit weird but it’s the message she has for us here that we need to focus on. I find the song beautiful to listen to, and  it leaves me wanting to impact this world for Christ.

The tragedy that the nation of Rwanda endured in a short lived genocide that cost some 800,00 lives has no doubt left many wondering why? Never the less, we can ponder the whys and what fors all day and do nothing, or we can act.

This song challenged me quite profoundly with what I would consider to be almost haunting lyrics.

“Now that I have seen, I am responsible” and secondly in the words of the apostle John, “faith without deeds is dead”

This song became a motivation for our youth group’s first sponsor child.

In the day in which much of the world wallows in abject poverty and violence, we wealthy Western comfy Christians have a big responsibility to bare in reaching out to a lost and dying world with both the words of life, the gospel, but secondly reaching out with hands of mercy, to feed the poor, clothe the homeless and comfort the sick.

Now that I have seen, I am responsible !

PS. I hope this is legit, putting this link up.

There is also a movie which tells the story of the Rwandan tragedy, most likely available at your local video store : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395169/

Wrath of the Lamb

A short message from Paul Washer on the Wrath of God on Unrighteousness. A inspiring word for those willing to hear the profound and challenging message that “it pleased God to crush His son” on the cross of Calvary.

Chastening of the Lord

 

  Hebrews 12:9   Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? Hbr 12:10  For our fathers indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He (God) for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Hbr 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

As the scripture above declares : “Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?”

All too often I see rather profound similarities between the present day spiritual world and the present day physical world. I’ll do my best to explain.

I think most people would agree that one of the areas of child rearing that has changed quite profoundly over the past 30 years or so is the area of discipline. Smacking is often frowned upon and spoken of in terms of being a precursor to physical violence.  Rousing on children or speaking harshly to them is not something to be encouraged. Today the theme very often seems to be that we should reason with our kids.

When our boys were younger I did smack them from time to time, if their behaviour warranted it. The most amazing thing was that it produced in them a sense of repentance, and they would return to their parents will, somewhat humbled. One might have thought that the infliction of a smack to the child would cause them to turn away from their parents, not so. 

Increasingly in our culture today we are concerned for the behaviour of children and youth in general. I’m sure disobediant and disrespectful children have always been with us, but in this generation we are continually amazed by the media stories which reflect a lack of disrespect by children and youth for men and women of authority such as police, teachers and parents. Adding to this problem further is fatherlessness and the breakdown of the family unit.

But now to the spiritual equivalent. Is it possible that many who confess to be Christ’s today, have gone down a similar path? Have we also refused to heed the chastening of our heavenly father, refused to be disciplined by His word, refused to tremble at His word (isa 66:2), refuse to allow it to bring correction to our lives. For if we have, then we will end up with a body of believers not unlike the present physical culture. Self willed, disobediant to parents, proud, etc.

Interestingly the picture that the Apostle Paul paints for the latter day church would indicate such a scenario.

2Ti 3:1   BUT know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2Ti 3:2   For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 2Ti 3:3   unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 2Ti 3:4   traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

 A people of God who refuse to heed the word of correction, the chastening of the Lord, will in like fashion to those of this present physical world, end up in a perilous state.

Part of the error of lukewarm teaching is to make us feel comfortable in our sin. Be assured, we all have sin in our lives. God desires to chasten us, to correct us, to lead us down paths of righteousness, and if we are not willing to listen, we will go astray.

Today in many of our churches the messages have to be encouraging, uplifting, feel good, self improvement proograms for the believer, and there is a place for these type of messages, but if we lose sight of the chastening of the Lord, we are in perilous days.

To me it almost seems a profound mystery that we must not overlook, that through a rebuke, through chastening and discipline, God is able to bring a repentant heart and turn a “self will” to a “God will”  and return to Him.

It worked for my kids, I do not doubt whatsoever that it works for His children as well. This is a mystery of both the present physical world and the spiritual eternal world.

Proverbs 3:11, 12 (Hebrews 12:6) “My son, despise not the
                    chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For
                    whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in
                    whom he delighteth.”

                    Revelation 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be
                    zealous therefore, and repent.”

Lukewarm Church - How did we get here? Part 1

At the outset of this teaching I must confess that I am the first to put my hand up and say yes I’m guilty as charged by Christ, with being lukewarm. But I’ll also add this comment “I’m not content being here, and I’m determined with the help of Christ to come out of this thing”

It is my intention in these short messages to seek to explain how I believe much of the western church came to be in this place, Lukewarm, and by doing so we will also be granted the Grace to escape by the very same way.

