Excerpt from renner.org: Three Types of Churches Will Appear in the Last Days:
Unfortunately, what we currently see and feel is only the beginning of the rift that is developing within the Church world. Unless a major revival occurs, this rift will only grow deeper and wider. If repentance doesn’t melt the hearts of people throughout the Church world, it will eventually seem like there are three churches:
- A Church that holds fast to the truth and faces the brunt of opposition because it refuses to bend.
- A Church in the middle trying to “ride the fence” through accommodation in order to avoid persecution and societal rejection (see Revelation 2:12-17)
- A lukewarm, “Laodicean-like” Church (see Revelation 3:14-22) that has allowed compromise to run its full course, stripping it completely of the power of God and leaving Jesus standing on the outside. – Source
Inevitably, I knew that a part 2 relating to this topic was coming. In the first article, I talked about some of the red flags in the mega church that we are currently in now. Today, I am going to expound on a ‘big alarm bell’ concerning the incoming Pastor and how the ‘disturbing trend to be relevant’ has become widespread in infecting our churches.
As of February 2020, the ‘Baton’ will be passed from the Senior Pastor of 40 years to this immature ‘Hipster Pastor’ in taking over this mega church. Those of us who have spiritual discernment see this move as an ‘End-Times Trend’ that will only go into an erroneous direction. When this new Pastor came on the scene a little over a year ago, the first thing I noticed about him was his distractingly tight ‘skinny jeans.’
Apparently, I was not the only one who noticed, seeing how he addressed the issue of people emailing him about this as well. As if that was not distracting enough, during the summer his t-shirts would be tight to the point of looking like they were a size too small. Overall, it put off an effeminate, unappealing, trying-too-hard-to-be-relevant, and deranged hipster vibe.
This Pastor’s response to the emails was in the form of a joke, ‘blowing off the topic’ by stating that he just has big legs and that all pants look like skinny jeans on him. At first, my husband did not see the Pastor’s skinny jeans as that big of a problem, until one day we were at a grocery store and a lady walking in front of us had on super-tight yoga pants, revealing her entire backside.
Since then, it dawned on him how he would feel if a lady speaker on the stage at church was wearing super tight clothing as well. It is a fact that tight clothing does have a distracting and uncomfortable effect on members of the opposite sex. It also revealed that I was not overreacting in my initial assessment.
Although I am not a Calvinist, the following excerpts are noteworthy for the purpose of this article.
Excerpts from reformationcharlotte: Why Do These Pastors Desire to Dress and Act Like Effeminate Homosexual Men?
An unsettling trend in the church is that men who presume to speak on behalf of God want to dress and act like effeminate, homosexual men. The “hipster” pastor movement is a phenomenon unbeknownst to the early Church and to practically every historic expression of Christianity since Christ walked the Earth. The incessant need to be relevant in a culture that hates God — as opposed to being, as the Bible calls us to be, set apart — is mind-numbing.
The argument is that making yourself relevant to the world will attract people to the gospel. Historically, church-hating people have always argued that church is boring and that they would probably go more often if Christians wouldn’t be so dull.
Of course, this presumes that the God who created us is, himself, boring and humdrum and needs to be, for a lack of a better way of putting it, “spiced up” to make Him more attractive. This is exactly what the hipster pastor movement does. These pastors blaspheme God by saying Christ alone isn’t good enough; we’re going to make Him more attractive by adding our own sugar-coating to the gospel.
To summarize, the movement,
- Denies that the gospel alone has the power to save,
- Denies the biblical calling for Christians to reject the things of the world, and
- Denies that Christ alone is enough reward for believers. – Source
As if the ‘relevancy desperation’ was not enough, one only has to look at this Hipster Pastor’s social media page to find a gross lack of discernment and holiness in his life. For one, I was mortified to see the promotion of Harry Potter (blatant witchcraft) with his kids dressing up and having Harry Potter birthday parties.
Another was in the proud affiliation with Beth Moore (a known heretic) along with his following of other such heretical pastors. Also, in the repeated promotion of Star Wars (dangerous for youth and has a cult following) with his family dressing up as certain characters and going to see the movie.
Not to mention the all-out lack of discernment on pagan holidays such as Halloween (Satan worship), even to the point of posting on the church social media page telling the congregants to have “A safe and happy Trick or Treating!” Lastly, his recent posts about Christmas mainly focused on the ‘traditions of men’ aspect such as Santa Claus with his kids.
