Quote:
Originally Posted by BeenThinkin
Agree! But one thing I'm asking I guess is how much damage, (and that's probably not a good way to express it, because God is going to do whatever He chooses to do in spite of me and anyone else) but what harm comes to the work of the church when people are making these big claims of "End Time Revival" and "World Wide Revival" and nothing is any different for the most part than it has been in the past?
Part of what I heard on the internet link sounded more like a pep-rally than Bible!
To any on the forum that are UPCI, please don't take this wrong I'm not just picking it to pieces because it's the UPC. Have family much involved in the organization, you'd be surprised to know how much involved. But I guess what I am saying is "I've heard this before!"
Enough thinkin...
BT
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I understand that you're not taking shots at the UPC with this question. To be certain, they're not the only ones who do this "End-time" harvest sorta thing. Many do.
The answer to "How much damage" that I would give is, "A Lot." And I think it happens this way....the message is sent that it's God that suddenly activates the "Revival" knob and suddenly people start pouring into our churches. Then, when it doesn't happen (because it never does) we settle back into our easy chairs of Christian comfort buying our Christian t-shirts, Christian CDs, Christian books, watching Christian TV, and ordering new Christian bumper stickers, and nothing happens at all to change the world. Some ole, same ole.
The message is sent that we don't need to really do anything, that we don't need to engage the neighbor in friendship through bbq's, block parties, walks, etc., that will lead to a spiritual dialogue, that we don't need to "Lift up our eyes" to the harvest field, or that we don't need to invest ourselves into the culture....that instead, God will wave the magic wand of revival and we'll just sit back and collect the tithe and get ready for the trumpet to blow.
That's the damage I think it does. So often, the message that is sent, is what is NOT said. For example, when we schedule a "Faith Healer" to come to our church and we get all pumped for our aching back to finally quit hurting, what we've been told is that God won't do anything for us unless a big name comes to town. So when we talk about end-time revival, we're sending the message that it's really no use to work in the fields of harvest that are before us right now at this very moment in the form of neighbors, family, friends, co-workers, etc.
I know of people SO given to reaching people that they center their entire lives around it, even to the point of going through the same drive-thru windows at the same time on the same days so as to develop new relationships with new people, to potentially open the door to a "God discussion." Those people? They're not waiting on an end-time revival. They're getting the job done RIGHT NOW.