Quote:
Originally Posted by A.W. Bowman
I finally decided to listen to the entire sermon. While I did stop and recording a number of times and took notes about specific comments, I will just give a quick overview of my observations.
1. If preachers do not continually preach on standards, the congregation will backslide.
2. Revival is a product of religious performance. The more energetic the performance the greater the revival will be.
3. When revival comes you will know it by the changes one makes in their outward appearance.
4. TV is evil – but the Internet and computers are not mentioned (accepted by pulpit silence).
5. The attitude of the minister is good (accepting of all holiness standards, as defined by the organization), and all other attitudes are wrong. A whole list of things to ‘preach against’, but nothing to preach in support of.
6. Preach the word was the call – but in this sermon, the word was all but ignored. Rather, the sermon was on what ministers could/should be accomplishing - that was the focus – Not Christ or what He could accomplish.
Summation: The focus is on men and their efforts and accomplishments – not on Jesus, His message and what He will accomplish. Except in a couple of prayers and a scriptural reference, the name of Jesus was mentioned perhaps 1-2 times. There were a number of Praise God, Thank God, Thank the Lord and Praise the Lord statements, but always as a side note, but not as the subject.
Bottom line:"It is amazing what these Americans can accomplish without God."
Conclusion. I have no idea what the other preachers had to offer during this conference, but this sermon was all about justifying an organization’s holiness standards, and nothing to do with the gospel or empowering folks to enhance their relationship with God. Just receiving the approval of the pastor. I assume that was the intent all along. That being the case, it was a wasted hour.
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The organ playing? it was as good as the message that was preached.
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I believe your conclusion of the message is right on target.
I have not participated in that theater for some time, but listening to it a few minutes triggered that suffocating religious experience I endured for too long of a time.
I agree though, the point and delivery of the message seemed to be rooted in carnal thinking. For the speaker, performance, outward appearances, and physical externalities are the measurement tools of choice which were carefully crafted to be viewed as ultimate determinants of spiritual salvation. In the aggregate sense, it is an organizational call to arms against all outside or inside forces which threaten to compromise “their” message of “truth.” The theme was as divisive as tone was intimidating. Perhaps the standard of Christ
has been ignored amidst a competitive effort to prove that “their” banner is supreme.
Put simply, this is the manner and method of religious speech that cripples and stymies the development of healthy independent thought. I was astonished and saddened that the congregants corporately rejoiced to such bold and violent commandments suspended over nothingness. To subject oneself to such repetitive programming is to slowly become numb to proper logical discourse or shall we say, just good sensible reasoning? How would the need to “…preach against facial hair on men!” sound to a room full of Rabbis able to trace their ancestry all the way back to those beard-wearing Levites (who were btw, the only ordained of God to receive tithes)? How would “…preach against facial hair on men!” sound to the beloved King David who must have been fond of his royal mane having seen Hanun exact shame on his men by removing a portion of theirs? And how does “…preach against facial hair on men!” sound to Christians today when history tells us the very central figure of the Christian faith most likely held to the Jewish tradition and grew what the Father made genetically possible whether for aesthetics or for gender distinction or for purposed evolutionary functions? But I digress…
Indeed, this is the game and these are the players. For those Pentecostal slogans which claim to own God’s special favor and love, it’s difficult to see minding the arrows and swords protruding from the bodies of their kin. Oh wait, did someone say I can trade my loyalty for some chain mail armor? Which battlefield are we on anyway?