[George W. Bush]

Part of the muddled thinking in much of the church was brought about by an abandoning of doctrine. All of a sudden the guy in the pew can't even recognize that there are cults circling Christianity that use the same "words" as Christians, but those words have different meanings.

Tell me about it. The leading member of the pastor search committee recently offered me materials from the Shepherd's Chapel. If I were looking for Christian Identity materials from the most explict antisemitic and racist televangelist preacher around, I wouldn't need to attend church. I'm especially offended at Christian Identity mixed with modalist heresy and Gap theory and Utahish pre-existence teachings. And I'm still uneasy at being asked whether I thought a black preacher would be appropriate.

Unfortunately, that's only the tip of the iceberg. Currently, I'm not attending services and trying to decide where to worship or if I should attend a sound bible study instead. You can only imagine the mischief these people have caused. Unsound in doctrine? Well, first they would have to actually learn some doctrine in order to be unsound in it. I suppose a good beginning would be if they stopped hiding magazines and books inside their large zippered bibles that they slyly read during services. And it's a little strange to see a Baptist deacon lugging the charismatic Dake Bible (tritheistic heresy, racial segregation, Gap theory, adoptionism).

At a certain point, you realize some people cannot be considered your brethren in Christ because you simply do not hold the same doctrine. As I indicated earlier, this isn't even about Calvinism/Arminianism. These folks appear to be years away from actually confronting real biblical doctrine. I would point out that they are all Arminians though.

Instead of pretending fellowship with those who won't obey scripture, particularly Jesus' own simple and direct commands in the Gospels, I'm going to spend some time rereading sound devotional material. First on my list is The Death Of Death In The Death Of Christ by John Owen (1648).

So I guess I'm on vacation from church recently too. I still hope the situation will resolve itself but I don't anticipate that happening.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

These folks appear to be years away from actually confronting real biblical doctrine.

Yep. We generally speak from experience. My experience has taken me from being that doofus in the back pew who enjoyed the pep talk of Sunday morning to being someone who actually hears the cohesive, personal, specific message of Christ's redemption.

I think many more people who are in the former category would prefer to be in the latter if they were actually confronted by the truths that we've come to understand. Much of the Good News of the Gospel is kept from them intentionally as well as carelessly for all the wrong reasons. When all the colors are bleached-out, everything looks grey.

But precision counts.

Hearing sound doctrine on a Sunday morning can send the "seeker" home to their Bibles with more perceptive ears.

People are not dumb. And certainly no more intelligent than any of us. But everyone needs a beginning. People should be told there's actually more than meets the eye to Scripture. Because the deeper one gets, the more profound the message.

That's been my experience. I thank God for you guys offering sound doctrine so that, by the grace of God, I have better understood who the Trinitarian God of all creation really is and what He's telling us by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

"Feed the flock of God which is among you" -- 1 Peter 5:2

I think not giving the congregation meat is akin to sending a child out into a snowstorm without a coat. We underestimate the power of the wolf if we don't rightly fortify and equip the sheep.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" -- 1 Peter 5:8

How much better it is to see our adversary clearly so that we may know our salvation more assuredly.

"Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:

That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.

Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.

Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man." -- Colossians 4:3-6

[wmfights]

"Unfortunately, that's only the tip of the iceberg. Currently, I'm not attending services and trying to decide where to worship or if I should attend a sound bible study instead."
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FWIW, if you can't have any impact on these people you owe it to the LORD not to associate with them for to long. A good Bible believing church will replenish you.

[xzins]

The entire deacon concept is totally unrecognizable from a scriptural point of view in most churches that I know of....including my own.

The "servers" waited tables, basically.

They weren't the hiring/firing/supervisory committee overseeing the pastor.

That is perverse.