I am in a Barnes & Noble about fifty times a year.....usually on Tuesdays when the new releases come out. I walked quickly through the current events section and then what they label today the....'religion' section. It used to be 'Christian living.' I'll usually find a B&N even when on vacation. Some are better than others but they are all basically the same.
Every B&N will have at least 1000 books in the religion section.....some may have up to 2000 books. If I were to take a friend into one....with the purpose of buying him or her a Christian book that would help lead them to salvation....I would be hard pressed to find one book. There are basically no Christian bookstores left today. When we travel south I can find one somewhere in North or South Carolina....and we will leave the highway for a short drive to visit it. There is one in Beckley, N. C. that is out of the past.....and I found one in Myrtle Beach this year that was good....but as far as a beacon of the gospel in our communities....they are gone.
So how do evangelicals today find Christian books.....for they do....and how good are those books? Well they will hear about them on their favorite Christian TV or radio or podcasts....and then order it online. Christian television today is dominated by the charismatic movement....that believes that God sent Donald Trump to us....and podcasts are dominated by Christian nationalism....politics in place of Christ.
Billy Graham is long gone....as is R. C. Sproul and Tim Keller....and now John MacArthur. We have absolutely no direction in the church today. You are not going to get any warnings from the Bible studies that are probably in every church in America. It is all milk. The glory has departed from the American church. God has taken His hand off of us....and we are on our own. I doubt if anyone reading this....knows of a single pastor in their community or even major urban city....that will warn the congregation to stay away from Donald Trump. The horror of Trump is so ingrained in the evangelical psyche that the pastor would start a war in the church if he said anything.
Who am I to make such strong statements? Well....I've done my homework. Look back over these posts of almost seventeen years....which isn't even the half of it. Years ago I came across Spurgeon and Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermons on tape....and there is not a day that goes by where I do not hear the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ....preached gloriously. It's only 11:30 as I type and I've already listened to the John MacArthur sermon that is on his gty.org website. Folks....this has to have an effect!
So....if you have read this entire post....that is something....and you may be a little upset....but if you happen to wonder about that John MacArthur sermon that I mentioned....and go to gty.org to listen.....(watch)....well....after it is over you won't be that upset with me anymore. For there is power in the preached Word! All of the reading and all of the talking cannot replace God's minister....through the Holy Spirit....breaking down our defenses....through the spoken Word!
Note: the sermon title on gty.org is....Finding The Narrow Way To Heaven
