prayeramedic.com » Emerging Trends

Which is Your Church?

Dan — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:30:12 +0000

A simple question (see image below):

Anti-intellectualism

Dan — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:07:42 +0000

I received two comments in the last few days that have reeked of anti-intellectualism, a dangerous heresy that infiltrated fundamentalist Christianity, Pentecostalism, and now many mainstream evangelical churches. I posted a video recently encouraging Christians to think, and a post about how most Christians cannot explain their faith that precipitated a lot of this. This began as a comment reply, so let me post the original comments:

TMLutas writes:

…The article assumes that living a christian life is insufficient to transmit the faith. Reason is good. It provides another support for faith in the truth. But true faith lived out in real life is a powerful witness, much more so than any apologetics….

Allyn writes:

I am not much of a Josh McDowell fan. But as a former knuckle-dragger, I can tell you that when a non-believer challenges my faith or questions it, I almost always quote scripture. That is the basis of my faith, period. Without it, all is lies.

If the questioner does not believe the Bible is the Word Of God, then we have no basis from which to begin.
However, the more scripture I quote, the more I believe the HS will pierce their heart of unbelief.
1John 5:13 makes a great starting point.

If you over-intellectualize (is that a word?) God, I think you take the HS out of the mix.
AL

For the reader’s benefit, HS means “Holy Spirit.” And my reply, which has become a post:

Hey Allyn. The verse you mentioned, 1 John 5:13, says: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Notice that it is very clear that “these things” were written for those who ALREADY “believe on the name of the Son of God,” so that they may have assurance of their eternal destiny.

For those who don’t believe that the Scriptures are true, it is important to help them understand why they are true. The evidence is overwhelming, but few Christians take the time to learn any of it. It is true that God will pierce a heart of unbelief using Scripture, for He promises: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

But when someone doesn’t believe that God’s Word is true, we can help them overcome that obstacle. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit creates faith in people’s hearts, but we can help people see why God’s Word is true, which will give them cause to consider what it says. This is especially pertinent in a day and age where so many lies and so much disinformation is being spread about God’s Word. Paul continually combated false teachings and those that taught them, and his letters became a large part of our New Testament. The Church is still called to identify and denounce false teachings, including false teachings regarding the Word of God.

Go to your local bookstore and you will find a slew of books questioning whether Jesus was a real man who walked the earth and whether or not the New Testament is entirely fabricated by Paul or by later mystics. We know that it is lunacy to deny that Christ was a real man who walked the earth, and that anyone with even an ounce of historical know-how cannot deny His historical reality. But most people have no clue how to do research (including many college graduates) and most people will believe whatever they see on YouTube or on the History Channel (like the Zeitgeist film). Very few people will take the time to do any research for themselves.

To insist that basic apologetics is a waste of time and is mere “intellectualism” is merely showing one’s anti-intellectual bias. The emerging church, a prevalent postmodern heretical movement, has largely been able to prove its legitimacy by pointing out mainstream fundamental evangelicalism’s anti-intellectual bias. And so far they’ve succeeded in making many look foolish, which is unfortunate. It’s unfortunate because we have a large body of academic, scholarly research that has been conducted and compiled by Christians like Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel that demonstrate the trustworthiness of the Scriptures and many other things. To ignore this would be foolish.

This anti-intellectualism causes religious people of all faiths to give simplistic answers to serious, honest questions and this attitude has caused many people to leave the church. Josh McDowell recently asked a group of pastors why the Bible is true and a young pastor responded, “Because I believe it!”, to which he received a round of “Amens” and applause. This is ridiculous! A Jehovah’s Witness believes his bible and a Scientologist believes in the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, but that doesn’t make them true. The Bible isn’t true because I believe it, the Bible is true and that’s why I believe it. Using the circular logic of anti-intellectualism only further proves to the world that religious people don’t possess critical thinking skills.

Rick M. Nañez is an Assemblies of God missionary who wrote a book about anti-intellectual trends in the Pentecostal tradition. In an interview with Christianity Today, he says:

In my estimation, the battle against anti-intellectualism is an ongoing global battle. Whether it’s a secular society whose population says that the elite should think for them or a religious community who has fallen for old-fashioned pragmatism; whether it’s evangelicals who are so busy building their material kingdom that they say they don’t have time to study in order to share or defend their faith; or whether its Pentecostals who claim that the heart and head are enemies—it’s all anti-intellectualism.

….Both our nation as well as our nation’s homegrown movements tend to battle with the temptation to pit doing against thinking, and spirit against mind….

