The Consumer Driven Church pt. 2

The more I think about the topic of Consumerism in the church the more comes to mind. Specifically things that are done by mega-churches such as Granger Community Church. Now, I am not condemning large churches in general, but rather the methods that are employed at times, by them. Consider this sign from 'Church Requel.' Notice how the Goal is the drawing of people, not Jesus. Moreover, it is a selfish (sinful) motive that one should come to the church, because YOU want life change. What is worse is the concept being forwarded, is that of life change, and it isn't the Christian Message or even close to it. Yes, Christianity changes lives, but it is because God changes people's hearts, wills and desires, and because we become justified and begin being sanctified. The Christian message is repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus name. The consumerism of our churches has changed that offensive message of the cross to make it more palatable for the unregenerate sinner who has come into the church for 'life change.'

In reality, it seems that the promise of life change is also a simple lie. The main reason I make that comment is that Requel Church, has no power to change lives in the Christian sense, that ability belongs to God alone. Father more it seems to me that the idea of life change is the end goal, and this picture is foreign to biblical authors. In our consumerist desires look to the church/Jesus to increase our comforts, supply desires, and increase prosperity, all while making our quality of life better. Yet consider Paul's statements that he makes without disdain:

To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Corinthians 11:21-30 ESV)

Yet in all of this, the modern ideal of comfort is missing. Where is the concept of Life Improvement? I mean, Paul's life was changed, from that of a rich young lawyer, well respected by his community to what we see him describe above. That isn't what I would call improvement, save for his salvation a sanctification in Christ Jesus the Lord. The whole point of this Life Improvement gospel, is an appeal to the consumerist driven American culture.

I think that the recent Facebook postings of womens bra colors are a picture of this same consumerism. How? Walk through any mall, and you will see Large photographs of women in their bra's, designed to excite and spawn desire, the same can be said for TV, Billboards, some Magazines, ect... all this consumerism has lead to a hardening of our minds in terms of sexuality, whereby we need more to be excited, but also we fail to even realize that behavior such as this is even sexual. This is from the root of consumerism that screams "BUY BUY BUY" and as the saying goes, "Sex Sells."

Let us work to recapture our innocence of heart and mind. Let us Strive to realize that the consumerism in our lives and mortify it. If not, We will usher in our children to the Consumer Driven Church.

Event Review : Hellhouse

Backstory: The Church, Andy specifically, received an invite from a semi-local church who for Halloween was putting on a 'hellhouse.' When I first heard about the event, and saw the postcard/flier I was less the enthusiastic to be sure. I find no pleasure in putting ones self into frighting situations for entertainment. However, when I read the accompanying letter with tickets, I was attracted.

The Letter boasted that 1 in 4 people going through this pray a prayer of salvation, and 25% of those are for the first time! (notice that out of 16 people, 4 "make a decision" and 3 of those have done it before...). It seemed that I would be going to the Hellhouse after all, to see if it was indeed an effective evangelistic tool, what the Gospel presentation was, ect... (all those minor theological issues) I felt it to be wise to take along someone, and go figure there were two tickets.

Into The Hellhouse: I will note that I was a bit distracted, it was a cold (mid 40's) evening and we arrived at the hellhouse at about midnight Halloween night (so technically this morning). As a personal note, an event center is not a strictly understood indoor venue per se, and a jacket would have been a wise addition to the lone t-shirt I was wearing. There was a line when we arrived, which is to be expected, however, it wasn't a long one. We waited just about 30 minutes to enter. Walking through the double doors covered with what seemed to be black plastic sheets of some sort, it was difficult to see, and we were guided as a small herd to the center of the room, it was then that I first noticed our tour guides, they were 'demons' In the center of the room was a young lady (teen) in a casket. The main tour guide (again, demon) began telling us how we would all end up like this some day, and that it was his goal to make it sooner rather then later.

