Title Pending

Hey people. Sorry about it being so long since the last entry. Things got me all tied up and then I could NOT come up with a suitable topic.

But now I have one.

I am tired of seeing churches that graft themselves into the world to make the Gospel more palatable to people. There's a disturbing trend in this country (hopefully not any further) that causes people to try and water down the Bible to gradually get people used to what the crux of the Gospel really is--that it's not all about you, and that God didn't have to extend mercy if He didn't want to. Blending in too much takes much away from the glory of God's handiwork in converting the hearts of the lost. When well-meaning people try to be delicate about it, they're really saying "I don't trust that the God I worship can do what He says he can do, so He needs a little help". A saying I made up awhile back that I use as a sig for my emails is "The Gospel is a sledgehammer, not a scalpel". It's all about using the right tool for the right job.

I don't know, there's just a lot going through my mind on this topic. I'd like to attribute it to the fact that a lot of the lukewarm types aren't being called onto the carpet about their beliefs, or that the amazing amount of supposed religious tolerance in this country enables people to skew off in thousands of different directions. But one thing is for certain, this country, as powerful as it is, is practically impotent when it comes to spreading the Gospel. We spend so much time gossiping, and devoting hours of our precious time to infighting and arguing about STUPID topics, that nothing gets done. The workforce of God has become more of a "workfarce".

My dad and I were talking, and he's arguing online to people elsewhere in Missouri about what kinds of music are to be played in church. He's of the opinion that it doesn't matter, as long as it's within reason and is directed at God. Many other people think that certain instruments, or musical genres, are just completely out of line. I just cannot get into the argument because... I simply don't care. It's not apathy, it's just that I don't want to expend energy that I could be using toward learning more about Scripture, or praying, or sharing my time with people.

What did I even start talking about?

*scroll scroll*

Now I remember. Anyway, it's becoming pretty apparent that the American church is getting lukewarm. We aren't hot for Jesus as much as we could be, because we're handling preaching with kit gloves. The church I'm attending now is the first church I've been in where the pastor isn't afraid to preach sermons that can tick people off. Whenever I see new people show up, I think (and not in a hateful way mind you) "I wonder how long they'll stay". I've heard pastors from other countries say that they're glad they aren't preaching here because we just have too much silly fighting going on.

I can't even think of a time when an American was martyred for their beliefs on American soil. Are Christians getting to be so passe that we're largely ignored? Where's the tribulation? The worst I've endured are people giggling because they think I believe in some magical old man in the sky, or call me out on some Biblical "contradiction" that can be struck down in a couple sentences. Johnny Cash said "It's good to know who hates you, and it's good to be hated by the right people." If people don't boisterously hate us, are we really doing our jobs right?

Woo! It's good to be back. God bless.