Posted on 09/14/2001 12:37:08 AM PDT by farmer18th
I consider myself a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, but for the last six years my family and I have not attended regular worship of any sort in any church. Tonight I was reminded why.
We live in a fairly conservative small town with quite a few churches of every conceivable stripe--Catholic, Episcopalean, Methodist, Presbyterean, Reformed, Evangelical Free, Lutheran, and a whole slew of Baptists. I shouldn't forget the Pentacostals and the Calvary Chapel folks either, along with the Four Square group and the Community Churches.
You want churches. We got them.
Tonight the largest churches responded to the request for prayer by inviting us all to one sanctuary. When I walked in the chapel, a large screen reflected a picture of the American flag with a superimposed image of multi-racial hands held up in prayer. We all started by singing the familiar lines, "long may our land be bright, with freedom's holy light." There were at least 900 people in the room, and the sound of all those voices got me a littly misty. I thought there might be something to this.
But then the pastors trotted up to the pulpit one by one. The first was a Baptist of some sort, and perhaps a former police officer. He asked us to pray for all those who were risking their lives to save the wounded this week. Of course that's a worthy request, and we all prayed in unison and then in small groups. I happen to believe that all of the victims of this week's tragedy are worthy of our prayers, not just those who serve in uniform, but extending the pastor the benefit of the doubt and assuming he would agree, I added my "amen" to his prayer.
Then Catholic Priest #1 came up to the pulpit. What he uttered was so unoffensive, so chalky, so completely bald and benign and utterly OBVIOUS, that I have no honest recollection of what he said at all. His prayer was for the return of safety.
Catholic Priest #2 was an entirely different matter. He took his boney, sickly frame up to the pulpit along with two teenage violinists from his parish. (Is it just me or wouldnt it be nice to see a Spencer Tracy style Catholic priest on occasion? A priest who could throw a punch if he wanted to?) Catholic Priest #2 started talking about the sin of anger, and how we all need to look inside ourselves and root out our own ill-will. The teenage violinists started in on cue as we were asked to cure ourselves of our hatred trough prayer. Psalm 139:23-24 was invoked:
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
But, curiously, no mention is made of the two preceeding verses:
Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
By this time, I was audibly responding in the negative, albeit in a polite whisper, to these men of the cloth. My wife was getting nervous when the Methodist got up to the pulpit and tried to crack a joke about worship styles. During a week when thousands of Americans have lost their lives to foreign zealots, it seemed peculiarly inappropriate, and he seemed to recognize his mistake. He got back to his topic of affirming our utter dependance upon God. Is it just me or is that such an obvious truth that a reasonable person might ask, what of it? What are we supposed to do? What does He want us to do? Do you have any idea or do you just like wearing that priestly costume?
Another Baptist got up to the pulpit, and while I was hoping for some ray of light from the torch-bearers of the reformation, what I got was this: Nothing is so like humans as the desire for revenge and nothing is so little like God.
Good grief, I said, making a few people turn around. They have turned the Lord of Hosts into Barney the Dinosaur.
The Baptist went on to remind us: love our enemies and pray for those who persecute you. While these are indeed the words of Jesus, why are the rest of His words so inappropriate? Why arent we told about the braiding of the whip? (John 2:15) Why arent we told about the Christ who comes not to bring peace but a sword? (Mathew 10:34) Why arent we told about the wrath of the Almighty God? (Revelations 19:15). Why arent we told about the Jesus who calls a snake a snake. (Mathew 12). Why arent we told of the Paul who blinds the sorcerer? (Acts 13) Why arent we told of the Christ who tells us to sell our garment and buy a sword? (Luke 22:36).
Why? Because the virtues of courage and righteous indignation are out of vogue.
Next came the Nazarine. He seemed burdened by something. He insisted that the events of this week DEMANDED A RESPONSE. The congregation seemed to lunge forward in anticipation. Finally, someone was about to say something. He actually began to talk about sin. He talked about fathers taking responsibility in their homes. He talked about a good Christian having a ripple effect on his family, than his church, then his community, then his nation. He seemed to be aching to tell us about the great sins of our age, but he stopped short. He couldnt seem to bring himself to mention abortion, divorce, homosexuality, adultery. He seemed to be hoping that we would get his drift. I felt a little sorry for him; at least he tried.
My cell phone rang. I left the sanctuary, calmed myself, then went back in, hoping for an audience with the Baptist pastor.
I just used the words of Jesus, he said, when I asked him why he didn't balance his message a bit more.
Some of His words, I said. You dont have a right to give only half the record here. You dont have the right to imply that Jesus wouldnt approve of righteous anger.
You have to be careful with anger, the pastor said. Youve got to make sure its from the Lord.
