Post by TheFirebrand on Mar 16, 2015 14:36:45 GMT -6
A lot of church youth today become quite popular with other youth from outside the church. Many blindly believe that this is because Christianity has been accepted in the world. However that is false. It is the reverse. The church has accepted, welcomed and given a VIP pass for the world to enter the church and overrun it.
There are a lot of young people today who don't want any part of the bars or clubs and church or church activities have become a great substitute. Certainly many come, get baptized and even receive the Holy Ghost (or so we think) ...
However what would happen if suddenly the truth started coming from the pulpit again? What would happen if holidays were banned from the church as they should be, or if entertainment was reverted back to biblical education? It might not be so popular anymore ...
Amazingly there are many in "the world" who know the church is lost and is no longer of God. This leaves them with nowhere to go for the answers they silently desire.
We worry about people who have left the church and convince ourselves they have backslid, but what if they left for the right reasons and remain silent with the truth they have learned because nobody listens?
I know first hand what happens when you start revealing things that you discover. Things like love and respect for spouse or fellow man are thrown out the window. This is something former wife was not ready for. Neither was I for that matter, however, none of it had been any surprise to me. I was always suspicious of various matters my whole life, even at a young age. Ever since I started going at the age of 10 I always questioned the ways of churches. There was much that didn't make sense or line up with Bible ...
I always describe these events as no accident, and they are not. Seeker friendly methods are trickled in over the years and grow into a flood of fun and celebration. I remember incidents when I see people in the middle of a flurry of what we assume to be a Holy Ghost revival. I could never decipher whether those individuals were seeking Gods face or encouraging the mass blindness. Of course someone in tears may just be praying for a loved one, I am just saying ...
The days since I last witnessed the mist falling over a congregation are long gone. For years I hoped to see it again somewhere. Even many smaller churches are so far outside the truth. My home church by the time I left was having most of the typical issues, but things got far worse. "Legalized" divorce infested the congregation, the youth going out into the world. Children I watched grow up in that church. They even stopped dressing properly, the girls cut their hair, some kids started smoking and drinking. I discovered later (to no surprise) that many influential people in that church always thought of me as very troubled ... I was troubled alright, just not for the reason they believed.
I was trying not to make this about me. It seems like my experiences can relate to almost any message I'm touched with. I have seen many tragic events, most from a distance, but I was made aware nonetheless. At times I felt as though I failed some people. Other times I was made to feel as if I didn't matter, nor did I speak up about it.
Then the internet went from being just a soundboard for my personal problems to a place where I can openly say what needs to be said. What others need to know and be reminded of. Of course the attacks on my mental state nor the accusations and judgments ever relented. As the last two years have shown ...
This was not intended to be a personal entry, but a message of awareness. There are things in everyone's church which do not belong there. People who do not belong there. Many times they are the people running things and controlling the things that do not belong. The excuse "no church is perfect" is like beating a dead horse ...
You need to question what's coming or not coming from the pulpit, what's being allowed or not allowed in your church, why this is so, and how to remove it. Because deception is a highly contagious spiritual disease ...
There are a lot of young people today who don't want any part of the bars or clubs and church or church activities have become a great substitute. Certainly many come, get baptized and even receive the Holy Ghost (or so we think) ...
However what would happen if suddenly the truth started coming from the pulpit again? What would happen if holidays were banned from the church as they should be, or if entertainment was reverted back to biblical education? It might not be so popular anymore ...
Amazingly there are many in "the world" who know the church is lost and is no longer of God. This leaves them with nowhere to go for the answers they silently desire.
We worry about people who have left the church and convince ourselves they have backslid, but what if they left for the right reasons and remain silent with the truth they have learned because nobody listens?
I know first hand what happens when you start revealing things that you discover. Things like love and respect for spouse or fellow man are thrown out the window. This is something former wife was not ready for. Neither was I for that matter, however, none of it had been any surprise to me. I was always suspicious of various matters my whole life, even at a young age. Ever since I started going at the age of 10 I always questioned the ways of churches. There was much that didn't make sense or line up with Bible ...
I always describe these events as no accident, and they are not. Seeker friendly methods are trickled in over the years and grow into a flood of fun and celebration. I remember incidents when I see people in the middle of a flurry of what we assume to be a Holy Ghost revival. I could never decipher whether those individuals were seeking Gods face or encouraging the mass blindness. Of course someone in tears may just be praying for a loved one, I am just saying ...
The days since I last witnessed the mist falling over a congregation are long gone. For years I hoped to see it again somewhere. Even many smaller churches are so far outside the truth. My home church by the time I left was having most of the typical issues, but things got far worse. "Legalized" divorce infested the congregation, the youth going out into the world. Children I watched grow up in that church. They even stopped dressing properly, the girls cut their hair, some kids started smoking and drinking. I discovered later (to no surprise) that many influential people in that church always thought of me as very troubled ... I was troubled alright, just not for the reason they believed.
I was trying not to make this about me. It seems like my experiences can relate to almost any message I'm touched with. I have seen many tragic events, most from a distance, but I was made aware nonetheless. At times I felt as though I failed some people. Other times I was made to feel as if I didn't matter, nor did I speak up about it.
Then the internet went from being just a soundboard for my personal problems to a place where I can openly say what needs to be said. What others need to know and be reminded of. Of course the attacks on my mental state nor the accusations and judgments ever relented. As the last two years have shown ...
This was not intended to be a personal entry, but a message of awareness. There are things in everyone's church which do not belong there. People who do not belong there. Many times they are the people running things and controlling the things that do not belong. The excuse "no church is perfect" is like beating a dead horse ...
You need to question what's coming or not coming from the pulpit, what's being allowed or not allowed in your church, why this is so, and how to remove it. Because deception is a highly contagious spiritual disease ...