Posted on 09/07/2020 9:32:54 PM PDT by ReformationFan
I remember when Christians used to actually believe in Christianity. Those were the days. (Some still do, but their numbers are shrinking.)
Back then, you could still visit an average (Protestant) church and hear a pastor actually teach real doctrine and share authentic insights. You could hear his thoughts on how to live an upright Christian life, or on why bad things might happen to good people, or how Christian marriages might be improved. And you could hear it all supported by actual Bible passages.
After the sermon, you could hear the congregation sing hymns affirming the importance of obedience, humility, faith, courage, or some other Christian virtue. They were something, the old hymns: bold, clear, impactful, sometimes even militant, like "Onward, Christian Soldiers" or "God of Our Fathers, Whose Almighty Hand", or particularly thoughtful, like "How Great Thou Art".
Things are different now. Wander into a typical Christian church these days, and, far from hearing a sermon challenging you to live an upright life, you're more likely to hear an unsuccessful attempt at a Jeff Foxworthy-style stand-up comedy routine, Hallmark-style stories of dubious veracity, and utterly vacuous "praise songs" which all sound like U2 album rejects from 1986. (They even feature the thumping eighth-note bass parts, echo-drenched guitar, and melodramatic vocal performances.)
(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...
Not all Christian churches are like this, of course. The problem is, too many are. As the years roll by, contemporary Christian churches increasingly abnegate their scripturally-prescribed role as fortified beacons of divine truth, and instead transform themselves into vehicles for a social justice pseudo-gospel completely incompatible with Christian (or Jewish, for that matter) scriptural teachings.
This has been going on for decades, of course, but its most striking manifestation of late has been the near-total failure of the Christian church to expose and reject the destructive fraud that is Black Lives Matter.
That kind of failure requires extraordinary ignorance, extraordinary cowardice, or both. After all, it's not like the veil hasn't come off Black Lives Matter, if it was ever there in the first place. Its founders openly profess their allegiance to Marxism, history's most genocidal ideology. Its members repeatedly encourage violence, destruction, and even murder. Its website calls for the "disruption of the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure", the end of accepting heterosexuality as normal, and the avoidance of "environments in which men are centered".
At least two of its leading lights—Patrisse Cullors and Malina Abdullah—practice a Yoruban zombie religion in which they may, or may not, sacrifice animals to invite the spirits of the dead to possess their bodies during their nightly riot activities. (Abdullah says she's become very friendly with the spirits of the dead, and has had a lot of laughs with one named "Wakeesha").
In addition, the cited catalyst for the entire movement—the "murder" of Trayvon Martin in 2012—is a lie. Trayvon Martin was not "murdered". He violently assaulted a man named George Zimmerman by pounding his head into the pavement. Zimmerman then shot him in self-defense. That's precisely why a jury of six women acquitted him. Yet Black Lives Matter is still calling it a "murder" on its website.
The second rationale for the movement—that a racist white cop gunned down an innocent "gentle giant" named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri—is also a lie. After robbing a store, Brown attacked a police officer trying to arrest him. As a result, the officer shot Brown in self-defense. Attorney General Eric Holder himself confirmed this after an exhaustive review.
These aren't the only Black Lives Matter lies, of course. It's a lie that there's an epidemic of racist police shootings. It's a lie that defunding the police will help black communities (it does just the opposite, and has already directly enabled the murder of hundreds more black people, including children).
It's even a lie that black lives matter to the members of Black Lives Matter. In reality, the only lives that matter to the Black Lives Matter crew are lives useful to advancing Marxism...which is why you've never seen, and never will see, any Black Lives Matter protests over the 250,000 blacks murdered by other blacks during the past 45 years, or the 19 million black babies aborted since Roe vs. Wade (the combined population of Ireland, Switzerland, Costa Rica, and Fiji), or the black police officers, active or retired, killed.
Those were all black lives, but Black Lives Matter didn't care about any of them. And they didn't care about them, because they weren't useful to the cause of advancing Marxism. The whole thing is a destructive fraud built on lies - and if you're a Christian, you know, or should know, where those came from.
