How CHURCHES led America to forsake God!

[Solar]

It is your forum.  I will play by the rules.   

Point being, not everyone is religious, while some are agnostic, Hindu etc, what happens is, sides are taken, arguments breakout, people leave, and all that's left is a few agreeing on a couple of daily posts and the forum collapses along with our audience.
Based on what people post, less than half of the forum is religious.
According to Quantcast, regular posters. And note our global reach is huge, as well as our percentages increasing monthly.

If you look at the stats, you'll see that the forum is growing exponentially monthly, and this is because we talk straight politics.

I'm not so much posting to you, but to everyone that reads this forum.

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[kit saginaw]

Would you elaborate on that statement?

I could, but you already know what I mean.  Churches are for fellowship. 

[tac]

tac, nothing much has changed since the beginning of recorded history.  Man has known God but not honored Him.... suffered the consequences...... repented..... found God's mercy.....and repeated the cycle.  Read the Book of Judges!

I think you missed my point. Rev 2 & 3 are directed to the 7 churches and only one had nothing said against it. The rest are just like the churches today. That's the point I was making.

[je_freedom]

Maybe the thing to do would be to do as I've seen on this forum:
When a topic gets moved to another category,
leave a pointer in the original location directing the readers to the new location.
I'd be happy with that.

[Solar]

Maybe the thing to do would be to do as I've seen on this forum:
When a topic gets moved to another category,
leave a pointer in the original location directing the readers to the new location.
I'd be happy with that.

Used to, but it got to the point where all you saw was redirect posts cluttering poli, so now it's up to the member to know where posts belong.
You'll figure it out, you're new, it's takes a little while.

[walkstall]

Used to, but it got to the point where all you saw was redirect posts cluttering poli, so now it's up to the member to know where posts belong.
You'll figure it out, you're new, it's takes a little while.

If you can not find a post.  Click on your name then click on Show Posts, you can find it that way.  If by another person click on there name and then Show Posts.  You can find a post(s) that way.

[Reverend]

You have to look long and hard to find a church today that has not been tainted by this cancer.  Therefore we have millions of Americans being led down the primrose path of false teaching......

Unfortunately it is the younger generation who has never been exposed to the pure doctrines of the Church.  It is the social gospel that is most prevalent in this Nation..... which is devoid of hard truth.

As the Apostle Paul aptly says in I Corinthians...... you cannot handle the "meat" of the word...I must give you milk only.  He chastised them for being infant Christians when they should have been mature by then.  So, how long had they been believers? .... about four years!

We have infantile Churches in need of meat.

Then you need to look longer and harder. My question would be, "Would people know orthodoxy when they see it?" Or would they say "No, that's too Protestant/Catholic/Evangelical for me"?

I've often heard people talking about wanting an authentic first century Church. Start one and see if you can get anybody to come to it. No, they EXPECT air conditioned spaces and stained glass windows and such. Try one of the ancient liturgies for your service and see how many come back. Some churches take advantage of this and simply give the people what they want. My Church gives the people what they need.

[kroz]

Then you need to look longer and harder. My question would be, "Would people know orthodoxy when they see it?" Or would they say "No, that's too Protestant/Catholic/Evangelical for me"?

I've often heard people talking about wanting an authentic first century Church. Start one and see if you can get anybody to come to it. No, they EXPECT air conditioned spaces and stained glass windows and such. Try one of the ancient liturgies for your service and see how many come back. Some churches take advantage of this and simply give the people what they want. My Church gives the people what they need.

I would agree with that admonition.  Good churches can STILL be found..... but it takes perseverance.

And as previously stated..... most people would not recognize solid theological doctrine from error.  It takes a lot of personal commitment to study of scripture AND reading great theologians who have spent much more time than we have researching and studying.

But the truth is that most people  (who are even willing to attend church) want to hear a message that makes them feel good.  That is the trademark of many mega churches like Joel Osteen's........   Hard truth can be difficult for people to handle.  They don't like hearing about sin and the promise of persecution to disciples of Jesus Christ.  But persecution is what makes us stronger and closer to God's ideal. 

[kroz]

I think you missed my point. Rev 2 & 3 are directed to the 7 churches and only one had nothing said against it. The rest are just like the churches today. That's the point I was making.

Oh, okay.  I agree with that.

[kroz]

I could, but you already know what I mean.  Churches are for fellowship.

No I did not know what you meant.  I believe you were using sarcasm....... people just go to church for social reasons.

I get that and agree.  It is unfortunate.

[Reverend]

I would agree with that admonition.  Good churches can STILL be found..... but it takes perseverance.

