Don Love Ministries - DoWeKnow?
A GOOD IDEA, LIKE LOVE, IS GOOD ONLY IF IT IS SHARED. DO WE KNOW HOW CHURCH LEADERS ARE FULFILLING SCRIPTURE? |
| IMMORALITY IN THE PULPIT
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily (underhanded and steadily) shall bring in damnable heresies (altering the facts to fit one's conclusion instead of altering one's conclusion to fit the facts), even denying the Lord that bought them (denying His Lordship), and bring upon themselves swift destruction (unable to hear the voice of the Lord and unaware of their wretched state). And many shall follow their pernicious ways (free sex, homosexuality, and the like); by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of (II Pet. 2:1-2). The past two decades have seen so much immorality in the lives of church leaders and denomination officials that it is hardly newsworthy anymore. The mentioning of this is not a form of "people bashing." After all, no one can live long in these temples of clay without perceiving that the same perversion that shamed these men lies somewhere within all of us, wanting to be unleashed. However, it is an attempt to understand how the Scriptures are being fulfilled. Those who are fulfilling this Scripture fall into one of two categories. Some of the "mighty" that have fallen were undoubtedly the Lord's. They came down because they began believing their own PR and because they became victims of the law they were whipping onto their listeners. Hopefully, they have since learned the simple truth that it is by God's grace that we are saved from our sin and made to stand, and not of works lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-10). Others, though, have chosen the ministry as a profession, and these fulfill (Jude 1:12 )These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Those in this second category are those who would deal with sin and its guilt by redefining it or ignoring it. They teach that various sins are "only natural" and nothing to be uptight about. These pride themselves on being "politically correct" and open minded, and their brand of liberalism has spread over into our society. An example of their rot in our culture is the redefining of crime. Politicians have learned that they can emulate these churches and shrivel the list of crimes against society by eliminating most of the crimes against moral laws, and thereby produce some impressive statistics for the press. As to the corruption in the church, the examples are to numerous to mention. At the top of the list, however, are two particularly noxious sins; namely, the embracing of hardened homosexuals into the church community (even in the pulpits) and the ignoring of those who are "living in," which sends the signal that the church no longer considers fornication to be the ruinous sin that the Bible declares it to be. PERSONAL MISUSE OF DONATIONS Self-serving Church leaders are also fulfilling the Scriptures by abusing Church privileges. "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you:" (II Pet. 2:3). The more obvious of these abuses has to do with the salaries and benefits that the leaders in the denominations and associations have established for themselves. It seems to matter to few that their offices have little if anything to do with the great commission. Apparently the membership that is feeding these "dinosaurs" that should have been extinct long ago are doing so because it is expected of them. Oh, that they would read the Word and see what the Lord expects of them! INVESTING TAX-FREE DONATIONS AND GIFTS IN THE MARKET PLACE We should say this in behalf of a goodly number of disturbed church members. The revenues from dues and apportionments have so declined that to maintain their exorbitant salaries and lifestyles, the leaders of most of the major church organizations have had to resort to investing their tax-free revenues in the market place. To a fair-minded person, the inappropriateness of this is obvious. These self-serving manipulators are entering the market with an unfair advantage--not having to pay property taxes, sales tax, employee taxes/benefits, etc. The impact on the public is at least two-fold. Anger seethes because the churches are unfairly syphoning off business and money from the market place. And indignation sets in because they are obviously abusing the intent of the charitable laws designed to promote the stabilizing spiritual and moral effect that the church should have on our families, communities, and nation. And it should be noted that this ploy of the devil is especially devious and effective in that it places public officials in a dilemma. If they ignore such doings, then they are ignoring unlawful activities. If they deal with such abuses, they are too often perceived as meddling in the affairs of the church. Further, their dealing with obvious abuses of this nature sets dangerous precedents. For as we've seen, unscrupulous public officials who are openly anti-Christ and anti-church seize the opportunity and use the precedents to engage in church bashing. So, do we know how church leaders are fulfilling scripture? Well, we do if we are familiar with the Scriptures, and if we simply look around us. How unfortunate it is that this question can not be, "Do we know how church leaders are fulfilling the great commission?" |