In short, you couldn't invent an organization which more flagrantly violates a greater number of Biblical commandments and Christian ideals than Black Lives Matter. You have murder, beatings, necromancy, stealing, bearing false witness, covetousness, lying, insurrection against duly-elected leaders, worshipping false gods, assaults on the family, assaults on heterosexuality, and a transparently fake concern for the black lives every real Christian is duty-bound to see as creations of God. It's a Satanic dream.
And yet...
In the estrogen-soaked La La Land that is the contemporary Christian church, this rotten, anti-black, anti-God, anti-American, anti-human organization is now being promoted on church billboards; its talking points are being trumpeted from pulpits; and pathetic caucasian "Christians" who have never committed a single act of racial discrimination in their entire lives are publicly confessing sins they've never committed, and never would. They're even tacitly accepting the Marxist, anti-Christian designation of race as an insuperable constraint on identity by apologizing for the color of their skin, on grounds their ancestors of the same color might have once done something racist. In sum, Christian America is in such a bad state, it can't even summon the strength or clarity to see through, let alone reject, the patently deceptive and patently destructive Black Lives Matter.
And...it's not the first time something like this has happened.
When the feminists showed up, Christians began pretending I Corinthians 14: 34-35, and Ephesians 5: 23-24 no longer existed.
When out-of-wedlock sex became more socially acceptable, Christians began pretending 1 Corinthians 6:9 no longer existed.
When divorce laws loosened, Christians began pretending Matthew 19:9 no longer existed.
When gay guys showed up demanding to be married in church, Christians began pretending 1 Timothy 1: 9-10 and Romans 1: 26-27 no longer existed.
And now, when an organization shows up actively trying to subvert the forthcoming election, cheering on murders, beating people up, falsely accusing people, inviting demonic possession so as to more effectively impose the Satanic ideology of Marxism, and browbeating the very religion which started the abolitionist and civil rights movements in the first place...again, Christians cave, and accommodate, and seek approval, and do everything except stick to their own principles, if they can even remember what those are supposed to be. Every time the culture advances, the church shrinks in response. Always.
So here's what I suggest, Christians:
Stop retreating. For one thing, you're losing members like crazy, and one big reason is that you don't stand for anything anymore; there's no reason for anyone to stick around. More to the practical point: that your faith is in perpetual retreat is bad for the country. America needs a strong, principled, action-oriented Christianity now more than ever.
Next, politely thank the female pastors for their service - but then - how to put this? - empower the guys again. You need a testosterone injection. I realize it sounds rude, but it's the only way. The denominations growing fastest are the more conservative, more patriarchal denominations, so there's that, plus you have your own actual scriptures which prescribe male pastoring, but proscribe female pastoring. So just do it so Islam doesn't pass you this century—especially when you had a 600 year head start. How embarrassing would that be?
Next, organize some congregational disciplinary protocols for bad behavior. If someone messes up, boot them out, then help them work their way back to full fellowship through a step-by-step repentance process—by which I mean, a process which incentivizes them to not mess up again. As it is, too many Christians have come to view Christ's sacrifice as an endless "Get Out of Jail Free" card for sin, and that has to stop. You need better behavior from your people, so kindly, but firmly, hold each other accountable.
Lastly, stick to your scriptures. They're your anchor.
In Democracy in America, Tocqueville described Christianity as the social, and even political, backbone of the fledgling republic. It bound American communities together. It supported American political ideas like equality under the law, separation of religious and political authority, tolerance for religious minorities, and cosmopolitanism. It was exactly the sort of civil religion—a republican Christianity—which Rousseau had earlier suggested could never exist.
But it worked because it was a real religion; that is, its adherents really believed it, and believed in it in just the right sort of way to help turn America into the greatest country in history. And that was good for every kind of American: Christian, Jew, Buddhist, and skeptic alike. It helped keep the country stable, free, and mostly united.
So Christians: As America continues to convulse from civil unrest and ever-appearing parades of grotesquerie, get back on track. Reconnect with basic Biblical moral precepts. Be kind, but firm. Push back against the social justice loons, and help save the country. Slap a spiritual Androgel patch on to your religion, and start pumping some serious spiritual iron. America needs you strong, fearless, and certain, again.
Just like the old days.
