The following post is pure opinion from what I have experienced and observed over the past thirty-eight years. Let me begin with Sunday Schools. They are an eighteenth century phenomenon that served a very distinct purpose at first....to educate children in England who had no other means of learning to read and write. Today....generally speaking....they are a one-hour class....one day a week....that may require and hour or two of study in the previous week. The topics are....generally once again....light....avoiding controversial but vital doctrine. The teachers are pretty much anyone who wants to be a Sunday School teacher. Parents today.....generally.....shirk their duties to teach their own children.....and Sunday School provides the easy way out.....allowing them to avoid the difficult at times study of God's Word....freeing them up to work on being....good parents. To make matters even worse....many families.....maybe most.....choose the church to attend.....because of the Sunday School.....or the youth program.....or the entertainment.....or the overall feeling of being part of a cool church. The result......America 2020.....and Donald Trump.
As for Bible studies in general.....having had Christian bookstores as a second home over the past few decades.....when we had Christian bookstores....the Bible Study curricula was almost all secondary in what the Christian must know about his or her faith. The deeper topics were available....if you wanted to order them. Are the average Bible studies today helpful? Of course.....but at about the lowest level that the word 'helpful' can be used.....and this can go on for two and three decades in people's lives. The result....we can be outraged at Supreme Court decisions but have no idea how far we ourselves have contributed to the collapse of the culture that we mourn over.
We have no tangible concept of when Jesus might return....other than it might be as soon as twenty years from now. His return right now would definitely put a crimp in our personal plans. This is because our preaching and our Bible studies and our personal Bible study has settled in at a lowest common denominator. We are not a peculiar people....we are Republicans. There is no cost of discipleship....'born again' is an outdated phrase....and any television teacher is good as long as he or she is positive. Joel Osteen is not Bible study....it's Bible torture.
So.....everyone is mad at me.....everyone that is except those that know there are major problems here in the church. We in America are in deep doo-doo. There is no 'deep state' but there is deep doo-doo. We are as J. I. Packer once described North American Christianity....."three-thousand miles wide.....and one-half inch deep."
The Word of God is not to be scheduled in for an hour here or there when there is no soccer practice. It doesn't matter if one is an intellectual.....or a very simple and common person like myself.....the Word literally feeds every day of the week if one will let it.....if one desires it to. One can in effect study the Bible almost every hour of the day....this by just bringing to mind what we know to be true....this if what one is doing allows one to multitask. This is in a way greed.....lust.....for more and more.....as if it were gold....(but it is better than gold!)....and not only that but it gets stronger as the decades roll on. Find something else in life that has those qualities and benefits?
When persecution hits us here in America......which it will surely do whether it be sooner or later....all Christians will be living in their Bibles. I can picture....and surely you can also....somewhere in the heartland of America in the 1800s....a family....working on the homestead throughout the day....and now it is evening....they actually showed sincere and vocal gratitude for the food they would eat.....and the father would then teach them God's Word....to the best of his ability.
I'm sure that there are errors somewhere in these words that I just typed.....but then again the message....the warning....of us neglecting the depth of God's very Word to us is not in error. We need in the church to be more than stirred up. Maybe we need a little earth shaking.....a few timbers rattled.....just to see if we are alive. We are going to find out just how far we missed the mark....and I will certainly find out where I missed the mark....and believers will be but a remnant. May God give us one last great awakening....so that remnant might be sizable.....and all for His glory....everything for His glory!
Folks....after a post like this I usually add a conciliatory note. There are certainly good and strong Bible studies all over the place.....and Sunday Schools. If you or your church are one of these....do not....I beg of you....rest on your laurels.....for your country is in shambles for lack of knowledge of God and His ways and His commands and particularly His warnings on the last days as false teachers abound....and false prophets and fake miracles threaten to lead even the elect away! Evangelicalism has fallen head-over-heels for a false prophet. Even if we were on the right political track we would in effect be trusting in our own powers....forsaking....."The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." Psalm 46:11
As for Bible studies in general.....having had Christian bookstores as a second home over the past few decades.....when we had Christian bookstores....the Bible Study curricula was almost all secondary in what the Christian must know about his or her faith. The deeper topics were available....if you wanted to order them. Are the average Bible studies today helpful? Of course.....but at about the lowest level that the word 'helpful' can be used.....and this can go on for two and three decades in people's lives. The result....we can be outraged at Supreme Court decisions but have no idea how far we ourselves have contributed to the collapse of the culture that we mourn over.
We have no tangible concept of when Jesus might return....other than it might be as soon as twenty years from now. His return right now would definitely put a crimp in our personal plans. This is because our preaching and our Bible studies and our personal Bible study has settled in at a lowest common denominator. We are not a peculiar people....we are Republicans. There is no cost of discipleship....'born again' is an outdated phrase....and any television teacher is good as long as he or she is positive. Joel Osteen is not Bible study....it's Bible torture.
So.....everyone is mad at me.....everyone that is except those that know there are major problems here in the church. We in America are in deep doo-doo. There is no 'deep state' but there is deep doo-doo. We are as J. I. Packer once described North American Christianity....."three-thousand miles wide.....and one-half inch deep."
The Word of God is not to be scheduled in for an hour here or there when there is no soccer practice. It doesn't matter if one is an intellectual.....or a very simple and common person like myself.....the Word literally feeds every day of the week if one will let it.....if one desires it to. One can in effect study the Bible almost every hour of the day....this by just bringing to mind what we know to be true....this if what one is doing allows one to multitask. This is in a way greed.....lust.....for more and more.....as if it were gold....(but it is better than gold!)....and not only that but it gets stronger as the decades roll on. Find something else in life that has those qualities and benefits?
When persecution hits us here in America......which it will surely do whether it be sooner or later....all Christians will be living in their Bibles. I can picture....and surely you can also....somewhere in the heartland of America in the 1800s....a family....working on the homestead throughout the day....and now it is evening....they actually showed sincere and vocal gratitude for the food they would eat.....and the father would then teach them God's Word....to the best of his ability.
I'm sure that there are errors somewhere in these words that I just typed.....but then again the message....the warning....of us neglecting the depth of God's very Word to us is not in error. We need in the church to be more than stirred up. Maybe we need a little earth shaking.....a few timbers rattled.....just to see if we are alive. We are going to find out just how far we missed the mark....and I will certainly find out where I missed the mark....and believers will be but a remnant. May God give us one last great awakening....so that remnant might be sizable.....and all for His glory....everything for His glory!
Folks....after a post like this I usually add a conciliatory note. There are certainly good and strong Bible studies all over the place.....and Sunday Schools. If you or your church are one of these....do not....I beg of you....rest on your laurels.....for your country is in shambles for lack of knowledge of God and His ways and His commands and particularly His warnings on the last days as false teachers abound....and false prophets and fake miracles threaten to lead even the elect away! Evangelicalism has fallen head-over-heels for a false prophet. Even if we were on the right political track we would in effect be trusting in our own powers....forsaking....."The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress." Psalm 46:11
