Hello all! Been a while since I last wrote. Thankfully things are going well here in Peru, our church is being edified and disciples are being made. Two weeks ago I got back from a short trip to the US. I have good news too- we are making our first trip to the US with Andrew (our son, now 2 1/2) in May. Please keep that in your prayers!
I've been thinking on a few things over the past few weeks, both before going on the trip and since my return. One thing that has been impressed on my mind is the acute similarity between the modern evangelical Christian church in the United States and the post conquest Roman Catholic church of Peru. What in the world do I mean?
Centuries ago, when the Catholic church made a major missionary thrust into the New World (beginning in Peru, as a matter of fact), the main goal appears to have been conversion of the "heathen" on a mass scale. At all costs. So what did the Church do? Under the protection of Spanish steel they outlawed the local religions. Temples and shrines dedicated to the sun and the moon and the earth were razed to the ground, multitudes were slaughtered, and generations were put under the yoke of slavery. "Horrible!" you might say, and you'd be correct in saying that. It was indeed horrible, another botched "crusade" in the name of religion. But what the church did after that was even worse, and to this day has killed more people and in my estimation sent more people to hell than any thing else. And no, I am not going to talk about praying to idols or saints or any of that (which I am not in agreement with, but that's another blog).
What the church did was allow the natives to pretty much keep their former beliefs, or at times mix and meld them into the catholic faith. In fact, right upon the ancient foundation of the Incan Sun God Temple they built the Catholic Cathedral in the heart of the Incan (and likewise conquered) empire. Right smack in the middle of downtown Cuzco, to be exact. God the Father replaced the Sun God, Mary replaced the Earth Mother, Jesus the Moon...In essence, the natives never missed a beat. Each time they went to the Cathedral for centuries thereafter they knew in their hearts that they were still bowing to their Sun god. Even today, sacrifices are made to the earth in the form of flesh and blood offerings.
Instead of correcting the natives, the catholic priests seemingly winked at the obvious. I'm sure it made for easier conversions...if you don't have to change your heart, if you can be comfortable, sure, why not? Today it grieves my heart to see mass pagan idolatry, the many drunken festivals dedicated to proported saints, sacred shrines each with it's own "virgin" or saint or suedo-Jesus. I once spoke with one dear old lady in a village market outside of Cuzco, where the patron saint or semi-god/Jesus is the "Lord of the earthquakes" (a black, purple-clad Jesus, by the way), and she did not know that there is only one God and one Lord. She really thought that there were many Lords, and perhaps even multi Gods.
So let me resume what I am saying: Instead of holding the population to a biblical standard, correcting drast moral issues, and seeking real heart change, the church became a melting pot, allowing for almost anything as long as it came under the domain of Rome. Or, in essence, it doesn't matter about one's lifestyle, sin, paganism, etc as long as one is a member of the church and has been baptized. Most of you are probably understanding what I am saying, and even now there is seething within your heart a desire for holy vengance upon the midians of Rome for such abuse. You'll want to burn me for heresy for what I'm going to say next.
The Christian Church in the USA, the great beacon of hope and freedom and God's Canaan land of prosperity and blessing, whether Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Full Gospel, etc has done the EXACT SAME THING in our generation! We've become like a great chameleon that changes and blends to fit in with her surroundings. You can see the molt trails all over the country.
When so many churches are now going to laid-back services, when there is not any mention of Hell or true repentance, when the Holy Spirit is tied up and stuffed in a broom closet for fear of "turning some people off", when worship music seems to be competing with the secular Top Ten, when messages are politically correct and preachers no longer "call it like it is" and church services are all geared towards reaching the lost (thus the new terminology "seeker friendly"), then we have done nothing less than what an enslaving empire did centuries ago.
I challenge you to do a study of the many revivals of time past. Regardless of denomination, each revival (the Great Awakening, for example), took place because men of God refused to bow the knee to the god of this world and risked the fire of rejection, seeking the face of God to change the hearts of men. Mass evangelism was the norm, but not the feel good, be moved by the music, and come "investigating" a relationship with Jesus evangelism we see so much of today. It was do or die, heaven or hell. Come as you are, yes, but come a repented sinner seeking God with all your heart. A heart that was pricked by the sword of the spirit without apology.
