Christianity churchianity and The Kingdom
Christianity (Evangelical Subculture)
Most new believers today unknowingly undergo 2 convertions when they accept Jesus as savior, although they don’t realize it at the time. First, they are converted from there old life into the Body of Christ by reconciliation with God through Jesus. At about the same time they buy into the Evangelical Subculture under the false impression that it IS the Body of Christ.
This subculture has its own organizations and institutions, denominations, parachurch organizations; its own magazines and radio stations and TV networks; its own schools and colleges and universities; its own celebrities; its own music industry and book stores; its own marketing and advertising worlds.
It is like joining a club. The club member begins to wear the clothes and trinkets bought at the “Christian” book stores; watch “Christian” TV, Christian movies, and listen to “Christian” radio; buy the latest fad books that sweep the “Christian media”; subscribe to the”Christian” magazines; worship the “Christian” celebrities; use all the latest jargon promoted in the latest books by the celebrity authors.
A cult-like mentality develops among people who see this Evangelical system as identical to the Body of Christ. Their zeal is for the trappings of the subculture. It is its own religion. If someone tries to point out the unbiblical nature of some aspect of this subculture people will take offense because you are criticizing their religion. The subculture becomes the message. The “gospel” that people preach is for conversion to the system, not really to Jesus Christ.
many Christians can’t tell the difference between emotion and “the anointing”.
Emotional experience has all but replaced the anointing (and most cannot even tell the difference).
The sad truth is that church has primarily become a place of religious entertainment not mutual body edification.
Churchianity.
Churchianity - Dictionary Definition
· Overemphasis on ecclesiastical and denominational matters in Christianity.
· The usually excessive or sectarian attachment to the practices and interests of a particular church [institution –
· currently there are over 33,000 “Christian” denominations in the United States!
· Attend services regularly.
· Go to Sunday School.
· Follow these 5 simple steps and you’ll become more prosperous, more anointed and closer to God.
· Constant reliance on human mediators and routine programs that teach us to “know the Lord”).
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.
27 And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
10 For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people:
11 And there will be no need for every man to be teaching his brother, or his neighbour, saying, This is the knowledge of the Lord: for they will all have knowledge of me, great and small.
The life of the Spirit is replaced with the death of tradition, ritual,
routine, rules, regulations and subservience to religious authority figures who
are imposed as being mediators and spokespersons for God. The believer
eventually trades his own priesthood in exchange for a system that promises to
govern and mediate his relationship with God for him if all he will do is
submit to it and pay his tithes.
How often have we heard these kinds of things happening in church organizations?
· sexual immorality
· impure thoughts
· eagerness for lustful pleasure
· idolatry
· participation in demonic activities like hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions.
· the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group?
Isn’t it obvious that none of these things are attributes of the Church of Jesus Christ but only the product of groups who are following worldly concepts?
Have you ever heard a church member, pastor or evangelist defend organized religion by saying it is essential to the effective spreading of the Gospel throughout the world? Well, educate yourself. It may make you ill. But it may also wake you up! The World Christian Trends report states that
· 95% - NINETY FIVE PERCENT - of all church budgets in the US are spent solely on church comforts and programs.
· LESS THAN 1% IS SPENT ON EVANGELISM TO THE MOST UNREACHED!
· 91% of all Christian outreach/evangelism does not target non-Christians but targets other Christians in already-evangelized countries or people-groups.
· Christians spend more on the annual audits of their churches and agencies ($810 million) than on all their workers in the non-Christian world!
· The percent of Christian resources in countries that are already more than 60% Christian is 99.9%.
· The percent spent in countries where less than half the people have EVER heard of Jesus - 0.01%.
· More than 90% of all Christian materials are printed in English, but only 8% of the world speaks English.
· It is estimated that Christians worldwide spend around $8 BILLION dollars PER YEAR going to the more than 500 conferences to TALK about missions. That’s more than TWICE the total spent DOING missions.
· 818 unevangelized ethno linguistic peoples have never been targeted by any Christian agencies ever. Hundreds of millions have never even heard the name of Jesus!
· Over 20 centuries, Christians have announced a calculated 1,500 organized plans to evangelize the world; most every one failed.
· 250 plans focused on AD 2000 fell massively short of their stated goals.
FACT: ORGANIZED RELIGION IS NOT GETTING THE JOB DONE ANY BETTER! How is it that believers cannot see this? When in the book of Acts 3,000 people were saved in one day (Acts 2:41) and the total reached more than 5,000 just days later (Acts 4:4), on and on and on - so that the Bible actually records that this small rabble of persecuted, impoverished and worldly unpopular Christians turned the world upside-down in such a short period of time - how in the world can anyone think that organized religion has somehow matched, exceeded or matured beyond the humble beginnings of the early Church?
does it not seem obvious that organized religion is not any help to the body of Christ, except:
· to divide her
· drain her resources
· and distract her people from simple devotion to the Lordship of Jesus?
pastoring a church has become more of a profession than a calling,
Pastors attend conferences and read books to try and figure out how to grow the church.
Most pastors of most institutional churches fancy themselves as some form of modern-day Levitical-type priest.
Church government has digressed from a theocratic, Spirit-led consensus to a “Spirit-led” democracy, or worse, a “Spirit-led” benevolent dictatorship of a single pastor or a church board.
Hear the voice of the Spirit as you study the Scriptures for yourself and learn to discern truth from error and exercise your spirit and build your faith.
MATTHEW 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
· Through faith alone.
· In Christ alone.
· by the Word and Spirit alone.
· Without doctrines or traditions of men.
23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
· Teach people to continue steadfastly in the Word of God, teaching the apostles’ doctrine.
· bringing them into fellowship in the body of Christ.
· participating in the breaking of bread.
· Being people of prayer,
Acts 2:47 Giving praise to God, and having the approval of all the people; and every day the number of those who had salvation was increased by the Lord.
The Church (the Ecclesia - as Scripture calls it) is the body of Christ; not a building, not a program, not a meeting. It is Christ’s royal, spiritual assembly of saints. This is why “church” as most know it today is little more than a distraction, blinding millions from the true Church (the Ecclesia), which only Christ alone can build and in whom Christ dwells.