Church Is Not Like It Used To Be

By Kent Heaton

Going to church is not like it used to be. Church services have turned into places of entertainment and frolic and high pitched computer generated displays of excitement, energy and tempo­ral feelings of self worth. Auditoriums are filled with choral groups arrayed in splash­ing displays of sparkling gowns with sound systems that generate twenty-seven million decibels of sound reverberating through the expanse of overflow crowds riveted with spiritual fervor. Bands fill the sanctuary with guitars, drums, brass, string and a host of instruments gauged with the on­slaught of entertaining the masses. Power enthusiasm is the order of worship.

Going to church is not like it used to be. Church services have turned into places where you can “come as you are.” The dress code for worship is whatever makes one comfortable. Bare feet are now ac­ceptable, shorts and tee-shirts and casual apparel as if one is going to the ball park, fishing or relaxing around the house. Church services are created to be as “dressed down” as possible.

Going to church is not like it used to be. Church services have turned into places of social fellowship where one can find spa­ghetti, cake, hamburgers, hotdogs, fried chicken, sweet tea, pies, fruitcakes and pizza. The incense of coffee wafts through the halls with enticing appeal to doughnuts and sweet rolls. Crowds are appealed to through conversion of the stomach with fork in hand.

Going to church is not like it used to be. Church services have turned into places where preaching the Bible is replaced with preaching the “feel good about yourself and no one sins anymore” kind of sophis­try lacking conviction and devotion on any level. The grit of scripture is replaced with a veneer of soothing enticements to in­dulge the peaceful hearts filled to the brim with worldliness and covetousness.

In the days of Jeroboam king of Judah, "the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold and said to them, ‘It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem’” (1 Kings 12:28). What Jeroboam was afraid of was the people of the Northern tribes would go to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple, their hearts would turn against him and the peo­ple would rise up and kill him. To keep the people under his rule, he set up two calves of gold in Bethel and Dan for them to wor­ship. It became convenient and more ap­pealing to the people. Who wants to trudge all the way to Jerusalem? This relig­ion of ease was to make the people happy and en­joy worship to “God.” How conven­ient they would not have to be bothered by anything as tedious as going all the way to Jerusa­lem. They wanted to enjoy life and have fun and be entertained.

The spirit of Jeroboam abounds today in modern religion. Everyone wants to have things convenient for them. Power enthusi­asm, come-as-you-are dress codes, food in abundance and feel good religion has turned the Bible into nothing more than a dusty library of sixty-six books out of date and out of time with modern man. Leaving the Bible, modern religion worships at the altars of Bethel and Dan. We need prophets like Ahijah who will declare the pure mes­sage of God (1 Kings 14). Anything less is rebellion. “But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wicked­ness of My people Israel” (Jeremiah 7:12). “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). &

THE INDIRECT OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1)

By Bob Myhan

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always operated together; they have always been “One” in nature and in purpose. The physical creation was planned by the Father, begun by the Son and com­pleted by the Holy Spirit (Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-3; Heb. 1:1-2; Col. 1:15-16; Gen. 1:2). The spiri­tual creation—the Lord's church—was also planned by the Father, begun by the Son and com­pleted by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:3-14; 3:9-12; 1 Peter 1:18-21; John 16:13; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 2:9-10).

The physi­cal crea­tion began by the direct opera­tion of the God­head but contin­ues by the operation of physical laws estab­lished at its beginning. The spiritual crea­tion, likewise, began by the direct operation of the Godhead but contin­ues by the operation of spiritual laws estab­lished at its commencement.

In the physical realm each living thing brings forth “according to its kind” for the seed of each living thing is in itself (Gen. 1:11-25). This is also true in the spiritual realm.

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11)

Conviction and conversion are so interre­lated that an individual will never be con­verted until he is convicted. One is con­victed when he realizes he is guilty of sin, and one is converted when he turns from sin to God. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would reprove, or convict, the world of sin (John 16:8). John tells us one is convicted by his own conscience. (John 8:9). Actually, the Holy Spirit operates upon the con­science in order to bring about conviction. But how does the Holy Spirit op­erate on the conscience? Does He operate directly or in­directly? In the book of Acts it can be seen that the Holy Spirit convicted people indi­rectly through the in­strumentality [means] of the revealed word. In the Old Testament, “the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas” when He in­spired David to write, “Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it”; and, “Let an­other take his office.” (Acts 1:16, 20; Ps. 69:25; 109:8). Just so, the Holy Spirit spoke to the masses indirectly through the preaching and writing of the apostles and other inspired men.

In Acts chapter two the apostles "were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them ut­terance" (verse 4). When the crowd gath­ered, "everyone heard them speak in his own language" (verse 6) and Peter began to preach, saying, "Men of Israel, hear these words" (verses 22-36). He concluded his sermon with the statement,

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ" (verse 36).

"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart." (v. 37)

This shows that they understood what the Holy Spirit said, by the mouth of Peter, con­cerning Jesus, and were convicted of their sins. Thus, the Holy Spirit operated on their conscience indirectly through the preaching of Peter. And, having been con­victed, they asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Verse 37) They knew they were guilty of sin, but did not know how to turn from it to God. Peter, still guided by the Spirit, told them,

"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Verse 38)

The Holy Spirit communicated indi­rectly through the preaching of Peter what they were to do "for the remission of sins," or salvation.

Thus, even during the early days of the church, the Holy Spirit carried out His work of convic­tion and conversion by means of the word of God, which he re­vealed and confirmed via the apostles and proph­ets. No one was ever convicted or con­verted who had not both heard and un­der­stood the word of God, which is why the devil works so hard to pre­vent people from believing it.

Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.” (Matt. 13:3-4)

"Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the way­side.” (Matt. 13:18-19)

“Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” (Luke 8:12) &

[To be continued next week]