The next room was a bathroom, with a teen boy sitting on the toilet. The tour guide began to explain how much he enjoyed suicide. A drama was played out where a demon lead the young man essentially from life problems ( girlfriend issues, Sports teams, absent father) to the point of suicide. The end was predictable, with the young man shooting himself, and the demon rejoicing. (no blood/guts). The before entering the next room the demons (about 4 or 5 that traveled with the group, began telling us about their next scheme, Sex. As we entered the next room, I was shocked; the setup was that we would be seeing a boyfriend and girlfriend after prom, with her parents away, and they were in love (dating all of three weeks). In a bed, was a shirtless young man, and a clothed young lady (presumably of High School age) making out, hardcore. The tour guide calls for the execution of the pearl of her virginity. This is followed by her hearing the tour guide and the boy getting down to business so to speak. She under the blanket she removes her shirt, and the couple have simulated sex. The demons dance in pleasure sing, "that's the way I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh." The boy leaves, and the girl is left alone, weeping.

The next room was an accident scene, where 3 had died, and one young man, had lived. He falls out of his car, with a beer bottle, weeping. Paramedics arrive, and explain that the other people are dead. The scene ends with the demons rejoicing. We are then ushered it to a party scene. A girl was encouraged to remove some clothing, and drink. She passed out, and some boys said they would have their way with her. However, the demons spoke not of the rape, but of the drinking.

The next room, from my understanding is a staple at all hellhouses and that is the abortion room. I have to say that it was not overly realistic, but there was gore. Mostly a screaming girl and an uncaring doctor... The demons rejoiced at the death of infants. The room that followed, was perhaps the most striking of the entire experience, and it was the newly emptied womb, the mother, and four manifestations of the dead child, as a young child, a teen, a bride and as an old women. This was combine with a weeping mother and the "angel of the future."

The next room was, hell. It was stereotypical, demons torturing people for pleasure, Satan as the king, he even had a throne. The general message was that it was Satan's goal to get you there. We were then ushered into a room that had 5 floor to ceiling coffins. We were put into them and the were locked on both sides. After a short time the opposite door opened to a bright, all white heaven, complete with Jesus and Angels. Jesus had no throne but stood and addressed us. The final place we were taken into was the 'decision' room. One of the youth pastors addressed as and basically made an alter call.

The Christian Perspective I think that there are several things that were extremely problematic about this Hellhouse. First, It presented an essentially dualistic view of God and Satan. Demons seemingly had the power to kill man, and God was absent. Second, The Gospel was absent. At no point was there a clear presentation of the forgiveness of sin. We were told that if your name is found in the book of life you will not parish, however, this is far from a clear gospel presentation. Moreover, the concept of repentance was also absent. There was plenty of law preaching, what sin was, was clear, but the concept of repentance was just not spoken about. However, it was only briefly mentioned of such sins as lying, cheating, stealing, and in some respects i don't think that this brief mentioning of the law really hit people. That said, it seems that if you haven't have premarital sex, or killed someone with a car, raped someone, gotten hammered, had an abortion, the law missed you. These are problems, but the width of condemnation wasn't wide enough.

The next issue is the couple in bed. Now, I am not sure if they were a married couple, which is my hope. If not, the problem is huge, and clear. Also, The Gospel in the decision room was so weak and anemic that it hardly recognizable. The message of do you know where you are going when you die, is not the Gospel. I wonder what the 1/16 first time responders really responded to. Was it the Fear of God's Wrath? I don't think so. Was it brokenness over their sin? I don't think the presentation definitionally warranted the belief that we have sinned against a holy and righteous God. I struggle with the presentation of the powerful Satan, and the yearning God.

Concluding Thoughts: The Hellhouse was an interesting experience. Would I say it is an effective evangelism tool? Maybe. There were significant issues with this one, that made it problematic, however, I think that it could be done in such a way as to present truly biblical views. That said, I don't think that it takes the place of preaching the forgiveness of Sin in Jesus' name. I struggle with the tactic in general. I don't think it is by definition sinful. I would be interested to see the results v/ cost, as well as a defense of charging people to enter. Overally, I rate the event a 2 out of 10 for evangelistic value, Gospel Centered, and Biblical Accuracy.

Selling the Gospel -- Revisited

As of late there have been several comments on an older post, on the topic of selling the Gospel. I would like to address some of the issues that they have brought up, as well as do an overview on the topic of Selling the Gospel.