Pastor, I said, looking him in the eye. Take a precinct list sometime. Try calling some of these people on the phone. Try getting them out to a City Council meeting. Their problem isnt anger. Their problem is apathy. To put it spiritual terms, their problem is sloth. There have been too many sermons on mercy. Weve mercied ourselves right into a culture full of divorce, drug use, and abortion.
Good point, he said. Ill pray about it.
Heres to praying he does.
Not to mention heretical teachings of such that teach that Jesus and Satan are brothers, prayer for the dead, and the ultimate elevation of adherents to the status of gods, to name a few.
So, I suppose that Jesus wasn't "glorifying" God when He was "bashing" the churches in the Book of Revelation?
We need to do as He did and tell the truth about everything, even those man-made structures we wrongly call "churches."
If you would only look, there are churches out there who serve God. I have searched out one where ever I move. I do not stick to one denomination...I look after the heart of the leadership. Are they speaking the truth? Are they watering down the Word? Do they teach their congregation to seek after the Lord? These are the many questions I ask myself.
God has done many wonderful things in my life. He has allowed me to be purified by fire and brought me to the breaking point. I thought I was going to die and go to meet the Lord one terrible night. Instead He brought me to a closer relationship with Him. I have no doubts I know God. I seek after His will, to the best of my ability. I still have a long way to go but, I rely on His strength, not my own. The more I give myself to Him, the closer I get to learning and performing His will.
I know where you are coming from. I used to be very critical of many denominations until the still, quiet voice that belongs to the Lord told me to concentrate on getting it right on my end. "Don't worry about the beliefs of others. Concentrate on YOUR relationship with me. It is for me to judge."..is a paraphrase of what He spoke to my heart. God Bless
What He (the Lord) said to you is exactly right...so why are you trying to judge farmer? Get a grip. You just reminded me of one of the reasons why I don't go to church. The other is I don't need a "middle man", I have a truly personal relationship with God and do not do His deeds before men, as He has requested. I follow Jesus' example and "hang" with the sinners...as He said, the sick people need the physician, not the well. Now, you might want to follow some advice I am sure He would personally give you..."Go forth and judge no more"...
Support President Bush!
I am a revert to Catholicism. I stopped attending Church (worship) and became lazy and discontented with my faith and felt there was much hypocrisy within the clergy and congregation. But to be honest, the biggest hypocrite was myself. It took quite awhile to realize it.
What I eventually found out was that the ancient Catholic Church was a group of Christians bound together to "seek ye first the Kingdom". They were called by faith to live a life in the spirit, in Christ Jesus, and to seek that happiness and salvation that emanates from the cross of Christ. There Church worship involved going to what we commonly call "Mass". They called it Eucharist.
The Mass is nothing less than the participation in the eternal Wedding Feast of the Lamb, with the Church Triumphant, the Church Suffering and the Church Militant all participating in Christ's Eternal Glorification of the Father through His Perfect Sacrifice. If as a Catholic I really believe this; and I DO, then why should I not attend Eucharist (worship or Mass)? I couldn't come up with a logical answer so I came back to Church.
Now I attend at the start of every day. It has changed my life. The first paragraph is not meant to be judgmental of any one individual but rather an indictment of all our spiritual conditions. But if you fell like flaming on me, that's OK. Just remember, for those who believe that Jesus is Lord, that when you flame me, He is standing in front of me and gets flamed first. And of course, this works for me too!!!
Your Brother in Christ Jesus,
TM
farmer18th: Now I get you. But look at the commotion caused by the "to-the-point" words of Reverend Jerry Falwell and seconded by Pat Robertson on the sins that contributed to Tuesday's events. You heard about it, right? The world hates the truth and the bearers of truth. It is a shame. Like you (and Falwell, etc.), I want to hear the truth.
Ah, the REAL W. Rusher comes out!
I cannot disagree with you more. God is pouring out his spirit upon all flesh. In Genesis 12, God told Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you".
Since we are the major supporter of Israel, WE ARE BLESSED AS A NATION.
This attack was brought on by the Clintons - who betrayed Israel. If you want someone to blame, the Clintons are your target.
But, what the devil has meant for harm, God will turn it around for good.
God has clearly blessed you with a special talent. Perhaps you are hearing His calling to make a difference. You understand the big picture and can relate to those who, like yourself, would otherwise stray from the church, unfulfilledand perhaps unsaved.
Many people attend seminary later in life. Churches everywhere are experiencing a massive shortage of ordained ministers. I would love to hear one of your sermonsas would many others.
So you see many of the modern day churches have made a true deal with the devil and that's why we have so many "series of messages" or guilt trip sermons. It's funny, I had a chat not long ago with the pastor of a very large church in the Dallas area and when I asked why he never discussed the NWO, Communism, Goals 2000, etc. he went into his "as Christians even though we're in the world, we must not be of the world" spiel which I've heard many times over the last few years from the same people who don't mind talking incessantly about their 401K's, golf games, new cars, etc. Kind of odd...isn't it?
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