What was revealed???

[Guest jina]

Wow!!! God is ineed good I am very humbled my roommate and myself {she is a n elderly lady from my church} have been talking of the almost exact thing since the tsunami hit. I truly feel for all of the people who lost their lives but I am speaking of their souls and not necessarily their physical bodies.I agree wholeheartedly about the state the "church" is in. I praise the Lord for my church we are a small non-denom and have been blessed with no nonsense bible teaching pastors. As we are a Village Missiionaries Church we have been through three pastors in the almost ten years I have been here. They never deviate in any way from the Bible. We have a small youth program and adult bible study groups. God has definitely had His hand on us and we are taught only His word.. I am astounded sometimes at some of my friends who attend much larger churches and ask me sometimes if I am bored at my church. While I can't wait for Sunday to come so I can fellowship and hear the preaching. I also stay in the word on a daily basis and have to as I feel we are indeed going to be seduced by heretical teachings. I thank my Lord God for this help in my daily struggles in keeping Him and His Word first and foremost in my life. I know now beyond a shadow of a doubt He guided me here. As I have not been posting on any christian sites in many months Praise Jesus!!! Love, Jina

[Guest tanner]

Wow!!! God is ineed good I am very humbled my roommate and myself {she is a n elderly lady from my church} have been talking of the almost exact thing since the tsunami hit. I truly feel for all of the people who lost their lives but I am speaking of their souls and not necessarily their physical bodies.I agree wholeheartedly about the state the "church" is in. I praise the Lord for my church we are a small non-denom and have been blessed with no nonsense bible teaching pastors. As we are a Village Missiionaries Church we have been through three pastors in the almost ten years I have been here. They never deviate in any way from the Bible. We have a small youth program and adult bible study groups. God has definitely had His hand on us and we are taught only His word.. I am astounded sometimes at some of my friends who attend much larger churches and ask me sometimes if I am bored at my church. While I can't wait for Sunday to come so I can fellowship and hear the preaching. I also stay in the word on a daily basis and have to as I feel we are indeed going to be seduced by heretical teachings. I thank my Lord God for this help in my daily struggles in keeping Him and His Word first and foremost in my life. I know now beyond a shadow of a doubt He guided me here. As I have not been posting on any christian sites in many months Praise Jesus!!!    Love, Jina

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WOW!!!!!!!!!

Praise the Lord !!!

Thank you for that wonderful inspiration by sharing your story with us!

In Christian love, tanner

[nebula]

What about the church?  What does the church worship now?  The Word of God/Jesus?  Or do we worship "our worship"???  Has it become what our own hands have made?

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I hear ya, Suzanne!

This is why I left my church and can't seem to find a new one to go to. I'm tired of the "church program."

I want a church that is people-oriented, not program-oriented. It's hard to find.

[tsth]

Dear Nebula,

I know what you mean too. Feels like desert time, a little lonely, but certainly God is there. Just having to learn patience, and not be in a hurry to get somewhere!

In His Love,

Suzanne

[tsth]

Suzanne,

Outstanding post and right-on!   I'd like to add one more scripture that seems to drive the point home as well.

See below:

2 Timothy 3:1-9

1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Woe to them.

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Yes, that is an appropriate one! I am saddened when I think of the church, because I tend to see it somewhat like the parable of the virgins. I don't think the whole church body has been deceived and mislead/unprepared, but I do think the majority has, and it was because they didn't seek the Lord for themselves. They didn't look to His Word to see if their shepherd/pastor was telling them the truth or not.

Katy, I kinda think of those as the "tares" Jesus spoke of.....(the "pew sitters". LOL)

Katy, I honestly hate the sin but I still love those pitiful tares because there's still HOPE they'll repent.

I've made up my mind to just love 'em all.....the wicked and the true believer alike.

My earnest hope is I can be a light pointing to Christ and be patient with them, that they might see Christ in me and seek His face.

I have to love even the tares...God can take a tare and turn it into wheat; He can take clay and turn it into a lovely vessel.

"The greatest of these is love...."

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I am in agreement with you on this. But the problem is that the pew sitters will not come to repentance if they do not realize they need to.

The congregations of today are more interested in studying our purpose, or taking bus loads to a movie theater than preaching the Gospel.

