The NINE LIES of Today's church.
-by Andrew Strom.
It is a sad fact that today's church is deceiving itself in some very crucial
areas. Below are some plain facts
(-absolutely true) that may shock a few people:
1. "Ask Jesus into our heart" is not in the Bible. Neither is
"Give your heart to the Lord", or repeating a "sinner's
prayer". These practices do not exist in Scripture at all. The
subject of salvation is the most important subject in the Bible and we are being
lied to about it. These doctrines are a total fabrication. They were invented to
make salvation "quick and convenient". Many church members today who
are relying on these things are
clearly not 'saved' at all.
2. Church buildings do not exist in the Bible. They were invented around
200-300 AD, when the church was in
serious decline. Only a backslidden church could fall so far away from the
simplicity of the early church. Church
buildings are anti-New Testament, and bring with them a host of problems and
traditions. It was basically
when the church fell into the hands of Rome that this concept of the
"cathedral" really took over. And we are
still spending millions on these monuments today.
3. The "one pastor runs everything" model is totally
unscriptural. Far from running everything, in the book
of Acts we find the word "pastor" NOT EVEN USED ONCE. (-The early
church did have strong leaders
and elders. But it was never a "one man band" like we see today. And
never was it so "controlling" either).
4. "Tithing" is not a New Testament practice at all. And it is being
shamefully abused by today's preachers. In the
New Testament we are told to give cheerfully - whatever we purpose in our hearts
to give. Telling people that they
MUST give 10% to the church or they are "robbi
5. The words "prosper" or 'prosperity' were NEVER used by Jesus
at all - and only exist a couple of times in the
entire New Testament. Yet greedy preachers have built whole kingdoms upon them.
The words - "sell what you
have and give to the poor" and "deceitfulness of riches" and
"you cannot serve God and mammon" and "woe
to you that are rich" were DEFINITELY used by Jesus and the apostles. But
we don't hear these things
preached too much, do we?
6. There were no Bible Colleges, Seminaries or degrees in the New
Testament. The only people who seemed to
have "Bible Schools" were the Scribes and Pharisees! The apostles were
simple fishermen and tax collectors.
It is likely that a number of them could not even read or write. What was their
"qualification" for being in the
ministry? Simply that they had SPENT A LOT OF TIME WITH JESUS. The fact that
people expect a "professional clergy" today with degrees from Bible
College has helped to make the church sicker and more unscriptural than ever.
Simple humble people with a calling from God often cannot get to minister
because they do not have a "piece of paper" to make them 'qualified'.
-Yet another disaster for the church.
7. There is almost no evidence whatsoever that the early church had their
"main meeting" on a Sunday. They
gathered together 'from house to house' virtually every day! There were no
church buildings. They did not dress up and "go to church". There were
no denominations. There were no separate groups with different 'labels'. They
lived their lives together - all the Christians in the local area. Love and
fellowship and 'koinonia' were as natural
to them as breathing. And the apostles in Jerusalem preached every day at huge
open-air gatherings. -Not
"hidden away" inside four walls. This was truly a "street
church" in every way.
8. The idea that you can replace the moving of the Holy Spirit with
programs, programs and more programs just shows how low we have sunk. Man-made
programs are everywhere today. The early church had much more of God and much
less of 'man'.
9. We preach a 'humanistic' Jesus today. -A Jesus who exists mainly for
our own "happiness". A Santa
Claus who wants to rain down continual blessings upon us. A God of grace and
mercy without judgment,
righteousness or truth. Our gross misrepresentation of who Jesus really is, is
one of the most serious offenses
of the modern church. Today's church seems to worship a "plastic"
Jesus - one that she has made in her own
image. What an offense to God.
A lot of preachers are well aware that there is something very wrong with the
church today. They know there is
little 'fear of the Lord'. They know there is no deep repentance or deep moving
of the Holy Spirit. They know
that it is just the same old "game" being played every week. A lot of
them are very aware of this. But they will
not do anything about it. They will not rock the boat. And they will
"squash" anyone who comes along trying to do something. They do not
want a real "shaking". There is too much to lose. They have their
careers and their little 'kingdoms' at stake. This is the real truth of the
matter. This is where the rubber truly meets the road.
That is why God is about to bring "Great Reformation". He will not put
up with these 'hirelings' any longer.
He will not have them as leaders over His people. A lot of them are about to
"lose their heads". They will
never lead God's people again.
This is what true 'Reformation' is all about. It is the process of replacing the
old leadership and the old
lies. -It is David taking over from 'Saul'.
There is a 'New Wineskin' coming. In fact it is upon us. There is a new
leadership arising - many of them trained in the 'wilderness' for such a time as
this. The hour is now here. LET THE NEW LEADERS ARISE! The sad fact is that
today's church has sunk so low that it is almost a matter of people needing to
be RESCUED OUT OF HER. I never thought I would say something as radical as that,
but it is the truth.
The entire church is living a lie. Many inside her are told continuously that
they are "OK" - that they are saved and headed for heaven. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Multitudes of them are headed directly for
hell. The systemized LYING that is going on has deceived the leaders and the
people alike. It is the blind leading the blind. We need to contend for these
people - desperately. Much of the church is "lost". They are mired in
deception - an entire system of deception.
PLEASE send me your thoughts and comments and responses to this email, my
friends. If other people have responses then please send those in also. We want
to make these things a serious topic of discussion. Our email address here is: prophetic@revivalschool.com
God bless you all!
Kindest regards in Christ,
Andrew Strom.