Mark wrote : Many churches today are entertainment driven and try to be seeker friendly at the expense of the Gospel and at the expense of the holiness Jesus commands of those who claim to follow Him. Spurgeon said it best when he said “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.” Also, I can’t help but think of Ravenhill’s thoughts on this compromise when he said “Entertainment is the devils substitute for joy, the less joy of the Lord you have the more entertainment you need.” True Christians live holy and separate lives. They don’t use worldly means to draw a crowd. They are not worried about being politically correct or fitting in. They don’t attempt to run a circus or side show or be comedians in order to make the truth more palatable. They simply express truth in how they live and in the love they have for one another and by living in submission to Christ Jesus. Those who make church into a rock concert or magic show to draw a crowd are simply drawing people towards deception and another “Jesus” of their own making. I can assure you that the real Son of God would not be playing “Hells Bells” or dancing to the “Harlem Shake” so He could be more relevant! What a blasphemous joke! The Holy Spirit is not in these churches and clearly there is no discernment as a result. Those who think the Holy Spirit is present amidst these compromised acts of entertainment have relegated their “godly” experience to an emotion rather than anything based on truth. Run from this kind of deception and don’t look back! Consider the following: I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. - Psalm 101:3 Therefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you… … Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things… … For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. - Apostle Paul (II Corinthians 6:17; Philippians 4:8; II Timothy 4:3-4) As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. – Apostle Peter (1 Peter 1:14-16) The Instructor will not then bring us to public spectacles; nor inappropriately might one call the racecourse and the theatre “the seat of plagues;”… Let spectacles, therefore, and plays that are full of scurrility and of abundant gossip, be forbidden. For what base action is it that is not exhibited in the theatres? - Clement of Alexandria Among us nothing is ever said, or seen, or heard, which has anything in common with the madness of the circus, the immodesty of the theatre, the atrocities of the arena, the useless exercises of the wrestling-ground. Why do you take offence at us because we differ from you in regard to your pleasures? If we will not partake of your enjoyments, the loss is ours, if there be loss in the case, not yours. We reject what pleases you… … We shall now see how the Scriptures condemn the amphitheatre. If we can maintain that it is right to indulge in the cruel, and the impious, and the fierce, let us go there… … Let them tell us, then, whether it is right in Christians to frequent the show. Why, the rejection of these amusements is the chief sign to them that a man has adopted the Christian faith. If any one, then, puts away the faith’s distinctive badge, he is plainly guilty of denying it. - Tertullian
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 11:16:44 +0000
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