Finally, a picture posted of his family in pajamas with him once again looking ‘disturbingly effeminate’ in tight Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer jammies for all of social media to see! Just a blatant overall lack of discernment and holiness, especially concerning spiritual insight.
Even from the pulpit said Hipster Pastor ‘makes light’ of celebrating Halloween, watching secular movies, TV shows, and things like that. If you tend to disagree with this ideology, then the message portrayed is that you are being ‘too legalistic.’ Unfortunately, that seems to be the Modern Progressive Church view in these Last Days.
Let us get back to what the Bible says, shall we? God’s Word tells us that we are to be in the world but not of it. We are to be set apart. We are to be Holy, for Christ is Holy. We are not to love the things of this world. Overall, remnant believers do not want to come into a church to see more of the world; we want to come into a church to see more of Christ and His Righteousness!
Excerpts from TGC: The Pastor’s Personal Holiness
In fact, a lack of personal holiness in the pastorate has ruined many churches and many lives. The pastor, like a boulder on top of a hill, when falling, can have a cascading effect upon everything below him. Our adversary does not lack this knowledge. He is well aware that if he can make one pastor stumble or turn away from following Christ passionately, then an entire church can be affected. At times, an entire denomination, city, or even country can be negatively affected by one pastor’s sins. Conversely, where one finds a pastor who is a man of Christ-like character and holiness, one also often finds maturity among the people under his care.
As an under-shepherd, the pastor models before his congregation Christian living. The people in the pew look to him. He represents Christ, His demands, and His calling to those under his care. They will not believe what they hear from his lips if they do not see it in his life.
And every congregation knows this, not only about themselves, but about their pastor. They know his weaknesses. They come to recognize his sinful inclinations and sinful habits. This is part of living in community. It is difficult to hide who we are. In fact, we cannot and must not hide who we are. Rather, pastors, declare with your living who you are in Christ. – Source
Conversely, a couple we have befriended from our Life Group said mega church has decided to leave and go back to a more conservative former church in recent weeks due to the same ‘lack of holiness’ they have observed coming from the pulpit. The sermon that pretty much ‘put them over the edge’ was in hearing said Pastor tell about him and his wife ‘sending a favorite bottle of wine’ to an unbeliever in hopes of drawing them to Christ.
After discussing our concerns with said friends, we all felt the same way about not feeling like we would be heard if we were to address these issues with the church. Seeing how in a mega church we do not ‘personally’ know our Pastor, and in recent sermons he demonstrated that he will just blow off such addresses in emails with jokes or excuses anyways.
Our plan to leave is similar to our friends but we still would like to stay plugged into our Biker Life Group at this mega church. So, starting this year, we will attend a church we have found which has a Theologically Sound Pastor who also teaches on Eschatology. Pretty much, we just Love him! Bonus is that he wears normal clothes too!
Since it is kind of far though, our plan is to attend every other Sunday, and on the other weeks we will attend the Life Group class at the mega church. Ultimately, the plan is to no longer sit under this immature Hipster Pastor’s lack of holiness, discernment, and distracting skinny jeans coming from said pulpit.
Our friends also feel the same way we do about not giving our tithe to a ministry that we do not feel confident in supporting. Making these changes will help all of us to feel more assured about where our tithe is going because, during the past year concerning this ‘act of worship’, it was a strain on our spiritual discernment.
Excerpts from gotquestions: Tithes in Church Ministry
Further, if a believer prayerfully decides to give 10% in offerings, we believe he/she can give as the Spirit leads him/her; i.e., 8% to their church and 2% to other Christian causes. What matters is that believers make sacrificial financial offerings to God’s work, wherever and in whatever way He leads. Believers should pray for wisdom in regard to how much and to whom God would have them make their offerings.
Every Christian should diligently pray and seek God’s wisdom in the matter of participating in tithing and/or how much to give (James 1:5). Above all, all tithes and offerings should be given with pure motives and an attitude of worship to God and service to the body of Christ. “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). – Source
1 Peter 1:15-16 “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
Leviticus 20:26 “And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.”
2 Timothy 1:9 “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
Until next time… Maranatha!
JESUS = WAY, TRUTH, LIFE
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