Many people look at both Church and Para-Church ministries and scoff at there selling of products such as, books, CD's, Dvd's, ect. However, I think that these Scoffers are somewhat misguided in there understanding of how these ministries work and perhaps how the real world works.

Let me Start of with Scripture - Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages." (1 Timothy 5:17-18 ESV) - This is the basis for paid ministry within the Church, however, I think that it also tells us a bit more than just, paid ministry should exist. It also tells us that Elders (pastors) who rule well should receive double honor, many believe this refers to wage. So I would ask, How many of us Give more when we see a Hard Working Pastor? I would say not many people that I know do this. I think that Most Churches scrimp and save, just to make it now days, there are pastors who cut there pay, some who go without pay, simply because Members do not give enough.

That said I would like to address the selling of Hard Media - I would say that anything that you can put your hands on, ala books, CD's and Dvd's can and should be sold, these materials do cost money, and there was a lot of hard work put into them. There is also normally a cost to produce them, and while may people expect the church to absorb that cost, their giving does not allow the church/ministry to do that. This is really simple, Churches when they sell these types of materials are not selling the gospel, they are selling teaching materials.

Soft Media - I would define this as anything that is digital. This is something that is downloaded ie essays, sermons, ect.. These are materials that can be put on Hard Media, but as soft media, they should be given away. I believe that most ministries do give this type of media away for free.

Selling the Gospel -- I would say that selling media is far different then selling the Gospel. The Gospel is the message found in Scripture about Jesus' death, Burial and resurrection. Selling the Gospel, would be things like monetary requirements for coming to Church, Mormons do this with their members. I believe that selling the gospel is not something that your average Christian Church does. I don't believe that it is a very common thing in American churches. That said, I welcome examples of where people believe this is happening.

A Christmas Devotional

In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me a pierced ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, "Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart."
(Psalms 40:6-8)

As Christmas time draws near, I believe it is a wonderful time for all of us to reflect not simply on the miracle of the birth of the God-Man Jesus Christ, but also a time to reflect upon our total need for Him. One of the things that I love about this passage of the Psalms is that David is speaking directly about the desires of God. Verse six starts by telling us that God doesn't delight in the sacrifices made by Israel or even in the offerings that they have given. This is something that when we think about should make us step back for a moment and ask Why. I think that the answer is clear, when we consider the purpose of the sacrifices that the Levitical priests made. The overarching purpose and plan of God was that when a person sinned, by breaking Gods law (1 John 3:4) they were required to make a sacrifice of a specific type and kind. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22 ). The purpose of this sacrifice was to delay the wrath of God. I realize that the majority of you at this moment are shouting, “No!, the purpose was to atone for sin” and I will grant that you are in a sense correct, however, the problem we see is that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Hebrews 10:4).” So while they did have a forgiveness, it was neither complete nor permanent. Just imagine the feeling of the Jewish believer for a moment; imagine with me that you have really screwed up, you have violated the law of God. Now, you have to go and take one of your precious flock a flawless lamb, you take it to the place where it is to be sacrificed by a priest, the preist then kills the lamb and lets the blood cover the alter. He tells you that your sin has been covered, by the blood of this lamb. You leave, yet within you, you still have guilt, grief, sorrow, because you know that while your sin is covered is it has not been fully taken away. David said it this way in Psalm 31:10 - For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. The grief of his sin had never left him. This was the case for all old testament believers. How wearysome would that be? I would like you to consider the following questions, and consider if you still had to feel guilt. How many Lies do you think you have told in your life? How many things have you stolen? How many times have you used the name of God in a filthy way? Has God Always been first in you life? These are four of the ten commandments, part of God's moral law, that all mankind has to live under. This is the Law that is written in the hearts of men.
The next part of this verse talks about God piercing the ear of David. This is a reference to the concept of the bond servant. According to Deut. 15:16-17 if a Hebrew servant refused to leave the house of there master after 6 years, (during the year of Jubilee) they were to put an awl through there ear, and they were then consider a servant of the master for life. We should desire deeply that Pierced ear, we should desire God to have marked us, not with an awl, but with his Holy Spirit.
Finally, we then see that David is speaking in a prophetic manner when he says Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. As we now know, we do not need any Burnt or sin offerings, because of Jesus Christ. Jesus who is the center, the earmark of this holiday season, is the one who would become our offering. I would say that when we Celebrate Christmas this year, we don't think about simply the incarnation ( literally, becoming meat – the Status of Christ Jesus) but that we think of the reason of for the incarnation. The reason is our sin. It is that we are wholly unable to attain to the standard of God's Holiness. Because of this Jesus became meat for us, he became the something so low that it is literally uncompilable for us. God took on this body and through it “Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins (Hebrews 10:12a).” This was not like the levitical Priests who killed animal after animal, but Jesus took care of our sin “not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12).” This is why when Jesus approached John the Baptist, John cried out "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29).” The primary purpose of Jesus ministry was to seek and save that which was us (Luke 19:10). If you have been sought and saved, Jesus' Call is for you to go then and make disciples. What better time this the Christmas season, when Jesus is already on peoples minds? Let us not be content this year to give simple gifts to one another, but let us share the Good News with a lost and dying generation.

