July 25
Corporate Christianity
Each month, I receive several emails from people who tell me about various
problems they've experienced with the mega-church trend. In my travels, I
have witnessed the fruits of this phenomenon, and it seems apparent to me
that bigger is not necessarily better.
Just about every major city has churches with several thousand
members. These worship centers offer one-stop shopping for all
spiritual needs. They offer child day care, study groups, conferences,
concerts, and a host of other social programs.
A lot of these churches have rather generic names like Faith Outreach Center, Open
Door Mission, or Community Fellowship Center. If it weren’t for the crosses on
the sides of these buildings, one might think they were the headquarters of
technology firms.
I'm not against the idea of large congregations. I've been to several
churches that have dynamic preachers who have attracted large flocks by
meeting their needs. In theory, mega-churches are more economically efficient than smaller ones. From a financial standpoint, it seems
wasteful for a building only to be used once or twice a week by a
handful of believers.
Because mankind lives with a fallen nature, the most cost-effective method
of operating a church is not necessarily the best one.
A big problem with mega-churches is that they tend to present a watered-down
gospel message. Just as Wal-Mart draws in customers with its super-low prices,
mega-churches often attract people by appealing to their carnal desires.
After a hard week of wicked living, people can come to these massive
gatherings to zero out their sin odometers.
Money is a big factor in shaping the message. A preacher who has spent $20
million on a new building will dare not say anything that will cause
people to take their business elsewhere. Because many ministers view
themselves as the CEOs of their organizations, they can easily become fixated on what
method of communication will best sell to their customer.
True Christianity is not about seeking to please people. A Fortune 500
business may have a consumer-based focus, but representatives of Jesus
Christ have a different calling. At times, we need to be willing to offend a few folks.
Even when we tactfully tell people they are hell-bound sinners who need a Savior, we will occasionally ruffle some feathers.
As I looked at some of the top names in Christendom, I see plenty of
examples of ministers who have a corporate mentality. As salesmen, they rely
on jokes, interesting stories, and vague reminders of how much God loves them.
They mostly avoid any thorny issues that involve sin.
In recent years, many have received positive media coverage in the
secular press. Now, when you have the godless liberal media praising you for
your wonderful accomplishments, I think it's time to do a bit of reevaluation.
Receiving the media's blessing is a clear indication of the presence of spiritual darkness.
I've been interviewed dozens of times by various media outlets, and on none of those occasions have the reporters praised RR. The stories they file typically imply: "Oh my goodness, look what these wacko evangelicals believe."
In just the past few weeks, Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas
has been positively featured by the press several times. After reading his
best-selling book, Your Best Life Now, and transcripts from some of the
interviews he's conducted, I can see why Osteen is the media's darling.
When I read the book, I found it to be nothing more than a
collection of sugar-coated psychobabble - with cheery chapter titles like
"Happiness is a Choice" and "Become What You Believe." It truly irritates me
to see a leading Christian author produce a work of such poor quality when the world is in dire need of spiritual guidance.
In June, when Osteen was interviewed by Larry King, the most common answer
he gave to many critical questions about Jesus and salvation was, "I don't
know." He could not even provide a clear answer about the eternal state of
atheists.
There are now well over 800 mega-churches today, up from just ten in 1970. I
think the motivation for change is the result of the focus shifting from the
church member to the church leader. Pastors are viewed as superstars and
people flock to them seeking magical words of wisdom.
We don't need more false hope and empty hype. We need individuals who are
willing to point people to the difficult and sometimes hard-to-swallow
truth.
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23).
--- Todd
America’s Schizophrenia
We’ve looked a number of times in this column at America’s "Great Divide," in terms of there having developed a split personality so far as national morality is concerned. The last two presidential elections have provided evidence of just how split America is in the matter of worldview.
Abortion and homosexual rights, as well as a number of other issues within the raging culture war, have divided the nation as it hasn’t been divided since the times leading up to the Civil War.
Now I see a split in America’s personality that is in one important way even more troubling than those schisms caused by the internal strife that continue to bedevil the nation. The matter I see that threatens to divide us in ways beyond just socially and culturally, is the way our nation’s leadership is evolving towards a much different treatment of Israel. The Bush Administration’s movement away from standing behind Israel’s right to its land, and toward pressuring that nation to divide its small geographical area in the Middle East, is frightening. Not only is it frightening for Israel, but for America and for the peace of the entire region–which, in any case, God gave to Israel for an everlasting inheritance.
We have looked before at King David’s words: “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever: and thou, LORD, art become their God” (2 Sam. 7: 23-24).
From Prophecy Update July 19, 2005, the following opinion piece highlights the splitting away from America’s strong stand for Israel since that nation’s rebirth on May 14, 1948. And, it is clear that Israel has never been in greater need of someone to stand with her.
According to DEBKAfile's military sources, the Hamas has called up reserve gun squads and broken open ammunition stores kept for emergencies.
Thursday, July 21, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is due in the Middle East to try and defuse the crisis generated by the Hamas offensive lest it threaten the pull-out. Hamas will do its utmost to demonstrate Abu Mazen's helplessness in the face of the Gaza turmoil. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will wait politely for her to leave before launching reprisals – if then.
Now as Israel pulls back from Gaza, it must contend not only with a disciplined Hamas ready to take over the Gaza Strip, but also with more radical groups such as Islamic Jihad, who train to kill and make a mockery of U.S. aid to the Palestinians.
Israeli leaders say their coming pullout is not a retreat under fire, but Hamas has made 30,000 uniforms for a victory party on the day the Israelis are gone.
The primary symptom of this nation’s schizophrenia is America’s support for and at the same time pressure against the nation of Israel; i.e., we both support its right to exist, and are determined to divide the small portion of land it does hold in a vast region that was given them by God. This national condition is insanity based upon Genesis 12: 1-3. ”Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”
America’s schizophrenia, carried to its full prognosis, would mean that it would be cursed by God. There would be no cure! The curative Rx: a strong dose of return to genuine godliness by America’s leaders and people, with renewed determination to stand by God’s chosen nation no matter the international community’s rage against Israel.
Is Israel always in the right? No. Israel’s people and leadership, like America’s people and leadership, are, for the most part, pulling in directions other than in the paths God wants for them and for us. But, in the sense of Bible prophecy, God’s truth has never and will never change. Israel is His chosen nation and the Jews are His chosen people. Like it or not, that’s the way it is. To continue to willfully be infected by the current schizophrenia is to, in effect, cast our lot with those rebels found in Psalms 2: 2-5:
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, Saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
God placed this marvelous nation called America in the world for His grand purposes. Call it “Manifest Destiny” if you wish. The United States' primary missions, in my view, have been and continue to be two-fold: 1)to project the Gospel to the whole world, and 2) to stand by the nation Israel. To continue to divert from these God-ordained purposes through the schizophrenia with which we now suffer invites national amputation by the Divine Physician.
--Terry
