"The church is not touching the culture
because the culture has invaded the church."
~ Ken Ham ~
because the culture has invaded the church."
~ Ken Ham ~
As an addition to Ken Ham's quote from his sermon Reaching A Lost World - Ken Ham, a quote from MacArthur.
"Evangelicals who are desperate to follow the culture
invariably lag several years behind anyway,
somehow managing to look awkward and clumsy
by always failing to keep in step,
no matter how hard they try.
But, then, the church is not supposed to ape the world’s fads
or court the world’s favor anyway."
~ John MacArthur in The Truth War, page 48~
~ John MacArthur in The Truth War, page 48~
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9 comments:
AMEN!!
Ok, I am afraid this will be a bit rude (not to you BW, but to the "church")....
We seem to be the only "religion" that is marketing or selling something. And we seem to be the equivalent of snake oil salesmen...DESPERATE snake oil salesmen at that. And everyone can smell desperation and no one likes it.
Muslims have an EXTREMLY restrictive religion and they stick out like sore thumbs when practicing it....yet they don't feel the need to change one thing nor to try to tempt people into their religion (yes, they do do "convert or die" quite a bit but they don't put together marketing plans and do this whole purpose driven crap).
The Jews, the true practicing Jews, will follow God UNTO DEATH...
Yet those who CLAIM to have the ULTIMATE TRUTH are watching men with frosted hair and trendy t-shirts run around on rock concert stages talking with "relevance" to crowds they are just trying to get to fork over a love offering. They take the HOLY word of God and turn it into toliet paper for the sewer that comes out of their mouth and call it victory because they make filthy lucre.
I am SICK unto death of it and consider the "Church" the great whore and will not even call myself a "Christian" and have found that more often than not..that word leaves a horrible taste in many peoples mouth.
WHY? Because they are HYPOCRITES! They claim to serve God..but do not even know His word or obey His commands (and oh yes, a lost and searching world WILL look up your behavior in the Bible and then use the fact that we do NOT do what it says as FURTHER testimony against God).
Sorry, I better stop here...great quote :)
Many Blessings :)
Ace
Quote: "...ape the world's fads..."
The church certainly apes the world, in every way.
50% divorce in the world, and climbing, and 50% in the church.
I do understand the frustations that Ace feels. I don't doubt it is felt by many the same way.
When the word of God speaks in 2 Thess 2 about the falling away, I don't doubt that we are witnessing it.
If not, then what in the world is taking place?
The church is just about swapping places with the world.
The only difference is using the name of Jesus.
This applies mainly to Western nations. There are those Christians in other countries who have died for their Lord, and many suffer persecution.
Lord, help us, or we are lost.
Ace,
I can understand your frustration. Honestly, the world does see the same things and they cry hypocrites. You are also correct that the world sees what the Bible says and uses that against the church since they don't follow the Bible.
But I want to encourage you to really seek for a group of believers that truly love the Lord and follow the Scriptures. They are out there, but very hard to find. There are some church locator links on the sidebar. No church is perfect but there are churches, usually small ones, which really do have believers that worship the Lord and seek Him daily.
As believers in this country become more and more persecuted, I think we will see the goats and tares removed from the church. It may be soon that believers will be able to proudly say they are Christians even if that moniker dooms them to persecution.
Just imagine what Jesus feels when He sees His bride so defiled by the world.
Berean Wife
Dora,
I think there are small groups of believers that the Lord is beginning to wake up to the truth. Those who use the world's methods and appeals will continue to move more and more in that direction while a small remnant will be kept pure, the gap will increase tremendously.
This is one of those reasons why I see the events of Revelations being for the future unlike some who feel much of Revelations occurred during the fall of Jerusalem, i.e. preterist view.
But we can’t expect our children to be any different unless we actually raise them different from the rest of the world. We let the world raise them, educate them, entertain them and yet we think when it is all said and done they will reject the world. I think the evidence proves otherwise. Thankfully, the Lord has called some of us out of the world despite that.
Berean Wife
"As believers in this country become more and more persecuted, I think we will see the goats and tares removed from the church. It may be soon that believers will be able to proudly say they are Christians even if that moniker dooms them to persecution.
Just imagine what Jesus feels when He sees His bride so defiled by the world."
True, Come Lord Jesus SOON!
Many Blessings :)
Ace
Ace,
It would be nice if we could remain true to the gospel without persecution, but I'm afraid history shows that ease breeds false teachings and compromise.
Berean Wife
I feel Ace's frustration; however, I gained a new perspective when listening to "The True Gospel" by Paul Washer. I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was something to the effect that the Church IS alive and well. It's the tares among the wheat that is the problem. Jude talks about the apostates that will infiltrate, but the true followers of Christ are out there.
The problem I'm finding is that the true believers are few and far between and I am not able to find a solid congregation to fellowship with. :-(
Buddy
Buddy,
You are right we have found several that are truly trying to live out the Gospel in all their life and not just for an hour on Sunday. But they are very hard to find.
But finding a congregation that the majority desires to be the true church and not just a social gathering is even harder. But I think that it will become easier and easier over time. There seems to be a bigger rift developing between the wheat and the tares. With less willingness to tolerate each other's ideas of worship.
Praying you do find a congregation to worship with soon, but until then praying you will continue to grow in knowledge of the Lord.
Berean Wife
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