Anti-intellectualism keeps us from affecting our institutions and their various departments with solid Christian thinking. It hinders our ability to think in terms of worldview, that is, to understand the hundreds of otherwise fragmented areas of life in a coherent way. If we are suspicious of the intellect, we are hamstrung when it comes to providing well-thought-out answers to difficult questions from critics and skeptics. Anti-intellectualism can also lead to dangerous forms of mysticism and a type of superstitious faith.

I believe that anti-intellectualism tends to lead Christians into relatively superficial spiritual lives, at least, in comparison to the impact they could make if they engaged in “thinking on purpose” for the glory of God. Also, mediocrity in the “life of the mind” leads the Christian subculture to criticize, fear, and condemn the secular institutions that their anti-intellectual, evangelical, and Pentecostal parents and grandparents abandoned the generations before.

The greatest problem with it is this: It flies in the face of Scriptures, which challenge us to prepare our minds for action, to train ourselves to give good reasons for our faith, and to learn to love God with all of our mind.

As Nañez stated, anti-intellectualism is a dangerous attitude that creates a false dichotomy pitting doing against thinking, and spirit against mind, and this goes against what Scripture teaches.

Most Christians Cannot Explain Their Faith, says Christian Post

Dan — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:30:45 +0000

I’ve been pointing this out for awhile. This Christian Post article shows how few Christians have any intellectual basis for their faith and most cannot explain it in an intelligible way:

The faith of most Christians, even that of many pastors, will not stand up to intellectual scrutiny, according to renowned apologist Josh McDowell.

This is a concern because pastors’ inability to present biblical truth comprehensibly and relevantly has led to children from Christian families leaving the church, research has shown.

In the United States, the age at which nearly all such children leave church has decreased to 18 years.

Not even the children of many successful ministers are spared….

During the past six years, he asked hundreds of Christians and leaders why they see themselves as Christians. Again no one gave him an “intelligent” answer.

In the past 17 years, he has asked over 4,000 pastors, leaders and parents why they believe the Bible is true.

A mere six “came close to giving an intelligent answer,” McDowell noted.

“If anything is based upon truth, it’s the Christian faith,” he said. “Christians who do not know why they have faith or believe have a very difficult time expressing themselves to others.

“The saddest thing is people come to me and say, ‘What’s the answer?’”

“I say, ‘There’s no answer… There are hundreds of answers.’”

Most Christians, even some pastors, don’t even know one. On the other hand, the apologist said he could give 50 reasons for his belief that the Bible is true.

Ninety-five percent of Christians gave disappointing responses when asked why they believe Jesus is the Son of God.

Asked why the Bible is true and historically reliable, Christians replied that it was what they had been taught by their church or parents.

A common response that most Christians gave to both questions was that it is “what I believe.”

McDowell responded: “That’s voodoo thinking. Where did we ever get that crazy idea that something is true just because we believe it?

“If that is true, then there will never be heresy. Everybody would be right.”

On one occasion, 13 youth pastors at a large convention were unable to reasonably answer the apologist’s question.

Finally one young person stood up, walked toward him and told him he knew the answer.

The young man promptly held up his Bible and said, “Because I believe it.”

And to McDowell’s dismay, all the youth pastors applauded him.

McDowell said, “Young man, do you know the difference between you, me and the majority of Christians in the world?

“To you, it is true because you believe it. For me, I believe it because it is true.”

Another response the apologist received was: Because I have faith.

He commented, “Where did we ever get the crazy idea that faith makes something true? That’s idiotic. That’s so unbiblical you can call it heresy.

“God doesn’t use faith to create truth. He uses truth through the Holy Spirit to create faith.”

Christians, the apologist stressed, are called to explain their faith when asked. They are set free by the faith in the truth, he expressed, referring to John 8:32.

Yet others say Christianity is true because Jesus changed their lives.

Even this will not stand up to intellectual scrutiny, McDowell argued.

“Lies change lives; cults change lives,” he said.

To make such an appeal is “not the essence of Christianity,” the author emphasized.

McDowell said: “We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our children, we owe it to our neighbors, we owe it to the lost, to tell them not just what we believe but why do we believe it.”

H/T Defending. Contending.

Life is not about us!

Dan — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:30:43 +0000

The above image shows my recent lament on Facebook after hearing from yet another former believer who has been destroyed by the man-centered pop-psychological mantra of many American churches. Why do churches jump on this pop-psychology bandwagon? It doesn’t end well – it simply creates more self-absorbed people.

