Jesus said to Saint Peter: On whom I will build my
CHURCH.
So It's
Church for me!!
[BIBLE] 1 Peter 3:3-4[/BIBLE]
I am all for building up the church... but there has come a time in all of church history when God send prophets to warn the believers to repent or God will be upset and will do something.
We are being overwhelmed within the Christian community with all kinds of winds of doctrines, with people who believe that they can bring into the church that which is an abomination in the Lord's eyes, and have it all sanctified. From sexual perversions to breaching of the walls and foundations of the Lord's kingdom, we have seen people being taught that it is ok to keep your sins, because God is a god of Love. His grace is sufficient to cover all sins, including those actively being permitted within the clergy and taught from the pulpit.
God's benovelence is being sold and all the believer has to do is claim it, and God will continue to be the human race's servant. As a giver of all good gifts, God is thought of as the Santa, no matter how naughty or nice His children are.
We need a revival of the old gospel of repentence and purity. One where the people have a firm committment to honoring God not only in words but in deeds. Where there is a true understanding of what repentence really means, not just a ...yahhhhyahhhh I am sorry.. and then continue to sin... but an earnest effort to .. go and sin no more.. with prayerful attitude in every step taken that the Holy Spirit continues leading. I would love to see a revival not in the dramatic, but in the humble quietness, not in the loud and boistrous, but in the quiet and solomn consecrated efforts.
Many go to church to be entertained. If it is not as entertaining as the entertainment world, then they feel that it is not worth anything. There is a shallowness to the preaching, and much of the preaching today is made to tickle the ears. Convictions of sin are not as prevailant as they should be.
I am not saying that any of the truth, and the good solid preaching can not be found. I am not saying that you can not find it in churches.
What I am saying is that the discernment is less for some who know not. Hence the question.... which do you choose. .. the blanket answer that some have given with following the church... is like Yeshua... when he said "the blind leading the blind" and both will fall in the ditch.
With the spiritual eyes and spiritual ears that God has given to His believers, they will follow Him no matter where He leads them. He know where the different spiritual food is that is suitable for everyone's spiritual needs. And not everyone needs the same food at the same time.
It is the trap to think that what is contained between the walls and doors of a certain church is enough to contain God too.