I like many today love to listen to a good sermon about the lukewarm church, the church of Laodicea, but so often we look at the message in the context of history, or the context of another church, another people, pointing the sword of the spirit in another direction. Unwilling to subject ourselves to the sword of the word, unwilling to consider self. Well at least that’s my theory anyway. If all we do is enjoy the message then it’s like “satisfying itching ears” And this is the very problem with the latter day church.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;

One of the dilemmas of doing church in the culture we are in, is that we see many other Christians are doing Christianity the same way we do, and we automatically assume “well I must be ok too” right!

There is such an abundance of literature, of multimedia, of audio and video teaching made available to us today that we literally don’t need to seek God in His word. Others have done it for us and they are doing a pretty good job right! well they must be, they’re popular preachers, they wouldn’t be this popular or selling this many products if they were wrong, right!

But supposing our popular preachers and teachers and churches have watered the word down, toned it down, made it more culturally acceptable, what then. Perhaps not intentionally but perhaps neglectfully. What if we sought by our own wisdom to play a numbers game which said that big churches = good, and so we’ve gone for numbers, and we’ve built a big house on a message that sits well with many in our culture.

What if the messages we preach and the lives we live as leaders, pastors and elders are delivered in such a way as to “not offend” the cultural mindset, there bye assisting the vision for growth. Not to upset what people in this culture are comfortable with. Preaching a comfortable message that doesn’t unsettle the hearer, What then?

What if the vast percentage of messages and teaching within our western culture were tainted with this type of comfortable teaching. What Christ would call “leaven of the pharicees”. What then?

What if this same culture had the ability to disseminate preaching and teaching messages on a never before heard of scale, through marketing, television and multimedia. A single teacher or message was able to infiltrate vast numbers of believers, if not millions the world over.

It’s a little scary when you think about it. As Christ said, a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

I would submit that this is exactly what we have done. The TV preachers, the radio preachers, the popular Christian teachers of our day are limited to few in number, and many of them come from a similar movement in the United States.

Have you ever wondered why we are not seeing and hearing messages from the great faithful leaders of the underground persecuted Chinese church. The ones who hear God really clearly. I think it’s because the few popular teachers and preachers of the West have pretty much got the market cornered. They need to ensure they maintain and continue to generate the funding, sales and giving targets required to maintain their ministry budget.

I first realised the state of my own spiritual lukewarmeness when I became involved with an organisation called “Voice of the Martyrs“. This organisation is actively involved in the support of the persecuted church throughout the world. When you look at the persecuted church you see a different church. So many in the persecuted church have little or nothing, and yet so often they give everything, they share, they love, they endure under trial, they suffer for their faith, they witness under oppression, they are imprisoned, they lose their lives. It doesn’t look like the church of Western Christianity. The persecuted church looks like the early church of the bible. Our church today, in perspective, it looks like the lukewarm church.

It’s when you introduce a different perspective into your life, then you can then stand back and compare and this is when you see the difference. This is pretty much where I found myself when I looked at the persecuted church.

The sad part is that the very thing that is supposed to introduce this perspective into our lives, the Word of God, no longer does, because we don’t want it to. We have made the word and preached the word in such a way that it fits with our lives and fits with our culture. We haven’t preached it in all it’s fullness, we haven’t represented God in His fullness, His love and His indignation at unrighteousness, His compassion and His wrath.

The word of God is supposed to be our standard bearer. We read the word, we are led by the Spirit, we take note, we adjust our lives accordingly and God directs us down paths of righteousness. But I submit that we have made the word lukewarm. Culturally softened it to accomodate the hearer and the fruit of a lukewarm message is a lukewarm church.

Today what we read in the word and what we see in our pulpits is often very different. I see popular teachers and preachers with million dollar homes, budgets that would run a small nation, beautiful buildings, the best vehicles, even jets aircraft for some, the finest clothing, and why shouldn’t they, after all they are the kings kids, right? Whether they realise it or not these men and women offer us a glimpse into values which are not necessarily the values of the kingdom of heaven.

I don’t think they match Christ’s values unfortunately. The values of this world are actually the values of satan. As the scripture makes it quite clear that if we use the gospel as a means of gain we are in pretty dangerous territory.

1 Timothy 6:5 men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.[fn2]

Sadly, many of these preachers and teachers send the body of Christ a message without even preaching a single word, that you can have the world, the very best things in the world, and God too.

Well what if there was a fundamental flaw in that proposition?

