I haven't been in a lot of one-on-one conversations lately....and we really haven't had anyone over to our house other than a couple of small family gatherings....but if a friend or acquaintance were to read a post like the one that follows.....Flee The Megachurch....which was first posted last December....as Donald Trump was riding high....and we were laughing at how easy the 2020 election was going to be.....and they would ask me out of curiosity if nothing else...."OK...where should I go"....I wouldn't have any place to recommend. Oh I could recommend my own church.....where the doctrine is sound....and it would definitely put them on the right track....but even here there is a tentativeness....a fear of not showing complete control of emotions....a hesitance to warn of coming judgment to America....even warnings of a false prophet in Donald Trump.
I will say this....there probably are some churches out there....and they are probably small with an older pastor....but I just don't know of them. Now I certainly would be greatly lambasted for making such outrageous statements....for most everyone thinks that their church is great....but they simply have nothing from the past with which to compare their church.
Before Flee The Megachurch....I want to give a sampling of an article out right now on CBN News....Pat Robertson's media titled....How to Make Sure You Don't Hinder the Coming Global Revival: 'Every Believer Is Called To Shine.' These comments....and this thinking.....isn't just pure nonsense.....I wish that it were.....but it is very symptomatic of the charismatic megachurches of today. These churches....and evangelicalism in general....and Donald Trump....are the results of our swift downward spiral in America since the end of the late 80s and early 90s. Please read the entire article for yourself.
A number of evangelical leaders have prophesied a coming worldwide revival, saving billions of souls. The key to success will be the unique circumstance of congregations, not preachers, doing most of the ministry.
Just outside Toronto where the revival known as the Toronto Blessing began in the mid-1990s, (a notorious false revival by the way)....they've begun praying for this coming revival and preparing people so they miss out or hinder it.
"Every stay-at-home mom, every doctor, lawyer, king, priest, football player, entrepreneur, driver, street sweeper, cook, chef....we're all called to carry glory."
"You cannot make your mind and your current experience the final arbitrator of whether something is God or not. He's always doing something new"
"Don't let yourself miss out. Don't be a benchwarmer, don't make excuses. Don't let unbelief knock you out of changing the world.
Flee The Megachurch....December 2019....before the collapse and its aftermath.
We evangelicals once knew.....and not all that long ago....that God was going to judge America....but that strength in discernment is all gone....for we now think that God is going to bless America....to keep us winning.....with our best yet to come. We believe this because a false prophet has come into our midst.
We once knew that our hope could never be in man....in military strength....and financial riches.....but that discernment also is all gone. That bronze bull on Wall Street has become an idol every bit as much as the calf fashioned by Aaron.
We once knew that the outward appearance of a church building meant nothing....but today it means success. The bigger and more attractive-the more successful. Brothers and sisters....flee the megachurch....flee it's vain enticements....flee its seeker sensitive modern gospel. Look for a blood-bought pastor who weeps for this world. It is surely an arrogant and generalizing statement to make...."flee the megachurch'....I admit that....but we are far worse off than we even thought ourselves to be back when we knew we were about to be judged.
In Donald Trump we are giving to Caesar what belongs to God. Ultimately we are relying on ourselves. Our humility has been crushed....instead of crushing our pride. Christ is at the door. Look up....and listen.....for the thundering hooves of the four horses can be heard if you turn off talk radio....and even if Jesus were to tarry....consider this world....this violent world in our news every day....its technology and philosophy....and the greed that rules everywhere....for if you would you might also see that surely it is not something to be desired....or to look forward to....and then you also might find yourself praying....Maranatha....come Lord Jesus!
Try this if you have known for some time that something is wrong in our pulpits today. Google 'Charles Spurgeon sermons'....(I pick Spurgeon but there are others....Martyn Lloyd-Lones would be another)....pick one sermon....any one....and listen to it this Lord's Day afternoon. Do the same next Lord's Day....Lord willing....and see if before long that you are not pleading with God to lead you to where you are to go. I can tell you now that it won't be easy....but you will get a little more knowledgeable every week....and a little stronger every week....and if God wills it....that He should have mercy on us....He will send those shepherds to us from elsewhere....or make them known to us if they are laboring right next to us....for they themselves are somewhere right now pleading for God to use them....pleading for God to send sheep....and the unsaved.
Be bold with God in your prayers once you see what has been withheld from us. By rights we should not be but yet He desires us to be. We have nothing to bring....nothing useful. The modern church basques in it's own beauty....and we have dust from the path all over us....but He loves the dust if it comes from the paths of old....traveled much by those before us. For if we refuse to rest in Vanity Church any longer....nor take the easier path anymore....then God will surely see us struggling.....and quickly send help.
