Preface: Evangelicalism as a representative of the Christian Faith has totally collapsed. The original decline....turned into downward spiral....and finally into freefall....began somewhere in the early 1990s. I remember distinctly my concern at the time because Vice President nominee Al Gore's wife....Tipper....had written a book that was a mainstay and bestseller in Christian bookstores....that book titled....Raising PG Kids In An X-Rated Society. By that time we did not have enough discernment to see through the ruse. In 2008 we entered into our Sarah Palin stage....(I saw her in person less than a mile from where I am typing right now)....and the downgrade....(to use the term that Spurgeon used as British Christianity was collapsing)....continued until Marjorie Taylor Greene came on the scene....and rather than being rejected....which is what should have happened in an evangelical culture....she ascended in this new pantheon of gods. Jonathan Cahn did his part in the rise of a false prophet....as did Robert Jeffress....while Franklin Graham played the ultimate patsy....and even John MacArthur let down his guard. We are now fighting tooth and nail for walls....to keep people out....whereas in the utmost of irony....the wall with the wicket gate that one must pass through to become a Christian....has been torn down....and everyone invited to rush in without regeneration! The following post is from September of last year:
The Complete And Utter Failure Of The American Pulpit
You can go about this in a number of ways. You can ask friends and acquaintance as if you were a roving reporter....or you can visit different churches every week....or the easiest way would be to sit down at the computer for hours visiting the websites of churches. You could probably do forty or fifty of them in a day.If you would choose the third option....look over the website. Here is what you will invariably find....there will be a carefully constructed sentence in bold letters describing the mission of the church. The board or the deacons or the elders or whoever would have sat down in a meeting to come up with a catchy phrase....it might go something like this...."A growing....vibrant....family community....sharing the good news of Jesus Christ first with each other....and then with the world around us."
There will be a ministries link....an elective that you yourself can choose as soon as you join the church.....a photos link from all the events.....an 'about us' link....or 'who we are' link....and then most important....a directions link on finding the church. There may be an expanded mission statement....and a 'what we believe' link. There probably will not be a sermons link but if there is....go ahead and explore what the shepherd in teaching the flock.
What these churches are....would be the spiritual counterpoint to....Planet Fitness or LA Fitness. They are a product of the times....and America is what it is today....in total collapse....in good measure....because of what these churches in America are not....and what their pastors do not do....strengthen and warn the church!
If you would ask one of the members in just about any church about the sermons they would say that their pastor is a real good preacher....for just about everyone thinks that think that they have a good preacher....but then hardly any of them ever heard a Spurgeon or Martyn-Lloyd Jones type sermon in their life.
The church is great for the kids. If it is a larger church then there will be a music ministry. Three or four young people will have a microphone in one hand....the other hand raised to heaven....and they will lead lively worship music for fifteen or twenty minutes....and then the mood will soften....and the worship lyrics might be something like....'I love you Lord....and I lift my voice....to worship you.....oh my soul....rejoice.' It's mesmerizing. I been there. Then the pastor will take over....all smiles of course....and you will get a sermon....to send you off to another week....unfed....not prepared....and not mortified for who we in fact are and what in fact Jesus did for us.
I listened about a week ago to a Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon that actually shocked me. The sermon title was....I Am Not Ashamed....please Google it and listen! In that sermon Lloyd-Jones said that many Christians will readily offer up that they are not ashamed of the gospel....but that in reality they are not ashamed because in retrospect it was a good deal for them....for they are satisfied.....happy....and would make the decision again. Lloyd-Jones raised his voice a few times.....for they were not even aware that Paul's words....'not ashamed'....pointed to Paul being deserted by so many who as it turned out....were ashamed....for apparently it wasn't what they signed up for!
Politics is not only not the answer for us....our dependance on it makes matters far worse. This is Wednesday morning as I post this....a few days earlier than I usually post a Lord's Day post....but then we have a few extra days to pray that God might have mercy upon these men in our pulpits....for if they don't wake up.....then we will not wake up. We are in deeper trouble then we could even imagine in evangelical America....for we have been a great part of the problem!
