The Message is EVERYTHING...

It doesn't take much discernment to see that there is something terribly wrong with most of the Protestant, evangelical church today. A man once said that that the moral temperature of the culture is always directly related to the spiritual temperature of the church. Television has always been a good moral measuring stick of the culture. So to prove the point, think back just 50 years ago to the "I Love Lucy" show. There was a very controversial episode where Lucy & Ricky slept in the same bed together. Even though they were married, wearing pajamas that completely covered them and they were sleeping on opposite sides of the bed, there was an outcry from the culture to ban the show from television for showing a married couple in the same bed together. Now fast forward to television today. Think about your average soap opera. Not only do they show couples in bed together, but they are NOT married, NOT wearing clothes and NOT completely under the covers. Add to that what they DO show while they are in bed together is nothing short of soft pornography, and for the most part these shows are accepted by the culture! To add to the list of shocking changes, think of the liberal movement. Homosexuality. Sex & pregnancy outside of marriage. The lack of respect children show adults. What has changed so drastically over the past 50 years to change our culture so much? I can summarize the culprit with two words: THE CHURCH. Now I want to make it clear that when I refer to this "church" that has changed, I am NOT referring to the Body of Christ. I'm referring to what our culture today views as the church. The Americanized version of the church. The pragmatic church that cares more about pleasing the goats & not realizing they are starving the sheep with a weak, anemic, easy to swallow message that contains no evidence of the biblical Gospel. The Gospel that was faithfully proclaimed a lot more 50 years ago and is almost non-existent today. The Gospel that not only defines wicked behavior, but condemns those who practice it along with those who accept such behavior as if it was no big deal. The Gospel that says nothing of "accepting Christ as your personal Savior" or "asking Jesus into your heart" or "making your decision for Christ" or "saying the sinner's prayer". We do not find any of those concepts in Scripture anywhere. The Apostles, Prophets nor Christ Himself ever conveyed these messages or concepts in any of their evangelism. Their message didn't take into consideration what man thought, how he would respond or whether he would be offended. Their message was filled with truths about the consequences of sinning against a holy God and the great sacrifice that was made to reconcile wicked people to that God. The goal of their Gospel message was to show men their true, eternal condition & squash their pride in order to humble them before a righteous God who will send them to Hell and be perfectly just in doing so. A Gospel that offered a free pardon for sin on the merits of Jesus Christ ALONE. A Gospel that rejects ALL efforts of man to be "good enough to make it to Heaven someday". That is the Gospel that was prominent 50 years ago and has all but vanished from churches today. And what is the result? Churches being FILLED with people who aren't really interested in living separated, holy lives unto God, but only getting a "get out of Hell free card" so they can continue in sin and still get to Heaven. And pastors all over the country feed these goats a false sense of security by assuring them they are OK with God as long as "said the prayer" or were "sincere in their decision" regardless of their lack of genuine repentance. In order to keep their churches full, they remove nearly all offenses of sin, judgment & repentance, along with any challenges to "examine yourself" or to "make your calling & election certain" or to "work out your Salvation with fear & trembling". Then to make matters worse, they add lots of things that will comfort the lost while starving God's true flock at the same time. Cheap grace, weak gospels and man-centered, entertainment focused approaches to evangelism are sending people on a happy & comfortable trip straight into Hell.

Ernest Reisinger in his book "Today's Evangelism" says, "...the supposed converts have missed Bible repentance, and their life and their dedication to Christ and His church testify that they do not perform deeds appropriate to repentance. Many of our serious church leaders and members know that there is something wrong with most of the so-called "converts", but they do not seem to trace the problem to the message of evangelism. This is why they are forever rushing on the contemporary scene with some new method while the real problem is the message. The harvest of poor, lost church members that we have reaped is a result of the seeds that have been sown - seeds that did not include what out Lord clearly commanded to be part of the Great Commission." (pg. 30)

May God Almighty this post as a church wide call to not only examine the gospel message that we're sharing, but also test ourselves in light of the biblical Gospel to be sure we are in the faith, "unless, of course, we fail the test." (2 Corinthians 13:5)

Written by Dennis Swanson, 8-2-10