Posted on 03/23/2007 5:43:15 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
A.W. Tozer once wrote that your worship will never rise higher than your view of God. If this is true, Pewaukee, Wisconsin has a very, very low view of Almighty God. In fact, they apparently serve a god who is entertained by an Elvis impersonator in full regalia, leading the choir in “How Great Thou Art” on a Sunday morning. You can view this abomination on the church website here, 10 minutes into the video. The worship occasion? “Retro Sunday.”
As the man who impersonated Elvis slithered all over the church “stage”, (yes, churches now have “stages”), it is fair to say that he really represents the purest example of the evangelicalism brought to us by Bill Hybels and Rick Warren. The anthropology that has posed as theology in the “seeker-sensitive” churches of America has produced a generation of evangelicals who worship their own bellies and don't even know it. Just as the Israelites danced around the Golden Calf and believed they could worship Jehovah God that way, today's professing Christians dance around their American idols, in this case a deceased Elvis the Pelvis, and sing their praises to what they call God. Anyone who can read the awesome scene in Revelation 5, however, and still let Elvis lead the worship, knows not the God of Scripture.
The awesome sense of the holiness of God is gone from our churches. The fear of the Lord is likewise departed. God has become a creation of our own jaded and hedonistic minds. Most of all, the power of the Holy Ghost is gone from among us. That is why we must have Elvis impersonators. The Holy Spirit has left the building. Bored, sated, and so drunk with our own importance, we cannot set aside the profane and the unholy, even for an hour in the house of the Lord. While angels and archangels in heaven fall down before the throne of our thrice holy God, American Christians make a mockery of “How Great Thou Art” for cheap laughs on “Retro Sunday.” Worship here on earth was intended to be a foretaste of that great and eternal worship service in heaven. As the visible church here on earth joins in with the church triumphant in heaven, we join in that heavenly chorus of praise to the Lamb for sinners slain. What is filthy, what is unholy and what is an abomination to God must depart in His presence. God demands and deserves no less.
Elvis died on a toilet, a gluttonous, obese, drug-addicted rock star who had lived a life in rebellion to God. Further, he led a nation of young people into moral rebellion through the spirit of the music he played. Unless he repented in the last moments of his drug-induced haze of a life, he is in eternal torment in hell. This is who Spring Creek's pastor chose to sing, “How Great Thou Art” in worship. The mockery of that scene will stay with me for a very long time.
The spirit of anti-christ is alive and well in the evangelical church. It comes through the hearts of idolatrous pastors who long ago sold their souls to the gods of church growth. Not content to preach the full counsel of God and let God build their churches, these pastors seek temporal success and popularity and as the video proves, they will do anything to get it. Absolutely anything. And they are shameless. God has given these idolators over to their own way and that's why we have not yet seen the depths to which these churches will go to draw a crowd.
I recently read the text of a powerful hymn that dates back 400 years. The afflicted and persecuted German pastor, Paul Gerhardt faced down the most powerful princes of his day because of his unyielding faith in Christ and his refusal to stop preaching the Scriptures. There was no foolishness and carnality in his ministry. Men like Gerhardt were in a spiritual battle for truth and they were soldiers of Christ. These were real men, not enamored of temporary fame and importance or comfort and ease. They knew that following Christ was not a life-enhancement program. They paid a high price to follow in the bleeding footsteps of the Savior, wherever He led. They did this for one reason--because they loved the Lord Jesus Christ. They were willing to die for Him and many did. As the vision of the church Elvis impersonator recedes from your mind, take a moment and read the powerful text of this hymn and read about real Christianity. Friends, there is a counterfeit on hand that will take millions to hell. You cannot have the world and have Jesus. You cannot laugh at blasphemy and have Jesus. You cannot add Jesus onto your life and subtract nothing. As Paul Gerhardt wrote, “My Jesus is my splendor.” When he is that to us, all filthiness, all evil and all carnality become repugnant to us in His holy presence. May God grant us a spiritual awakening as to what it really means to follow Jesus Christ, that on that Last Day we may not be told to depart because He never knew us.
