Today we went to yet another church on a search for a good church in the South Jersey area. I continue to find pastors in this area to be rude and a bit on the arrogant side. Now some may attribute this to the fact that we are in New Jersey and that is the way people here are, but I believe that we as "Christians" should be above that especially the pastors. Although the rudeness does not portray the love of Christ, my main concern is the message that I keep hearing.
We were sitting in a certain church this morning who by their statement of faith I would think they would be a good church. However, the Pastors message today made it hard for me to classify this as a good church. We sat and listened to a message on end time events and even though I disagree with some of the pastors interpretations of those events that is not at all where my problem came with the message. In prophecy we must allow room for different interpretations within reason and have no problem listening to others thoughts and theories. This pastor today even though the topic was on end time events the message came across clearly as God does not want His people to suffer. Really? Tell that to the Jews...Tell that to the Early Church...Tell that to His only begotten Son. So even though the Scriptures are clear that we are to suffer preachers today have no problem departing from scripture to exclaim wonderful flesh tingling comments like God doesn't want His children to suffer. Then to add to this he took a minute to call anyone who doesn't agree with his view of the end times as absurd and then put forth another untruth to try to intimidate anyone into believing something different. I have to admit I almost stood up and left at that point, not because the comment offended me personally but that kind of teaching is not glorifying to the Lord. But to top it all off he gave an invitation that was probably the most confusing that I have ever heard. Now I don't want to judge this church as not portraying the gospel correctly, because this was only the second time I had been and so my experience there may have been a fluke. However, the call to Christ came out from one sentence being filled with cheap grace and easy-beliefism to the next being someone who gives their life to Christ, which is the Gospel. So again they may take someone aside and give them the more accurate gospel, but after the other things I heard in the message I would not bet on it. Angie noted to me in the car that she was not a fan of his either due to some other things that he had said.
Here is my Disappointment... I keep running into this kind of ministry. I cannot avoid pastors and churches praising the name of Jesus only to insult him by not presenting the true Gospel. Only to insult him by not showing love. Only to insult him by changing scripture. Where does it end? I am a very tolerant person when it comes to those who have different views of what I call our secondary doctrines. I know that no matter what church I go to that they are going to believe something slightly different than me in any one of those subjects. But how is it that I keep running into what some could correlate as an apostate church. How is it that I am hard pressed to find a church that will simply preach the truth.
We were in Lancaster for a few days before we came to New Jersey and we went to a Bible Church in that area. Now that is not where we are called to minister, but it seemed to be a great church. They preached the clear true gospel. They had great teaching by the pastor and it seemed to be a church that truly exemplified love and unity. But I am disappointed because this seems to be such a rarity today. It seems to be that I cannot find a true church (although for any that might be reading this, yes, there are several in the central Indiana area, but not in many of the places that we are looking to minister) and I don't say that to be mean or hateful. It just boggles my mind that this is the majority of churches today. I mean I guess why bother being a christian if you aren't going to be the real thing. Why bother going to church when you don't want to give all for Christ. I see now where in II Corinthians 11 Paul warns of others coming and preaching a different Jesus. So people get to continue living how they want, but get a free ticket to heaven. If we want to participate in the resurrection like Jesus than we must first die like Jesus.
Trust me ( I say this not to boast, but out of a plea for sanity) I could be having the time of my life right now. I could be doing things that many would consider to be amazingly fun and exciting, but I am not. Why? Because I follow Jesus. Because I know that if I am to be like him than I must live like him. And If I am to live like him I must daily die like him. Don't think that the only death Christ experienced was the one on the Cross. Yes, that is the one that paid for our sins, but he died daily to self far more than we can understand. He could have annihilated the pharisees when their arrogance came against him, but he didn't. He could have lived in a palace and had people serving him right or left, but he didn't. No, he served, he sacrificed, he died daily.
So what does this mean for us? It means we keep on the journey to serve. It means we don't let the Devil use the false teachers and the rude pastors to get us down. Joseph was in prison for years and a slave before that. But he endured and God blessed him. Paul endured many things and God blessed him. So we must endure, we must all endure not only the hardships, but the attacks on the Gospel. To me I would rather be beaten and lain up for days then to hear someone preach the Gospel in a twisted way. It makes me sick to my stomach and weary in my soul, but the Lord brings me my strength. He lifts me up, because he is the true Gospel.
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