I stopped into one of our landmark “greasy spoons” the other day. Many senior church members have sworn by the personnel and the menu. I decided to give it a chance.
Nothing on the menu caught my eye, so I ordered that old standard chili, topped with onions and grated cheese. I canceled the cheese after learning it cost an extra 50 cents (that’s over $30/lb. if you’re interested).
However, the waitress forgot to tell the cook “no cheese,” so it arrived with onions and cheese. When told, the cook (visibly irritated by this infraction of the rules) grabbed the bowl and angrily scrapped the cheese off.
Unfortunately for me, he also scrapped off a ½ inch of my chili and the nice pile of finely chopped fresh onion. When I eventually got my bowl of cold, canned, microwave chili it was sprinkled with large and “potent” chunks of onion.
Now, as I tried to smother the quickly coagulating lump with a ½ pound or so of stale soda crackers, I was distracted by loud coughing. It only took a second to realize it was the cook. With uncovered and open mouth, he wandered about the kitchen hacking his nicotine clogged lungs onto everything not covered or in a cabinet.
Trying to be fair I thought to myself, “It’s okay, after all I’ve probably consumed worse raising six kids.” But then the cook applied the coup de grâce by inserting his index finger to his second knuckle in the nostril of his choice.
I don’t think I’ll tell anyone at the church I ate at the Village Inn, I’m afraid they’ll ask me how I liked it.
Many believers are allowing their churches to become the “greasy spoons” of the spiritual community.
Only the Mormons seem to avoiding this public relations disaster. Worse, many members of these churches, as well as members of some of our finer churches seem to be unaware that they are being watched.
Showing posts with label Church decay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church decay. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2008
WITNESS: Our clandestine public relations campaign!
GIVING: The biggest Crook In the World!
"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings."Who is the biggest meanest crook in the world? Is it a terrorist? An abortionist? Is it a Los Angeles gang-banger? A Mafioso? A scammer? Some one who preys on seniors?Malachi 3:8
Robert Sumner said, “the biggest & meanest crook of all time is the one who steals from God.” [Excerpt from Sword of the Lord; 1960]
I agree with Sumner: those who steal from God must believe God doesn’t know or cannot see what they are doing. It’s like one convict stealing from his cellmate during a lockdown.
They’re like the tenant farmer who was to pay the land owner 10% of his harvest … but no matter how he planted, every harvest was only 90%.
I recall one couple who decided to drive out an unpopular pastor by recruiting fellow church members to withhold tithes. Not only did they fail to drive the pastor out but they brought shame and reproach upon the Body of Christ and the Name of the Lord as the community witnessed the brouhaha which followed.
I read of one lady who told her pastor she’d start tithing as soon as things got better. He looked her straight in the eyes and said, “No, Pearl, you won’t.”
“I beg your pardon!” She bellowed! To which he patiently replied, “If you won’t give $10 out of a hundred, you’ll never give $100 out of a thousand.”
The widow who tithes $540 out of her fixed income, then lives on the $4,860 remainder, is to be much more admired than the businessman who tithes $10,000 out of his income, then lives on the $90,000 left over.
I’m left in breathless wonder at those who claim the blood of the Lamb yet steal from The Great Shepherd of the Sheep.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
THERMOSTATS: And other things that set the pace!
“choose for yourselves whom you will serve”A thermometer reflects the temperature of the room; a thermostat adjusts the temperature for the room.Joshua 24:15
God has too many children who are more like thermometers than thermostats; what he needs is a house full of the latter.
Like Rip Van Winkle, the church is asleep … when it awakens the world will be so hostile to her that it will find itself an impotent representative of an omnipotent God.
John Curran said, “The condition upon which God has given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.”
Our culture reflects a nation running so hot on relativism, materialism, voyeurism and depravity, that it’s screaming for those who have the courage to march on the wall of opposition. We need those with guts enough to adjust our nation’s temperature, rather than giving in to the pressure to reflect it.
The church is imitating secular society at an alarming rate. Increasingly we are adopting secular views which seem good and feel good; gleaning, as it were, here and there, as the world’s spirit moves us, ignoring the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
BORDER CHRISTIANS: To Whom Do They Belong?
“No one can serve two masters … ”The next time you look at a map notice the lines between the countries? Every map has them; they divide one state or country from another. They’re called “borders.”Matthew 6:24 (also Luke 16:13)
In fact, every nation on earth has borders, real ones. Without borders no one would know where one nation began and another ended. A border lets us and others know where we’re standing … in this land or in that land. You can’t stand on a border; you’re either in one land or in the other or straddling the line … period.