And as previously stated..... most people would not recognize solid theological doctrine from error.  It takes a lot of personal commitment to study of scripture AND reading great theologians who have spent much more time than we have researching and studying.

But the truth is that most people  (who are even willing to attend church) want to hear a message that makes them feel good.  That is the trademark of many mega churches like Joel Osteen's........   Hard truth can be difficult for people to handle.  They don't like hearing about sin and the promise of persecution to disciples of Jesus Christ.  But persecution is what makes us stronger and closer to God's ideal.

I agree: the reason most people are ignorant is because they read stuff like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyers. BUT, it doesn't have to be that way. A good 25% of the stuff I read in Seminary (historic Christianity) is available in the public domain, you don't have to pay for it. You have to know where to look, but that's not difficult, either. There are also some great resources on Biblical exegesis, such as the Blue Letter Bible, on the internet.

Why don't you start a study group, here, at home, at your Church?

[kroz]

I agree: the reason most people are ignorant is because they read stuff like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyers. BUT, it doesn't have to be that way. A good 25% of the stuff I read in Seminary (historic Christianity) is available in the public domain, you don't have to pay for it. You have to know where to look, but that's not difficult, either. There are also some great resources on Biblical exegesis, such as the Blue Letter Bible, on the internet.

Why don't you start a study group, here, at home, at your Church?

Good advice.

I have been using the Blue Letter Bible for years.  And I have also taught many ladies bible classes in my home and at church.

For many years I taught "Precept Upon Precept".... an inductive study program written by Kay Arthur... who happens to be a personal friend of mine.

Going directly to the scriptures and using an exhaustive Concordance and Greek/Hebrew dictionaries will certainly go a long way in reducing any error in understanding of the Truth.

But it all requires a hunger for truth and a disciplined commitment to study.

[Reverend]

Good advice.

I have been using the Blue Letter Bible for years.  And I have also taught many ladies bible classes in my home and at church.

For many years I taught "Precept Upon Precept".... an inductive study program written by Kay Arthur... who happens to be a personal friend of mine.

Going directly to the scriptures and using an exhaustive Concordance and Greek/Hebrew dictionaries will certainly go a long way in reducing any error in understanding of the Truth.

But it all requires a hunger for truth and a disciplined commitment to study.

I actually have Kay Arthur's book and I recommend it highly. My wife taught Bible studies for years and was never at a loss for students. The point is, it strikes me that you have a ministry that could go a long way to alleviating our culture's problem. I don't know if you currently belong to a faith tradition, and nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. You are needed now more than ever.

Here are some study groups on CCEL:

http://www.ccel.org/groups

[kroz]

I actually have Kay Arthur's book and I recommend it highly. My wife taught Bible studies for years and was never at a loss for students. The point is, it strikes me that you have a ministry that could go a long way to alleviating our culture's problem. I don't know if you currently belong to a faith tradition, and nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. You are needed now more than ever.

Here are some study groups on CCEL:

http://www.ccel.org/groups

Thank you.  I do everything I can.

[red_dirt]

Why don't you start a study group, here, at home, at your Church?

That may be a move for Kroz to give careful consideration to. She is a natural teacher with all the other qualifications. The church I attend now started in the pastor's home some 50 years ago. Non-denominational home worship is growing.

There have been a few points made that struck me.

1) Over doing  the spiritual. We could call it the feel good. Again, we should search the scriptures. I recently took up the invitation to feed back and spoke against familiar spirits, New Age Tarot, movies like "Ghost," witchcraft, that sort of thing. Some of the congregation were taken by surprise.

2) According to some, the evangelical movement is a deception.  The idea is that as the left infiltrated the main line, on its path to destroying the institutional power, it had to create some place for the conservative Christians, the true believers, to go after they had been run off. Some evangelical services resemble show business. The main thing, though, has been the destruction of the institutions.

3) Media evangelists have long been the subjects of controversy, probably since the first radio jock put the first microphone in the first tent meeting. We must be very careful, if we are committed to truth, that is, with our assessments. At the same time, the evangelists should be careful as to how they structure their organizations and how they manipulate the content. Billy Sunday was preaching on a flat bed truck. A film maker turned on the camera. The rest, I am told is history.

4) There really is no line of authority with media evangelists and mega church preachers. It is a form of free enterprise. Remember, it was Billy Graham who bailed out Martin Luther King, and later virtually told us Protestants that what King was doing was just and right. We fell in line. Graham also legitimized some war activity that we later discovered had highly questionable origins; but, he was Billy Graham, by golly, America's preacher. Who's to argue?  That's a lot of power for someone to basically create for himself.

https://youtu.be/bOzEx3sY1n8