Archive for America
More of God?
Posted by: | CommentsFar too many churches are producing external Christians trying to live a Christian life based on what they think Christians are supposed to do. They are not producing internal Christians filled with the Holy Spirit submitting to the crucifixion of self. My personal opinion is that external Christians are external because their understanding of sin is narrow. They have not yet really understood that sin is a condition – not a behavior. The fruits of sin involve behavior but the fruits of sin are not sin itself. Sin is pure spiritual rebellion against God and is characterized by an almost genetic refusal to submit to His will by faith. Sin is about self and to be filled with the Spirit requires the destruction of all of the issues of self. When sin is clearly defined in these terms, Christians are confronted with a question: Just how much of God do I really want? The issue is almost like a math equation: More of God = Less of Self.
Are you willing to give up yourself to have more of God?
Over The Top Christians?
Posted by: | CommentsRecently a man who is very close to me said, “I’m a Christian, but I’m not one of those ‘over the top’ Christians.” I asked him what that meant and he went on to say that there were things he enjoyed doing and he didn’t want to stop doing them. Drinking was one of those things he liked to do. He resented some Christians suggesting that his drinking might not be too pleasing to God. He believed their attitude to be a bit ‘over the top’. Sadly, I have personal knowledge that this man doesn’t just take an occasional drink. When he drinks he gets drunk and it happens several times a week. This man’s focus is on pleasing himself – not God! His attitude is not uncommon in the American Church.
External and Internal Christians
There are two types of Christians: The external and the internal. The external Christian approaches their relationship with God as a matter of doing what they think a Christian is supposed to do. It’s almost as if they keep a checklist of things they must do to be a good Christian. The checklist may include tithing, volunteering, attending church, reading completely through the Bible every year, obligatory public praying and a host of other religious activities. An external Christian approaches their faith as an system of works. External Christians don’t change much – they just make adjustments to their lists as their opinions change about what constitutes Christian behavior.
An internal Christian is a believer who has an intimate personal relationship with Christ and is continually growing in the knowledge of God and His word. An internal Christian understands that the Christian life is about Christ living in and through them supernaturally. An internal Christian realizes that pleasing God involves the death of self, not the keeping of a religious checklist. Which type of Christian are you?
Look Into Your Heart
Posted by: | CommentsAre you willing to look deep within and ask God to show you what is really going on in your heart? Do you really have the peace of God? Do you love others as God would have you love them? Do you have marital difficulty and conflict? Do you struggle with some kind of addiction? Do you suffer from fits of anger and resentment. Are you jealous of others? Do you lack a sense of spiritual wellness and a true sense of spiritual purpose in your life? These are issues reasonably expected in the lives of those who do not know Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, they are also realities in the lives of Christians who continue to live by their own power. They are the fruits of self-seeking and the spiritual torments of the lukewarm and the carnal.
No Christian will totally eliminate the fruits of carnality in this life but God asks that we press on with our fight against carnality “until the day”. The question is this: Are you pressing on with the fight, or have you surrendered to certain fruits of carnality? The answer is in your heart – if you are willing to seek it.
Church Activities
Posted by: | CommentsFactually, there are few churches and congregations in America that are not carnal in many respects. Even churches who are mighty in support of missions and conduct evangelical outreaches are frequently carnal to the core. They are impressed by their own works and their own efforts. They fail the test of love and they are driven by self-interest and self-glorification. They are busy conducting educational events that urge people to develop a purpose-driven life that has no connection to God’s real purpose for their lives.
You do not find seminars and teaching in these churches that call and exhort Christians to crucify themselves and accept that their lives are none of their business. You do not find seminars teaching that we have no rights in our flesh and that we must give up our life if we are to find it. The cross has become a cheerful symbol to be worn around our necks and decorate the bumpers of our automobiles, rather than an instrument of death!
Hate Crimes
Posted by: | CommentsHate crime legislation is a popular concept in the current US Government. Great Britain has already passed national hate crime laws. What is hate crime legislation?
The idea is that thought matters when it comes to criminalizing certain activities. American rights to free speech allow people to say what they want to say and express opinions that may “offend” certain other Americans. The trend of government passing hate crime laws in America and around the world will provide the opportunity to persecute Christians.
The Bible establishes moral standards for human beings and many of those standards create problems for people who want to establish their own personal standards of right and wrong. As the modern world moves to allow truth to be variable based on personal preferences, the idea about absolute standards decreed by an omnipotent God are terrifying to those who seek to be their own Gods.
In Great Britain a Christian is in danger of being prosecuted criminally for quoting scripture from the Bible that condemns specific sinful behavior, such as homosexuality. To do so is considered “hate speech” and it violates hate crime statutes. This movement is coming to the United States and in not too distant future the possibility exists that Christians will be imprisoned for preaching the Bible as absolute truth.
The Fast Pace of Persecution
Posted by: | CommentsThe most extreme example of religious persecution in modern times happened during World War II when six million Jews were murdered by Adolph Hitler and his Nazi collaborators. That monstrous act had its roots in a propaganda campaign that began soon after Hitler rose to power in 1932 – well before the beginning of the war. Jews were portrayed as a problem and accused of being the reason for German economic difficulty. The official newspaper of the Nazi Party, Der Stürmer, had as its motto: “The Jews are our misfortune.” By May 1933, books written by Jews were being burned and there was an economic boycott of Jewish businesses. By October 1933, Jewish editors were banned from newspapers. In May 1935 signs began to appear in restaurants and shops that read “Jews not welcome.”
By November 1935 Jews were legally barred from public business life and their political rights were redefined. Jews were legally prohibited from marrying non-Jews. Jewish children were prohibited from using the same playgrounds as other children and from utilizing the same locker rooms. In 1937 the systematic confiscation of Jewish property began. In July 1938 Jews were forced to accept national identity cards and Jewish passports were confiscated. It was in 1938 that Jewish children were expelled from schools and all Jews were banned from Berlin. In 1939 the war began and Jews began to be forcibly taken to extermination camps and confined in ghettos. Only seven years elapsed between the beginning of anti-Jewish propaganda in 1932 and the actual slaughter of the European Jewish population in 1939.
I am not predicting this level of persecution for Christians in America but I would not rule it out as a long-term possibility. The question that begs an answer is what kind of Christianity is it going to take to stand and survive any form of persecution. The lukewarm will fold up like a cheap tent and flee the Christian label faster than a powerful thoroughbred leaving the starting gate! The moment it becomes uncomfortable to be a Christian, the lukewarm Notional Christians will cease to have the notion! A carnal church will be totally ineffective and flounder as it struggles to regain a solid foundation in God’s truth.
What kind of faith do you have?
The Carnal American Church
Posted by: | CommentsI think most of the American Church is largely a carnal church. If you think not, pick up any Sunday paper and go to the section where churches place their advertisements. You will see large display ads touting these churches as places emphasizing fun and entertainment. They operate like spiritual amusement parks, rather than hospitals for the soul. Its as if their primary goal is to entertain rather than proclaim the truth of Christ. By entertain, I mean these churches are purposely trying to draw people in by giving them what they want from a human perspective. They are succeeding to the extent that the lukewarm and the carnal can comfortably sit next to each other in the same pews week after week. The lukewarm remain lost. The carnal remain unfulfilled and a slave to the world and to their flesh. Their Pastors keep offering up meatless sermons that tickle the ears so the lukewarm and the carnal may feel good about themselves. Jesus becomes a supernatural servant who is available to help them realize their selfish hopes and dreams. The Biblical principle of Christian suffering is not only misunderstood in such gatherings, it is frequently condemned!