I recently was in a christian book store and began to flip through a book written by a self-acclaimed athiest, writing from his point of view on the various churches he had visited. He was actually writing to tell pastors how to adjust their services to reach their target audience of non-believers. He had a lot of good sounding ideas that basically could be summed up like this: Don't condemn anyone, have short but modern worship, intellectually stimulating messages, but nothing too hard to swallow. Sounds good, and seems like many pastors and churches have adopted similar strategies to streamline their services. But is all that biblically sound advice? Should we adjust our services to make the lost feel comfortable? Many experts on church growth will say yes. Many pastors of mega churches will say yes. You might even be thinking yes, since we are called to win the lost at all costs. But I say no.
If you read the bible, you will note that most conversions of sinners did not take place in "Church" services. In fact, they seem to have taken place after the disciples of the Lord had been in prayer, in the word, getting themselves built up and healed and on fire, and then going out to impact a lost world with the presence of God impregnated in their very bodies and even their shadows. Indeed, the term "church" comes from a greek word which in essence means "the called out ones" or "assembly". What did the writer of Hebrews say the purpose of church services is? Hebrews 10:25 "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves (christians, believers)...but exhorting one another... daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be harded by the deceitfulness of sin (hebrews 3:13)" The purpose of a true church service is to encourage and edify CHRISTIANS, not reach out to the lost! The lost being reached is a by-product of US (blood-bought Christians) coming together, glorfying and worshipping God and being empowered with the Holy Spirit. (See Acts chapters 2-5)
Take for example what many "full-gospel" or pentecostal churches are doing. To not scare off anyone with demonstrations of the Holy Spirit, services are very laid back as far as spiritual gifts go. By laid back I mean you don't ever see them any more. Not in the main service. Do you know what Paul said about that? Take a look at 1 Corinthians 14:23-33. Go ahead, read it. Notice that Paul says in verse 23 "if the whole church comes together in ONE place (sounds like a church service, doesn't it?)...and there come in those who are uninformed or UNBELIEVERS..."
In other words, it's possible that unbelievers come in, but that seems to be the exception, not the rule. Paul is talking here in this passage about the misuse and proper use of spiritual gifts. He does not tell the church at Corinth the STOP using spiritual gifts (so as to not scare anyone off), does he? No, but he does tell them that they need to be used in order. Spiritual gifts are meant for ministering to the body, and Paul says that if one correctly prophesies to a non believer, the secrets of his heart will be revealed, and he will fall on his face and declare that God is among you.
It could be what turns sinners off more than anything else is not having order with spiritual things. Being in services where everything is chaos. But when the sweet Holy Spirit is allowed to move as He desires, within the boundaries of order as established in 1 Cor 14:23-33, sinners will not be repulsed but rather convicted. That is what we want, isn't it? Real heart conversions that lead to changed lives and true salvation.
Pastors, seek God and not the face of men! Do what is right, not what is popular. You might not have a mega church. But who cares? Are we seeking to grow our church, making conversions but not true disciples? We are called to make disciples, and that demands that people change, not remain the same. Change will not come without truth, and truth can sometimes hurt. People need to know that sin will kill them, either here or in eternity. Those we have in our churches need to be fed, not a watered down soupy sermon but beef steak, potatoes, and vegetables of the word of God. Not only do they need the word, but also the presence of God. We have to give an account to Jesus Christ, not our board or the community or our peers. "For we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ..."
A chameleon blends in with his surroundings. We've done the same thing in the US. Although we have not shed men's blood or forced conversions, we are guilty of buying the idea that comfortable people will come to Christ when they are ready. Sure, they have issues. But don't run them away. Look how much my church has grown...how many are real converts only God knows. But it's nothing new.That lizard has been shedding since the days of the Spanish conquest in Peru. |
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