Come back.
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Sounds terrible. Why would people bother going to church if it doesn’t conform to the Bible? If they don’t believe in the Bible, why waste their time?
Bingo! Hit the nail on the head. We need to unabashedly take back our pulpits. It is so refreshing to see that people are starting to wake up and speak out about what needs to be done in our churches.
Ping.
This is an excellent article. I became burnt out on it all when people began church hopping like they were hitting the latest fast food joints, when pastors began “beating the sheep” because “ten percent of the church goers do eighty percent of the ministry”, and the Christian music industry became saturated with people looking for fame and fortune.
The pressure to perform in order to stay in the inner circle was crazy making after awhile. Ah well. That was a long time ago now.
Some of us never left
have we left?
or have so many churches been the ones who have actually left?
The reasons you list here are the reasons why I no longer attend church. I can’t find one that is actually practicing true Christianity.
Christians need to stop turning their seemingly endless supply of “other cheeks”.
They need to revive the crusade spirit if they’re going to survive.
.
BEST RANT EVER!
Thanks for posting, ReformationFan! GREAT article! I go to a church which is very conservative, and would make the writer very happy.
SaveFerris - “ping”
If you are ever near Memphis on the weekend, give me a ping. I’ll meet you at the church we attend. You will be pleased.
From Catholic Priests to Protestant Pastors, the Christian religion has been catering to Pop Culture for generations. More concerned with the number of people in their pews and the money in their pots than teaching The Lord God’s and The Lorde Jesus’ Biblical teachings. The actual Biblical Word is not easy for The World to accept and to adhere to.
Teaching that and demanding that turns a great many people away. Thus the attendance and the money diminishes.
So, the answer was to at first “modify” then eventually to “stray” then to “abandon” true according to “The Word” Biblical teaching as clearly outlined in The Holy Bible.
Yes, I’m a very disappointed in the church as a whole. We once lived in a huge city. We could not find a consistent, Bible-teaching church anywhere. We aren’t really picky about much - we just want leaders that are willing to preach the whole of the Bible, not water down the Word or avoid certain passages out of fear. We finally found an awesome Bible-teaching church, but alas, they started to push full-force serious fringe heresy that we could not overlook. We brought passage after passage before them showing how their doctrine 100% conflicted with Scripture, but they refused to listen. The Church is at a crisis point. That can not be overstated.
Great article.
You could link it to the articles in previous posts:
* Half of all “Christians” say Jesus isn’t God
* Half of all “Christains” say premarital sex is OK
When people stop believing in God’s authority (diety of Christ and His authority), the authority of the Bible, everything in the Nicene Creed, then there is a vacuum, people want to “feel good” and they use “social justice” and “BLM” and the Marxism that is the foundation of it all to fill the void.
It is extremely dangerous.
*ping to a great article*
My pet peeve about church, is that nobody gets dressed up for church anymore. I know I’m in a minority on that subject.
But I’m sure all of a certain age here, remember when men and boys wore suits to church, and girls and women wore nice dresses. Even at some of the more conservative or fundamentalist churches, there is no dress code anymore that I have seen. And I think that this is another matter, which has seeped in from the secular culture, which also has seen dress codes done away with in schools and the professional offices.
I know I’m a minority opinion, but, it can be unsightly to see people in tennis outfits and torn jeans in church. Flame away if you like, as I know I’m in the minority on this one. I know someone might say God wants us in church no matter how we are dressed. I’m just making an observation about how people don’t get dressed for church, and I don’t think that is a positive development.
As I’ve mentioned before - worked for a denomination which I won’t name publicly nor in FReepmail (so no one bother asking) - very well-known denomination, too.
At the “company” organization (one of them) we had church services once per month. Well I was pretty much attending a different church at the time, but why not. Hour-long service and I was at work anyways. (It was held at work)
Not once, not once in 2-1/2 years did anyone ever open a Bible and preach the Word of God. Not once. Not once.
LOTS of praise and worship and “new” songs. Never, EVER heard anybody quote from the Bible and give chapter and verse.
Not once. In 2-1/2 years.
Oh here’s another thing, they had been sold on partial-preterism by one of their “scholars”.
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