Does the border belong to either country? Does the border between the Canada and USA belong to Canada or the United States? Does any one know?
Sadly, many Christians are like borders today, every church has them. I call them “Border Christians”; no one knows to whom they belong! They believe they can keep one foot in heaven and one foot on earth … “just in case.” Is that possible?
Not according to the Bible. The Lord Himself said, “No one can serve two masters … .” I don’t think He would mind me paraphrasing that: “No one can be standing in heaven and in earth at the same time.”
CONSECRATION: Let’s Get Cirrus!
“Sir, we wish to see Jesus”Freshly graduated from seminary, a minister of a small Texas church in an area suffering from drought, went to visit a farmer-church member one hot afternoon.John 12:20-21
Leaning on a fence, they discussed the weather. "Those are serious clouds over there," the old man said, pointing southwest. "Don’t you mean Cirrus? Actually, they're probably Cumulus," the newcomer stated somewhat smugly.
The old man eyed him for a moment, then said, "Yung'un, they's just two kinds of clouds -- them what's serious and them what ain't."
Church folks are like that farmer’s clouds; some’re serious, some ain’t!
[Adapted from "Life In These United States" by All Henager; © 1996; The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., all rights reserved]
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
CHURCH: The Bride is bloodied and bruised by not down or out!
THE DAVIE POPLAR: [Ephesians 5:27]
Clearly the contemporary church in the Western world is not what she should be; in fact, she's pretty beaten up for a gal who's engaged to the King of kings.Davie Poplar is a large tulip poplar tree, approximately 300-375 years old, located on the campus of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, named in honor of a Revolutionary War general, and founder of the university, William Richardson Davie.The Church of Christ (not the denomination) was founded by another military hero, the Captian of the Lord's Host; this officer is far greater than Gen. Davie.
The most enduring legend associated with the tree is that as long as Davie Poplar remains standing, the University will thrive. If it falls, the University will crumble. As such, many attempts have been taken to preserve the tree.
In 1918, it was struck by lightning, and fear that the tree was dying led the University to make a plant grafting, called Davie Poplar Jr. Later, another tree called Davie Poplar III was planted nearby from a seed of the original tree.
In 1996, Davie Poplar was badly damaged by Hurricane Fran, after which the trunk was filled with cement and strung with cables to keep it up.
His Bride has also been hit by lightening, and on several occasions, out of fear that she was dying, grafts were talen. And her seed has birthed children everywhere.
But here in the last century, as a result of the beating the church has been receiving from the enemy, you would think she had also been "filled with cement and strung with cables to keep her" standing.
But, glory to God Almighty, He will neither forsake her or depart from her.
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Sunday, January 02, 2005
GOSSIP: Overt Anonymity Or Covert Animosity!
"You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD."Your organist has bad breath, but you’re certain of the consequences if you tell her; your deacon chairman hugs the ladies a little too enthusiastically, but to tell him is one step away from updating your resume. Well, finally there’s a way to tell them without all of the potential conflict.Leviticus 19:16
Several Internet companies will anonymously inform anyone about anything, for a price. The put-downs come in plain envelopes with phony return addresses. [Ed. Note: You’ll have to search out the URLs yourself, since I don’t agree with this approach to problem solving.]
Few things are more painful among members of the Body of Christ than anonymous criticism.
It comes in all forms and sizes:Nevertheless messages clothed in the armor of anonymity are stealth bombs, intended to inflict the greatest damage at the least cost by a cowardly enemy.
- "Well, John, I’d love to tell you who told me but they asked not to be identified."
- Also: "I’m sorry, pastor, but I just can’t remember who told me you were having an affair."
- And: "Ordinarily I wouldn’t pass on stuff like this, but we’re such good friends I just had to tell you."
- Or: "I assure you, several people told me. And, no, I can’t remember who!"
- Likewise: "Pastor, you really ought to give this some thought. After all, I’ve heard EVERYBODY is talking about it."
- Then: "Personally, I think you’re a fine teacher. I just thought you like know a lot of others don’t agree."
The evil foundation of such criminal communication is the bedrock of Hell itself. People involved in rumor mongering, backbiting and gossip are misguided missiles from Satan himself.
We must not only abstain from evil [1 Thessalonians 5:22] but avoid even the hint of it [Ephesians 5:3].
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