Selling the Gospel

"Selling the Gospel 2 Corinthians 11:6-7" - Even though I may be untrained as an orator, I am not so in the field of knowledge. We have made this clear to all of you in every possible way. Did I commit a sin when I humbled myself by proclaiming to you the gospel of God free of charge, so that you could be exalted?

Paul was very learned in the Scriptures, He had spent the majority of his life being trained in the OT, He most likely had the entire OT committed to memory. This He states is a good thing, and there seems to be a literal technique being practiced of comparing opposites to make a point. ( I don't know the real term for that) Notice, he says, I am not a trained speaker, but I am a trained theologian. I think that training in bible college and Seminary is very important. It helps one learn from other great theologians in a discipleship fashion. I mean just imagine being taught the ins and outs of the Gospel by the Apostle Paul. That would make you a great evangelist. Today we don't have Paul, but we do have someone like John Piper or Paul Washer. We Have men like John Macarthur who have great insight about the overall concepts and themes in scripture. We have Josh McDowell who can teach you all about the historical accuracies of the Bible and the evidence for it's truth. The difference between a layman and a studied preacher is a huge amount of knowledge. I mean the process of exegesis and accurate hermeneutics are things that take time and learning from a good teacher. Now, the next verse Paul talks about not selling the Gospel. This is something that I believe no true Christian could do. We have the message of God that He has died for our sins, and that we can receive forgiveness and everlasting life. Could you image a person selling this? Saying, " I will give you the path to eternal life, if you give me $20." This is inconceivable. A person working hard to counsel, teach, disciple, grow, guide, teach, lead and manage the Church Body, the offerings, and to organize the local body so that they can most effectively affect the community around them for Christ, is doing something far different then selling the Gospel.

Other relevant Scriptures to this topic -

I am free, am I not? I am an apostle, am I not? I have seen Jesus our Lord, haven't I? You are my work in the Lord, aren't you? If I am not an apostle to other people, surely I am one to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord! This is my defense to those who would examine me: We have the right to eat and drink, don't we? We have the right to take a believing wife with us like the other apostles, the Lord's brothers, and Cephas, don't we? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who would ever go to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its grapes? Or who takes care of a flock and does not drink any of its milk? I am not saying this on human authority, am I? The law says the same thing, doesn't it? For in the law of Moses it is written, "You must not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." God is not only concerned about oxen, is he? Isn't he really speaking on our behalf? Yes, this was written on our behalf, because the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes should thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? If others enjoy this right over you, don't we have a stronger claim? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with everything in order not to put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. You know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple and that those who serve at the altar get their share of its offerings, don't you? In the same way, the Lord has ordered that those who proclaim the gospel should make their living from the gospel.
(1 Corinthians 9:1-14)

Elders who handle their duties well should be considered worthy of double compensation, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, "You must not muzzle an ox while it is treading out grain," and "A worker deserves his pay."
(1 Timothy 5:17-18)

Joel Olsteen On Larry King Live - Dec 26th

I feel that perhaps my criticism of Joel can be at times a bit harsh, and one sided. I think Joel says some good things; they are just few and far between.

