Warning! Some degree of cynicism included.
Too much of modern Christianity is not Christianity at all, but is rather baptized paganism.
The real problem with this isn’t that this is the case. The problem is when people don’t know this.
If Jesus were to appear again, here and now, as a man among us, his teachings would not be well received among most of his “followers”.
American Christianity is only slightly better than European Christianity, which is only a thin veneer of Christianity laid over Druidism and Shamanism, mixed with a congenital and cultural bent on the perpetual pursuit of dominating others.
There is no “Christian culture”, only cultures influenced to some degree by Christianity.
If Jesus were to address some of our Independent Fundamental Baptist Associations, he could use some of the same sermons he preached to the Pharisees.
Most of the modern preachers who use the word “relevant” really mean by that term, “hip”.
The most relevant things among us today are not “hip”. They are transcendent.
The things that society recognizes as hip are almost completely void of real value.
If something has no real importance or transcendent value it is irrelevant.
Culture worship is just another form of idolatry and is just as sinful as any other form of idolatry.
The ancient pagan belief in “magic words” is a definite factor in such issues as the “Prayer of Jabez” craze, the “Word of Faith” movement, “quickie evangelism”, and “ other errors among Christians today. Once you see this, it is hard to ignore it.
“1-2-3 repeat after me” evangelism has sent more souls to hell than liquor and drugs combined.
When you can see Satan work, it is only his very lowest rank of demons involved. A high ranking demon will be more invisible and likely to pose as one of Christianity’s great champions.
What is good for the local church is good for Christianity.
What is bad for the local church is bad for Christianity.
90% of what we do in Jesus’ name is actually man-made filler.
The ones we often deem as not being very good Christians may be the best of Christ’s followers.
The ones we often deem as being good Christians may be the worst of Christ’s followers.
Those who are the quickest to judge others are themselves ripe for judgment.
A truly spiritual man is more strict on himself than he is on others.
A truly carnal man is more strict on others than he is on himself.
The Christians who rate the highest in heaven are most likely unknown to most of us.
We have sold Christianity so cheaply for so long that many people no longer value it at all.
Holiness is not the absence of sinful appetites, but the conscious awareness of, and careful control of them. Otherwise only those who are comatose are truly holy.
Hormonal deficiency is not to be confused with sexual morality.
Lack of ambition is not to be confused with meekness.
Poor self esteem is not to be confused with humility.
Until we are in heaven, we will struggle against something. This is the best anyone gets.
Many subscribe to certain “convenient doctrines” not because they are derived from sound exegesis, but because they allow one to be a Christian while having it easier than other Christians.
Too many Christians are willing to reject, and even defame their brethren, over things that God doesn’t care anything about.
If it isn’t relevant to all peoples of the earth, in all generations through history, then maybe it isn’t really relevant anywhere at any time.
If there were a shop where working voodoo dolls were sold, some church members would pay any price to get one, put their pastor’s likeness on it, and spend every waking moment sticking pins in it.
The ones who claim to be the most spiritual in a church, and want others to know it, are often the most carnal and wicked people in the community.
If evil is defined by how it hurts the local church, then some faithfully attending church members are far more wicked than the neighborhood hookers, drunks, drug pushers, and thieves.
In all my experience with church work, I have never lost a single member or suffered a lying slander due to the efforts of a lost, unchurched sinner. I have experienced both from church members.
If a veteran pastor were to reveal all he knows that is true about his detractors, he could ruin their reputations with the entire community. Yet these same individuals will ungratefully invent anything they can to ruin this same pastor.
Pastoring a church is the most important profession in the world. We should not be surprised that Satan’s highest ranking demons infiltrate and hinder it. Even Jesus had his Judas.
Whenever Christ acquired large crowds he would strongly challenge them until many, if not most, left.
Whenever Jesus confronted potential converts, he placed a barrier in front of them that they had to cross. He never downplayed the cost of conversion.
When Christ wrote His 7 letters to the churches, His primary concern was that they had too many of the wrong kind of people in the group. He thought their numbers were too high.
Jesus appears to be less interested in the numerical success of a church as He is in the health of a church.
A healthy church will, in time, achieve true numerical success.
Many churches that show numerical “success” are, in fact, the sickest, least effectual churches in church history. Yet, they often become the models.
As long as church associations and fellowships feature only the large, well attended churches, as models of how things should be done, we will not have true revival.
When we can attend seminars and hear a pastor tell how he thinned his previously large crowd by following Jesus’ teachings, example, and Holy Spirit leading, we may begin to see real revival.
Setting up a church to appeal to “seekers” is very close if not identical to gearing a church around career Christ rejecters.
Seekers should turn into finders and do so very soon upon hearing the gospel. If they are continually comfortable in their state of unbelief, then the church that made them comfortable may be doing Satan’s highest work.
Whatever you do to get a crowd is what you will have to do to keep a crowd.
Jesus, John Baptist, Peter, Paul, James, in fact all the apostles and every faithful preacher since have made unbelievers uncomfortable until they repented and believed, or tried to kill them.
Modern American Christianity, oddly, does not evangelize like Jesus did, nor as his Apostles taught.
Modern American Christianity has become the cheaply paid prostitute of an apostate society.
For every genuine convert gotten by use of quickie evangelism, there are 10 that are effectively immunized against the saving gospel.
Equally true, failure to draw in the net is cowardice and laziness of the most damning kind.
If an airplane full of average American clergymen were to crash into the ocean, the man-eating sharks there would still have nothing to eat.
If even just the Baptists in the United States would have presented a truly masculine form of Christianity, Islam would have made very little inroads into the American community.
A Christianity that is void of demands is a Christianity void of importance.
Relevance is never as important as importance.
During the times when becoming a Christian carried the highest price, the church grew in a genuine way.
During the times when becoming a Christian was easy, the church either declined, failed to grow, or it grew larger but weaker.
Since the majority of souls saved and discipled each year are converted in churches running 200 or less, why are those churches not the models for church growth?