ROOTS

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 13:5-6 “And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶ “But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

The logic of too many ministers is that if you can get the bodies into the church, no matter they are unbelievers, at least you can expose them to God’s Word. The fallacy of this as I see it is the Church is “the called out ones” not the unbelievers. When you fashion your service to attract nonbelievers, you must give them what they want so that they come back. So most ministers replicate the music, fellowship, and loosened morality of the social clubs and bars the unbelievers are generally fond of. The result is that the gospel is not the center of worship and even when the Word is preached it is watered down and down-graded to where believers are starved. Skinny sheep slip through the fence!

The worldly attendee, or as we call them, carnal Christians (an oxymoron) come to the building they call church it is inevitably a superficial attempt to clothe their sinful lives in acceptable respectability: hogwash. They are quick to flee from words like hell, sin, repent, submit and obey. So these words are carefully replaced with words like gentle, mild, love, fellowship, companionship, etc.

Satan plays on their emotions with mesmerizing and at times hypnotic music and repetitive prayers to put the audience into a trance so they can interpret this service as a Jesus experience or a movement of the Holy Spirit.

It is a counterfeit effort by the evil one to arouse these dupes into a euphoric state so that they can addict them to this ritual and have them sign a generous check to perpetuate this synagogue of Satan.

They follow their “Holy Ghost bumps” and seek excitement form church to church and never bond to a pastor that follows the Master. It is one giant wasted, shallow effort to heal their hurts. No relief and a knowing addiction to high powered music, charismatic preaching, pretty girls and business contacts. The world has infiltrated and apparently conquered the carnal church. Fundamental conservative Christians are becoming extinct and that tells me that the Lord is near; nearer that we think.