Note the pure and clear doctrine in this hymn and weep that so few of our churches will sing these hymns anymore. That is because it describes a different Christianity. Note also the Christian life described in stanzas 11 and 12. This is not “Your Best Life Now”. The Christians best life comes later, in the presence of our Savior.
1. If God Himself be for me,
I may a host defy;
For when I pray, before me
My foes, confounded, fly.
If Christ, my Head and Master,
Befriend me from above,
What foe or what disaster
Can drive me from His love?
2. This I believe, yea, rather,
Of this I make my boast,
That God is my dear Father,
The Friend who loves me most,
And that, whate'er betide me,
My Savior is at hand
Through stormy seas to guide me
And bring me safe to land.
3. I build on this foundation,
That Jesus and His blood
Alone are my salvation,
The true, eternal good.
Without Him all that pleases
Is valueless on earth;
The gifts I owe to Jesus
Alone my love are worth.
4. My Jesus is my Splendor,
My Sun, my Light, alone;
Were He not my Defender
Before God's awe-full throne,
I never should find favor
And mercy in His sight,
But be destroyed forever
As darkness by the light.
5. He canceled my offenses,
Delivered me from death;
He is the Lord who cleanses
My soul from sin through faith.
In Him I can be cheerful,
Bold, and undaunted aye;
In Him I am not fearful
Of God's great Judgment Day.
6. Naught, naught, can now condemn me
Nor set my hope aside;
Now hell no more can claim me,
Its fury I deride.
No sentence e'er reproves me,
No ill destroys my peace;
For Christ, my Savior, loves me
And shields me with His grace.
7. His Spirit in me dwelleth,
And o'er my mind He reigns.
All sorrow He dispelleth
And soothes away all pains.
He crowns His work with blessing
And helpeth me to cry,
"My Father!" without ceasing,
To Him who dwells on high.
8. And when my soul is lying
Weak, trembling, and opprest,
He pleads with groans and sighing
That cannot be exprest;
But God's quick eye discerns them,
Although they give no sound,
And into language turns them
E'en in the heart's deep ground.
9. To mine His Spirit speaketh
Sweet word of holy cheer,
How God to him that seeketh
For rest is always near
And how He hath erected
A city fair and new,
Where what our faith expected
We evermore shall view.
10. In yonder home doth flourish
My heritage, my lot;
Though here I die and perish,
My heaven shall fail me not.
Though care my life oft saddens
And causeth tears to flow,
The light of Jesus gladdens
And sweetens every woe.
11. Who clings with resolution
To Him whom Satan hates
Must look for persecution;
For him the burden waits
Of mockery, shame, and losses,
Heaped on his blameless head;
A thousand plagues and crosses
Will be his daily bread.
12. From me this is not hidden,
Yet I am not afraid;
I leave my cares, as bidden,
To whom my vows were paid.
Though life and limb it cost me
And everything I won,
Unshaken shall I trust Thee
And cleave to Thee alone.
13. Though earth be rent asunder,
Thou'rt mine eternally;
Not fire nor sword nor thunder
Shall sever me from Thee;
Not hunger, thirst, nor danger,
Not pain nor poverty
Nor mighty princes' anger
Shall ever hinder me.
14. No angel and no gladness,
No throne, no pomp, no show,
No love, no hate, no sadness,
No pain, no depth of woe,
No scheme of man's contrivance,
However small or great,
Shall draw me from Thy guidance
Nor from Thee separate.
15. My heart for joy is springing
And can no more be sad,
'Tis full of mirth and singing,
Sees naught but sunshine glad.
The Sun that cheers my spirit
Is Jesus Christ, my King;
That which I shall inherit
Makes me rejoice and sing.
Thankyouverymuch!
A Hunka Hunka Burning Bush?
Do your average fundamentalists or generic "mutt-evangelicals" have any theology of worship? Do they have any standard more rigorous than good taste and good sense to let them know that an Elvis impersonator is not a good idea for a service of worship?
I maintain that they do not. What they do have is mostly a traditional hand down, and subject to "bit rot".
(One of the callers during the above linked Crosstalk episode said she was a preacher somewhere or other. Hmmm. Some issues with theory here, methinks...)