Suppose for a moment God said something like “If you love the world or the things of the world, the love of the father is not in you” 1Jo 2:15

Suppose God said something like “unless a man fosake all that he have, he CANNOT be My disciple” Luk 14:33

Suppose God said “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Mat 16:25

Suppose God said something like this : “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Mat 16:24

How do I fit Christs commandments as above into my present Christian world view based on what I see and hear preached from so many today. Well you don’t and you can’t. You either have to ignore them, or be profoundly challenged by them. I suspect that we prefer to ignore the cost of following the Savior and pretend everything is just fine, and tell everyone we follow Him anyway, even though we have not met the selection criteria.

Look I’m pretty sure that many of these preachers did give things up early in their faith walk, it probably did cost them, but now their lives are tainted by their worldly success and it’s sending the wrong message to the body of Christ.

I want to keep this post short so here is where I finish, please pray about it.

How did we get here? My answer for part 1 of this teaching is this.

We’ve watered down the word for fear of making people uncomfortable. We have not asked, as Christ asked that His followers count the cost of following Him. At the same time worldliness has been gradually introduced to the body of Christ, presented to us under the banner of Gods abundant prosperity. This has infiltrated Christ’s body on a massive scale as a result of modern day technology and marketing programs.

When men sit in the temple of God, professing themselves to belong to Gods temple, yet having a worldy agenda and worldy values, and no concern of laying aside own desires, we are in the midst of the apostasy of 2 Thessalonians.

Remember the frog in the water, as the water heated up slowly the frog failed to realise the problem and so eventually cooked. The prevailing message of the present Christian culture is similar. We are surrounded on all sides by this lukewarm water. Multitudes not discerning the difference between the modern church, and the church of Christ. We are comfortable in it and quite contented, and unwilling to see that we are in danger of our souls.

God has 2 solutions. His first choice is that He would prefer we recognise our sorry state, and seek Him.

His 2nd choice is to spew you from His mouth, hand you over to the devil, then when the devil is about to kill you, you will repent, cry out to God and then He’ll save you. Much more painful wouldn’t you agree.

Solution to part 1. It is time for each of us to seek the Lord, that He might give us eyesalve, to see. Do not rely upon the popularity of the message or the preacher. Read Gods word, and pray, and allow this along with the Holy Sprit to lead you. But most of all, following Christ comes with a cost. I’ve outlined a few of them above. I don’t think Christ will mind terribly if you make an earnest decision not to follow Him because of the cost, in which case He will rate you as cold. He can work with that mindset.

But if you deceive yourself into thinking that you can follow Christ and keep the things of the world and build your own kingdom, He will be really peeved and you will be rated Lukewarm. Good luck with that option.

****************************************************************************************************

Rev 3:14	“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans[fn6] write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:
Rev 3:15	“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
Rev 3:16	“So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,[fn7] I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Rev 3:17	“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–
Rev 3:18	“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.
Rev 3:19	“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Rev 3:20	“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
Rev 3:21	“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Rev 3:22	“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘”

Salvation in condemnation

As I scan the Christian sites around the WEB these days it’s not unusual to find sites, sermons and teachings which gain a sense of purpose in their ability to condemn the teachings and beliefs of other Christians. I pray that I not fall into this trap and I certainly hope that I don’t reflect this in any of my writings.

I do think it’s important for us to openly challenge people over truth, to point out teachings in the church which may become stumbling blocks. We must speak truth in love, for it is the love of God in Christ which compels us to assist the shepherd of the flock.

Heaven knows that there is alot of “leaven” out there. And as Christ warned His followers many times, beware the leaven of the pharisees and sadducees.  So in these days in which quite a few of us see “issues” with the modern day lukewarm church of western culture, your going to find a fair few of us with things to say that might not fit the mainstream beliefs.

But one aspect I don’t like in what I see today, and maybe it’s always been this way, is the way in which some of these teachers gain a sense of their salvation, of righteousness, by pointing out the error of others. I think this is nothing more than pride and it really does nothing to edify the body of Christ.

Whenever we throw stones at the church, at the people of the Lord, we need to be really careful, cause we may actually be hurting Christ. Remember when Saul was persecuting the early church believers, remember what Christ said “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me”

Hurt the body of believers, and you hurt Him….. OUCH. That sure is gonna take some explaining from some of us in the day we stand before the judge.

I never really wanted to put alot of this stuff I was writing on the web, to be perfectly honest, the thought of misrepresenting God concerns me. But I think He was saying that I need to trust Him for my salvation, and not fear men…..so there you go. My hope is in the name of the Lord.

Finding our salvation in the condemnation of others is self righteouss pride, and we need to be really careful.

Speak the truth in love, offer it by way of explanation, by teaching or by example, that those who have been given ears to hear, may hear.