Raising funds for buildings and growing church membership has become a priority.

Everything has become so PC because pastors know that if they preach true repentance, it will turn people off and their church will decline in membership.

God is great, and Jesus is our Savior and loves everyone. That is what the congregations preach.

That is not the whole story. There is a list of those who God hates..backbiters, false accusers etc.

The congregations do not teach true repentence as they don't want to turn people off. Yet repentence is the first thing that Jesus taught.

Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Too many preachers are guilty of the same thing that Jesus admonished the Pharisees and Sadducees for.

Matthew 3

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And the church did sellout, that is why the pastors can no longer preach the Truth, because the leverage of debt is too great now for them to run anyone off. But even past that, it is now seemingly the season for the Holy Spirit to be withdrawn out of the church. It is now time for something "new" and it is not going to be very pleasant.

In His Love,

Suzanne

[dotcom]

Thanks Suzanne and One & All.......for your wonderful posts!!

I suppose the Lord can use circumstances and be looking after us...by jarring us loose from a Church that has strayed from teaching the Word of the Lord........

And with that....it could be painful and lonely....but thank God for big favors!!

......To stay in the Word daily.......is the best advice to stay on track.......(and to fellowship outside of the Church building too!)

prayers............dotcom

[other one]

tsth, thank you for this thread. I have watched all this happening over the past 30 years and have really had a hard time finding a church that I really enjoyed going to and felt they preached the bible.... well the whole bible anyway.

I thought it was just me and a failure on my part.

I agree with your asessment of what is going on. The times are very interesting indeed.

[tsth]

I think the most troubling thing that I am watching is how quickly the churches are beginning to turn into something else. I've watched 2 extremely solid Baptist churches in my area begin to morph into this "new and improved" product. They've gone into debt to "look" the best (extreme makeovers), they've dropped the basics of just standing upon God's Word, they're now into fun and games for EVERYBODY!!! For some reason, they're all beginning to drop their denominations off of their signage too. Instead of San Jacinto Baptist and Chaparral Hills Baptist Church, they are now, "The Church at Plumcreek" and "Chapparal Hills". I find this extremely interesting considering the times. You watch and see, there is something bigger in the making. It is not about the teaching of God's Word anymore, it's become about how great we can look in the community and do we meet the specs. of those who are hunting for a church that suits "their needs" rather than to worship God. When did that shift happen? When? I know I've said it before, but I go back to a quote from a friend of mine regarding this morphing that we watched happen to our church, and how it was troubling for some reason. Here's what she said:

"Came to me this morning.......Worship Center sounds very One World-ish to me. Very Global. Then, my realization was that if you no longer have a sanctuary - you don't have to worry about profaning the sanctuary, you don't have to have reverence for the sanctuary. Why would Christians not want a sanctuary?"

Take a look around. See if there is a battle of the churches going on in your area. You probably just never noticed it, but it's happening. Something has been taken out, and something else has replaced it, and it doesn't feel right.

Is the church changing the world, or is the world changing the church?

In His Love,

Suzanne

[ann2]

Not all churches are sellouts and not all persons in church are just "pew sitters".Granted there are far too many but to lump them all togrther is not fair.Our pastor preaches from the bible and we read along with him ,we dont just take his word for it.We also help people in our town {small}who are in need,tell others what God has done for us and how to be saved. Please give us a break!!!!!

[tsth]

That is truly wonderful ann! I am merely speaking to the church as a whole, in terms of needing to open our eyes and SEE what is taking place, so that we will be in steadfast prayer and understanding of what is actually taking place according to the Scriptures. These things are not new. I personally attend a small church that is still holding to the Scriptures, but the Lord has taken me through various churches within the last few months that have revealed that what I have seen on the outside in terms of this new "growth" movement, is also the outward shallowness of what has happened on the inside. I promise I am not making these things up. As I said before, if the mega churches were truly the answer, then why are we watching our society drain away in terms of morality? We have entered a church stage of self worship/manmade worship, rather than the worship of God.

If your church has not entered that, then this is the warning call to begin fervent prayer that it does not, because it can, if it is not bathed in prayer to be shielded from the deception that is taking hold, and it begins in the mind of man and the pride of his heart.

In His Love,

Suzanne