This post brings to mind what I just witnessed. I was channel surfing and stopped on a "religious" channel. The preacher was leading the congregation in fits of laughter. All of them were howling with laughter, all for no reason, just to be laughing. There were one or two faces you could see looked embarassed to be there but overall they shrieked and screamed and rolled around like idiots.
I don't even know what to say.......it's so sad.
This one seems to fill the bill.
Mind if we hijack this one?
OK gang, ELVIS JOKES, LAWYER JOKES; PREACHER JOKES, IMPERSONATOR JOKES and RETRO JOKES are this week's fair.
Keep it clean.
Ping your friends, but just don't let us see you using any lists.
N3
{!}
Sorry Alex
Some obscure church in Milwaukee does something stupid, and Rick Warren gets blamed.
Right.
Q: What would Elvis be doing if he was alive right now?
A: Clawing at the inside of his coffin!
Thanks! I didn't expect that answer and laughed.
What is the difference between Elvis and an intelligent blonde?
People have actually reported seeing Elvis.
You Might Be A Redneck If . . .
. . . you were acquitted for murdering your first wife after she threw out your Elvis 45’s.
. . you have an Elvis Jell-O mold.
Ok gang, it's someone else's turn.
3 girls, blonde, brunette, and a readhead on a deserted island find an old bottle...
Genie jumps out and give the girls each one wish...Brunette wishes to go to a nice 'crowded' beach in the Bahamas...Zap, she's gone...
Redhead wishes go go to Vegas...Zap, she's gone...
Blonde says she has trouble making decisions and says, "I wish my friends were here with me to help me decide...Zap...
The old prospector walked his old mule into a western town after six months alone in the desert without a drop of whiskey. He stopped at the first saloon he came to and tied his mule to the hitching rail.
As he stood there brushing off the dust, a gunslinger came out of the saloon with his gun in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. He looked at the old man and laughed. "Hey, old man! Have you ever danced?"
The prospector said, "Nope. Never had no hankerin' to."
The gunslinger said, "Well, you old fool, you're gonna dance now!" and started shooting at the man's feet.
Everybody laughed as the poor old prospector hopped around the street.
When the gunslinger's weapon was empty, he holstered it, and headed back into the saloon.
The prospector grabbed his shotgun from the mule's pack and cocked both hammers. Everyone heard the loud click, including the gunslinger and the street got real quiet, real fast.
The gunslinger slowly turned around and found himself staring straight down the shotgun's barrels.
The prospector quietly asked him, "So, young man! Did you ever kiss a mule's ass?"
The gunslinger swallowed hard and then said, "Nope. But I always had a hankerin' to!"
I checked out the video...
Pentecostal church...
People were having fun...It's ok to have fun in church...
It was fun being a baby boomer... until now. Some of the artists of the 60's are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers. They include:
Herman's Hermits--- Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker .
Ringo Starr--- I Get By With a Little Help From Depends.
The Bee Gees--- How Can You Mend a Broken Hip.
Bobby Darin--- Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash.
Roberta Flack--- The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face.
Johnny Nash--- I Can't See Clearly Now.
Paul Simon--- Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver
The Commodores--- Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom.
Marvin Gaye--- Heard It Through the Grape Nuts.
Procol Harem--- A Whiter Shade of Hair.
Leo Sayer--- You Make Me Feel Like Napping.
The Temptations--- Papa's Got a Kidney Stone.
Abba--- Denture Queen
Tony Orlando--- Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall.
Helen Reddy--- I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore.
Leslie Gore--- It's My Procedure, and I'll Cry If I Want To.
And my favorite: Willie Nelson--- On the Commode Again
This is tragic. What an insult to religion. Sad state of our country.
The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples.
The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:
"Take only ONE. God is watching"
Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.
A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples.
little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.
The teacher said it was physically impossible for a whale to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal its throat was very small.
The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a Whale.
Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.
The little girl said, "When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah".
The teacher asked, "What if Jonah went to hell?"
The little girl replied, "Then you ask him".
Hi, ROE. This thread should be good for a few smiles.
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