Whether we pity ourselves, esteem ourselves, or rip on ourselves under the guise of humility, the problem is still the same: we are focusing on ourselves! A quick sampling of the titles of best-selling Christian books reveals this problem:

Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living At Your Full Potential
The Purpose-Driven Life
The Me I Want To Be
It’s Your Time: Activate Your Faith, Achieve Your Dreams, and Increase in God’s Favor
Finding Your Spiritual Gifts
Become a Better You: 7 Keys to Improving Your Life Every Day
Look Great, Feel Great
The Dream Giver: Following Your God-Given Destiny
How to Succeed At Being Yourself

And the list goes on and on… Now don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of Christian books calling us to die to ourselves and to live for Christ – but unfortunately very few of them are best-sellers, and thus many of them aren’t even stocked at my local Christian bookstore. The books above really aren’t even Christian (in most cases), they are simply self-help/motivational literature. Yet that is what most “Christians” read and live by.

What’s gone wrong in Christianity? Has Satan so infiltrated the pulpits across America that the Gospel has been reduced to finding our purpose in life? Does anyone live a radical life for Jesus anymore?

I’ll close with a quote from Tim Keller:

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”

Should churches compete with each other?

Dan — Mon, 31 May 2010 08:30:51 +0000

Should they? If the emphasis is on making disciples, then there really is no competition. In John 4, when Jesus finds out people have taken notice that he baptized more people than John (his disciples did, anyways), he gets out of the way, interestingly enough.

Yet when churches use marketing tactics and strategic business planning more than biblical discipleship to encourage growth, they often find themselves in competition with area churches, a practice known as “sheep stealing.” Christians who switch churches are often labeled church “hoppers” or “shoppers,” and members become consumers of services rather than disciples called to serve.

What do you think? Does your church measure progress by making true disciples (who make other disciples)? Or is your church following marketing and business strategies for growth?

Canceling church to do service projects

Dan — Mon, 24 May 2010 08:30:08 +0000

I’ve heard a lot about this lately. A church in St. Louis, MO recently canceled services in order to do community projects. Several people whose opinions I respect have mentioned the prospect of doing this lately, and several others whom I also respect have voiced strong opposition to this. Here’s a short video about this church event:

I guess a lot of this centers around your definition of “church” and “worship.” If Church is something we are, then wherever we go there is Christ’s Body. At the same time, what about those visitors who didn’t get to hear the Gospel that day? I’m not of the mindset that actions alone preach the Gospel, words are essential – specifically the Word of God.

If “worship” is something we do for God, then service projects are an appropriate substitute. But if worship is a place where the Church receives Christ’s gifts and is replenished for service, then what happened at this church in St. Louis is equivalent to sending starving people out to the fields to work.

Here are a few questions I have about this:

What about the visitors? Did they hear the Gospel? (Hearing the message is important, see Romans 10:17).
Did everyone have an opportunity to serve? What about the disabled, those with special needs, elderly, mothers with many children, etc.? Did they attend this event and if so, were they able to contribute in a meaningful way?
Why couldn’t service events be scheduled after the service, or over the weekend? Were people not willing to devote additional time to service projects?
What does this convey about this church’s theology of worship and why we gather?

Those are some questions to consider. I’d love to hear your responses. Please comment with your thoughts here or on Facebook. Do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not?

For a great audio clip discussing this very issue check out this episode of Issues, Etc.

H/T: Cyberbrethren and Issues, Etc.

Jennifer Knapp has come out of the closet

Dan — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:06:56 +0000

It’s confirmed, Jennifer Knapp has come out of the closet. I’m not all about shooting the wounded, but it is safe to say that her music should no longer be classified as “Christian” (she even makes this clear in her recent interviews). Not that much of it clearly proclaimed Christ to begin with, but it’s much clearer now. She revealed that she has been in a same-sex relationship for 8 years. Derek Webb, who was one of my favorite artists, fully supports her and is still touring with her. Wow. Signs of the times I guess….

I’ve written a balanced approach to homosexuality in the past, feel free to check it out here. I’m really not interested in debating homosexuality with you if you don’t at least read this post and the subsequent comments. Really, I’m not interested in debating it at all. I will simply refer you to scripture.

You’re going to hell, isn’t that funny?!?

Dan — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:30:41 +0000

What an absurd title. That would certainly be an absurd thing to say. Yet this is almost the message we get from pulpits across America today. I recently read a great blog post entitled, Is Your Preacher a Prophet or a Clown?, which said the following:

A clown’s job is to entertain, to make the crowd feel good for a while, to help them forget their problems and needs. A prophet, on the other hand, is to bring people face to face with God, to show them their spiritual bankruptcy, to make known their spiritual nakedness, to reveal to them that though they think they are rich and have need of nothing, they actually are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. He then is to exalt Jesus Christ as the only Saviour of sinners, the One who died and was raised again for their justification. He is to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus. . . .

