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Men will allow God to be everywhere except on his throne. They will allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and to make stars. They will allow him to be in his almonry to dispense his alms and bestow his bounties. They will allow him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends his throne, his creatures then gnash their teeth; and when we proclaim an enthroned God, and his right to do as he wills with his own, to dispose of his creatures as he thinks well, without consulting them in the matter, then it is that we are hissed and execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on his throne is not the God they love. They love him anywhere better than they do when he sits with his scepter in his hand and his crown upon his head. But it is God upon the throne that we love to preach. It is God upon his throne whom we trust. – CHARLES SPURGEON

Monday, June 02, 2008

Ten ways to help the American Church cease to stink

OK, some of these may be a bit over the top, but I have to give a hearty "AMEN!" to his descriptions.

From The Detergent Church: Salt and Light or Slop and Tripe? by Doug Giles.

1. Get men who dig being rowdy back in the pulpit.

2. Could we have some sound doctrine, por favor?

3. Preach scary sermons (at least every fourth one).

4. Get rid of 99.9% of “Christian” TV.

5. Quit trying to be relevant and instead become prophetic contrarians, I’m talking contra mundus, mama!

6. Put a 10-year moratorium on “God wants you rich” sermons (yeah, that’s what we need to hear nowadays, you morons, more sermons about money, money, money!).

7. Embrace apologetics and shun shallow faith.

8. Evangelize like it’s 1999.

9. Push lazy Christians to get a life or join a Satanic Church. (Ouch!! I said some of these were over the top).

10. Demand that if a Christian gets involved in the arts that their “craft” must scream excellence and not excrement.

I could add many more, but this is a good starting point.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or use excrement in their art...

Steve Harkonnen said...

11. NO ONE turns their heads to the doors during a sermon if someone comes meandering late into church.

12. Get rid of the dress code goons. People are here to worship, not to be dressed to the nines.

13. If you hear coins being dropped into the collection dish, fret not; cringe not. Maybe that person is giving the church their last dime.

14. Do not disseminate church members from non-members. We are all here to simply worship and give our faith to the Lord.

Kamal Weerakoon said...

15. Stop trying so hard to be relevant and exciting. The Bible IS relevant and exciting! Just read it, get convicted, then go convict others!