I finally gave up in looking for a church where I felt truly comfortable. A good church is hard to find, especially these days when money is the bottom line and apostasy reigns supreme.
There doesn’t seem to be a sense of awe or reverence for the things of God anymore. It seems we’ve finally been able to box Him into our humanistic way of thinking.
I realize that human beings are fallible; and as hard as we try, we can’t meet up to God’s standard of holiness. Albeit a few (very few) men have managed to achieve a degree of perfection. But hey, that’s what Christ came to achieve for us, realizing that we were incapable of fulfilling God’s high standards.
Each of the churches I visited had glaring faults. Usually it was a Man and wife Pastor team who were patterning their ministry after (Mr. great hair) Joel Osteen and glamor-queen wife Victoria. Both of them pretty on the outside but inside are full of themselves. Or worse yet, another Gloria and her reptilian husband Kenneth Copeland (the three-Jet King) who are also only concerned about their own wellbeing and comfort.
The next church I visited was run by an uptight, self-righteous priest pastor who wouldn’t give you the time of day much less the Good News of the Gospel; and if he did – it would be in a condescending way. Is it any wonder his church is small and musty? People like him need to have people under them to feel superior. They seldom if ever elevate anyone else. This to me is the sure sign of an inferiority complex. We should do and say things to elevate others and not demean them just to elevate ourselves. After all, we are just sinners saved by grace like everyone else in the kingdom of God.
Then came the Speaking-in-tongues church whose only concern is to outdo one another in this so-called manifestation which often becomes an infestation of one-upmanship and nothing more. This group lives in the book of Acts, although many are still in their infancy in Christ. Living in the supernatural realm requires the leading of the Holy Spirit, spiritual maturity and the rightful handling of the word of God. We adults in Christ should be careful in misleading others or misinterpreting the word of God to our own way of humanistic thinking – because we will be giving an account for it in the hereafter.
“Be not many teachers because as you know, that as such we shall incur heavier standards.”
I went back to my church to see what the final outcome would be. The Southern Baptist Convention just happened to come in to save the day – as it were, with cream-of-the-crop speakers and a gifted evangelist – during the last couple of weeks. This action added people to the roles, but it only filled in for those who have left, and it did nothing to alleviate the pain of seeing our twenty-six-year pastor treated shabbily.
Here is a man who poured his life and heart into the church only to have those he hired and elevated turn their backs on him. I, along with many, were hurt to see that happen since he was such a loving and too trusting a man.
We are talking about a big, powerful church comprising thousands of members (each one with a different mindset and state of growth.) We had several Bible classes meeting after the main service and ministries for Spanish-speaking people and Haitian Christians as well – housed on the huge campus. The outreach ministry was doing what it was formed to do under good management.
This same thing is all happening in many churches today even as war is looming on the horizon and Satanism is rising. Just when you’d think that people are being awakened with such bad news, they seem to be burrowing further into denial.
There was a time when I believed that Christians believed the Holy Scriptures; but more and more, they deny the prophetic truths revealed in them. The prophetic scriptures are being fulfilled at great speed and with great accuracy – yet some still claim that the Bible is vague about the prognostications contained in them. Albeit, those who believe this way will wake up one day and realize that, “Every word of God proves to be true no matter who questions them.”
In the meantime, and while we haggle among ourselves, young people who are searching for God, meaning, and salvation are dying by the truckload with no hope or defining reason for their being. This, my friends, is a very tragic state of affairs, one that we will eventually have to answer for at the Bema seat of Christ. This is happening because we were too busy making money and buying things or fulfilling other worldly lusts to notice.
What is it going to take for America to wake up!? Will you be one of those politically correct people who are destined to be herded into concentration camps set up by Communist Liberals or Islamic Imams?
It will be too late then to give voice to your faith. American Christians need to take a stand for God, Christ, and godly principles now. Just doing church isn’t going to cut it. Neither will repetitious prayers said piously for others to see and hear.
As for me, I take no delight in warning others of impending doom and the need of repentance toward God. It doesn’t make others warm up to you; as a matter of fact, those who do so are considered radical fools or at least – fear mongers.
Tonight, I will go to the cancelled meeting to see what is going on (it appears the meeting to resolve our differences was cancelled at the last minute), and so the mystery continues.
I, like the main character in my screenplay says, GET REAL, AMERICA – REPENT!
YBIC
Jim Towers
Write me at, jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com or www.propheticsignsandwonders.com and you can visit me at www.dropzonedelta.com.