Reducing the sermon to ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes devoid of Biblical exposition, failing to use the S (sin) word or the H (hell) word, failing to speak clearly about the glory of Christ and His person and work, coming across as a motivational speaker or clown, is to impugn the name of Christ. . . .

For example, let’s say your spouse has been diagnosed with cancer and has six months to live. How would you feel if the doctor delivered the message to you in drama, in song and dance, or in a stand-up comedy routine? Surely you would be insulted? Would you not consider the doctor to be incredibly insensitive, making light of a serious and painful issue? The medium is essential to the message. Doesn’t the sober nature of the message of life and death, heaven and hell, demand a similar form of communication? Words are what the preacher has at his disposal, words under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, words made active by the Spirit who works in both the preacher and congregation. Words will do. We don’t need drama. We don’t need song and dance. We don’t need comedy. We need straightforward words, cutting like a knife into the hearts of the hearers, opening them up to the folly of their own devices, drawing them back to Jesus who alone has the power to save and keep them until that great day.

Wow. There are some powerful thoughts here for all believers. Are we trying to communicate a serious message using inappropriate means, or do we tell it like it is?

The customer isn’t right

Dan — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 10:00:28 +0000

I was listening to a podcast on Issues Etc. earlier this week and I was struck by a profound thought. The title of the podcast was “The Vocation of Minister.” I’d normally link directly to it but the site appears to be down as I’m writing this, nothing will load.

The guest speaker was talking about how the word minister means “servant,” but most churches today prefer to look to ministers as leaders or CEO’s, and ministers are all too happy to accept this role. The proper role of a minister is that of a servant, and his chief task is to “administer” what God has given, His gifts.

The guest speaker then said this:

“We approach [the vocation of the minister] as a social issue, we look at what the people want. Let’s look at the word ministry. There’s an old saying… ‘The customer is always right.’ The customer knows what he wants and if you’re going to serve the customer, you better give him what he wants or you’re not going to do business with him. That’s precisely wrong when it comes to the church, because the customer is always wrong. And God is always right.

In other words, we must approach the vocation of the minister theologically (not socially). A minister of God must often preach God’s Law and His Gospel to people who don’t want any part of it. Often people don’t realize the depth of their sinfulness (including me), and they must hear God’s Law. Other times the Law has done its work and people have been cut to the heart, then they need to hear the Gospel. The customer (not a good term but I’m using it simply to make a point) is always wrong. He doesn’t want what he really needs. I am so often guilty of this. I often want authenticity, community, and whatever – but what I really need is the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. These other things are secondary to this primary need.

It is too easy to lose sight of Christ as the focal point of our churches when we operate with the assumption that the folks in the pews are right. That’s how we get mega-churches that acquiesce to, rather than transform, culture. Give the people what they want and you will grow numerically, but that’s not how ministry progress ought to be measured.

Positive Confession and the Prosperity Gospel – Part 3

Dan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:00:57 +0000

I am preparing a post on Steve Munsey, but found that I first needed to explain some of the heresies that he teaches, namely positive confession and the prosperity gospel. One of my favorite tunes is a song called “Wedding Dress” by Derek Webb. There’s a line in the song that asks,

And should I read between the lines,
To look for blessings in disguise
To make me handsome, rich and wise?
Is that really what you want?

That’s a valid question. Does God want me to be healthy and wealthy, as the prosperity gospel teaches? Most Christian leaders condemn the “prosperity gospel,” yet observers say it is enjoying new popularity in this economically tenuous time, when many people are not prospering. What’s come to be known as the prosperity gospel began as a staple of fire-and-brimstone preaching in early 20th-century revival meetings. It surged in popularity with television preachers in the 1980s, until scandals revealed that some preachers used money donated for ministry to support their own lavish lifestyles.

Now observers say the prosperity gospel is spreading among churches large and small, denominational and independent, as well as through the ministries of televangelists such as Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Paula White, Steve Munsey, Paul Couch and Kenneth Copeland. These pastors, critics say, encourage their followers to “sow a seed” of faith by spending money – often in the form of a donation to their ministries – in order to reap prosperity in the future. Please note that I recognize that many people have been blessed through these ministries, but I must point out their participation and support of this misleading and dangerous doctrine.

Many Christian leaders have long condemned the prosperity gospel as aberrant theology, but most did so quietly. No more. In the past year, African-American pastors met at a national conference to discuss a problem they see spreading in their denominations. Critics have even questioned the ministries of such nationally prominent megapastors as T.D. Jakes – whose Potter’s House does extensive outreach to the poor — and Joel Osteen — pastor of Lakewood Church, the largest megachurch in the country — saying their brand of divinely assisted self-improvement is just a vamped-up version of the prosperity gospel.