So I will objectively ( as possible) point out the pro's and con's from his interview on Dec. 26th on Larry King Live. This is from cnn.com


KING: Could an atheist be changed?

J. OSTEEN: I think so. I think...

KING: Without having to believe in God?

J. OSTEEN: Well, I think there's a void in every person that only God can fill -- that only God can fill. I think that's how you can really be fulfilled, truly. So I would think an atheist can be changed and their attitude in certain things. But I think if you come to a belief that there's something bigger than yourself, you're going to be more fulfilled.

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My issue here is : that of course a person can be changed by the Word of God. But the Bible was not written to give you a better attitude, it was written so that we might be able to bring Glory to God, understand His character and nature, and so that we might receive Salvation.
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KING: How do you react to the critics who call your message theology lite?

J. OSTEEN: Well, I've heard that before. It's interesting, Larry, every week in our services we deal with people that are -- have children that have cancer, people that have a husband or a wife that left them. We deal with the real issues of life. I talk about forgiveness and how to have faith when bad things happen and, you know, how to overcome and, you know, love your enemies and things like that.

So when they say it's gospel lite, I think, you know, we're helping people where the rubber meets the road.

I mean last Sunday, there was a little girl there. She was 2- years-old. She has cancer. She's at our MD Anderson Cancer Hospital.

And you know what?

We give them hope. We pray for them. We say God's going to give you strength. I mean we don't know exactly what the outcome is going to be. We hope they -- we hope she'll live.

But, you know, how can that be gospel lite to me?

That's why I come back to saying I'm helping people.
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Where is SALVATION? honestly, this may sound harsh or even mean, but who cares about cancer in light of ETERNAL HELL?

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
(Mat 5:29-30)

Does this make any sense? It is great to help people on earth, but it they don't have Jesus Christ as an atonement for their SINS it doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.
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KING: What's your notion of hell?

J. OSTEEN: Well, I believe hell is a real place. I think it's -- you know, the scripture talks about it's separation from God. And I think -- I believe if God as light and love and everything good, then hell's going to be everything bad. I mean we certainly do not want to go there and I don't think hell was designed for people.

KING: You think there's life after death?

J. OSTEEN: I do. I believe we're all going to live on, that we're a spirit. This body -- I like to think of it as just like my coat. There's something on the inside of me that's making this thing move. And I'm -- the real me is on the inside. So I do believe we'll live on.
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Good Job Joel! While I don't agree with him on every word here, I love that he said hell is a real place and that people will go there. (that was implied). There is a heaven and a hell. Good Work.
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KING: Do you minister to the poor?

J. OSTEEN: Oh, we do. We do.

We have outreaches in our church. We support local outreaches as well. I mean, that's what the gospel is all about, helping others that are less fortunate.
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No sir, it's not. The Gospel is about Christ dying for the sin's we have committed so that we might be reconciled to God. Our treatment of the poor is simply a reflection of the gift that Christ has given to us. The Gospel is about Salvation, and bringing Glory to God for being so MERCIFUL.
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KING: What's your reaction, though, when God gets a bad name? There has been more people killed by religion than any other thing.

J. OSTEEN: It's been going on for centuries. Well, it's just like you said, God gets a bad name, and there are -- I think there are extremists in any group.

And, you know, we're not for that. We're for loving our enemies and helping people. But, you know, I -- you can fault anything. But a lot of times, it's extremists.
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Bad premise's lead to bad conclusions.

Hitler and Stalin combined killed more people then any other group somewhere in the 30 million range, but that seems a little low.

Even so, Christianity has very little as far as deaths are concerned. The inquisition. The Crusades which was more of a Iraq I style war then anything it was about freeing people...

So really the issue here is that this is a fallacious attack that is repeatedly made on Christianity and should be answered once and for all and shown to be false.

Atheism is responsible for more deaths then anything else.
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Joel has some good and some bad, but I think we need to pray that God Almighty would teach him the truth of the Gospel.