Movement in the Church

There is a movement happening in the church today.

For the longest time I did not see it, as so many fail to see it still. 'You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look and yet never perceive. For this people's heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; othrwise they might see and hear, understand with their hearts and turn back and I would cure them.' Matthew 13:15

These days we hear what we want to hear, and our teachers tell us what we want to hear, because what matters to (the majority) of them is the Number (of congregants) and they will do whatever it takes, say whatever needs saying to become our friend so that the Number might rise.

We should be wary of any preacher whose messages are filled with anecdotes, skits, or jokes. These maneuvers are fluff, used to fill in the sermon in place of hard truths to make it more universally acceptable. Pastors these days are even becoming politically correct--Jesus was not politically correct. He gave the message of truth, regardless of who it offended.

No one wants to feel convicted, that they need to ask forgiveness for sins, that we need His grace. This is why the message of the cross is so rarely preached these days. I can't remember the last time I heard it preached, save for the required Easter mass once a year, and even that--last year--was quickly skimmed over by our pastor, lest we feel for two seconds that we need the cross.

Don't take my word for it: pay close attention to your teachers. Sometimes, I have found, it is only a single phrase squeezed in between the fluff that makes my spirit cringe. One statement that is incongruous with the gospel.

The devil is a clever imp. He knows the best way to deceive believers is to feed them what they want to hear. But what we want to hear and what we NEED to hear are two very different giraffes.

So look, listen, and understand. The better we know the Word, the harder it will be for the devil to dupe us.