Listen to these quotes from and about Jim Bakker, after his release from 5 years in prison for defrauding Heritage USA investors:

“I’d always quoted 3 John 2, saying, ‘Above all things God wants you to prosper.’ I loved that Scripture. It looks great on a TV screen when you’re raising funds, and I interpreted it as God wants you to be rich. But when I got to the words of John, I said, ‘Now this don’t make sense.’ So I took the word prosper apart in the Greek and found out it’s made up of two words-the first word means good or well and the second road. It’s a progressive word, so it’s like a journey. So, here’s John saying, basically, ‘Beloved, I want you to have a good journey through life as your soul has a good journey to heaven.’ It was a greeting! Building theology on that is like building the church on ‘Have a nice day.’ …

I began to look up all the Scriptures used in prosperity teaching, such as ‘Give and it shall be given unto you.’ When I put that Scripture back into its context, I found Christ was teaching on forgiveness, not on money. He was teaching us that by the same measure that we forgive, we will be forgiven. . . .

I had gotten my sermons from other people. The Bible warns about the shepherds who get their messages from each other. I think today the reason we have another gospel and another Jesus being preached is because men have gotten their sermons from each other and from motivational teaching. A lot of what’s being taught today is simply motivational teaching with a few Scriptures put to it” (Source: The Re-education of Jim Bakker, ChristianityToday.com, Dec. 7, 1998).

“Bakker . . . says he has had a change of heart about the prosperity gospel. . . .

The same man who once told his PTL coworkers that ‘God wants you to be rich,’ now says he made a tragic mistake. . . .

‘For years, I helped propagate an impostor, not a true gospel, but another gospel,’ Bakker has said in his 1996 book, ‘I Was Wrong.’ …

‘The prosperity message did not line up with the tenor of the Scripture,’ he said. ‘My heart was crushed to think that I led so many people astray’” (Source: The prosperity gospel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA, Nov. 18, 2003).

But won’t God show us more signs and wonders and great prosperity in these last days?

People keep talking about a great end times revival, when Scripture seems to suggest mass persecution and deception in His name – the “counterfeit bride” of 2 Corinthians 4:4 and Revelation 17:5, the great whore/harlot. The end times will be full of signs and wonders, where people will chase after divine healing, prosperity and health – but will miss the whole point of the gospel. In Luke 13, when Jesus was going from town to town on His way to Jerusalem, “someone asked Him, ‘Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. . . .’ He will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” (Luke 13:23-27). In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” We cannot chase after signs, wonders, healings and miracles and some sort of end times revival. We must seek Christ alone and doing His will, even if His will does not ask us to operate in the realm of the supernatural. This is not to say that He won’t ask us to heal and do miraculous things, but as always, we must seek Him first and allow Him to give us direction in these matters. We mustn’t try to compete with the emerging church, new wine, and G12/cell church movements, which are heretical.

Then what is the “true” gospel?

The gospel is so simple, yet it is so common for people to leave out essential elements (or to add things like physical healing or prosperity). We must understand that eternal life is a free gift (Romans 6:23). It is not earned or deserved (Ephesians 2:8-9). No one can earn their way into heaven, because we are all sinful (Romans 3:23). Because of our sinfulness, we cannot save ourselves, we are not perfect (Matthew 5:48). However, in spite of our sin, God is merciful and does not want to punish us (1 John 4:8; Jeremiah 31:3). But the Bible also tells us that God is just, and as such He must punish sin (Exodus 34:7; Ezekiel 18:4). This creates a problem! God loves us and doesn’t want to punish us, but at the same time He is just and must punish sin. God solves this problem for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who came to earth and was fully God and fully man (John 1:1, 14)! What exactly did He do on earth? He died on the cross in order to pay the penalty for our sins and He rose from the grave to purchase a place for us in Heaven (Isaiah 53:6; 1 Corinthians 15:1-6). Jesus Christ bore our sin in His body on the cross and now offers us eternal life (Heaven) as a free gift. This gift is received by faith (Acts 16:31), which itself is a gift from God (Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Ephesians 2:8-9; Hebrews 12:2).

In light of all this, Paul says in Galatians 1:9 – “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” The true Gospel of scripture is not a gospel of earthly prosperity nor of physical healing. It is a gospel of eternal salvation.

Thanks for reading this three-part series on positive confession and the prosperity gospel. I hope it shed some light on this dangerous heresy. Please read all three posts before trying to argue based on one of them, thank you