Satan in the Sanctuary

By God’s eye-opening grace it has become clear to His servant that Satan is at work in the American church today.

One of the devil’s methods for finding himself a pew inside the House of God was revealed to me as I passed into the sanctuary the other Sunday; the usher handed me the days’ bulletin, and inside was a single page ‘guide’ on how to serve your church. When I sat down and read it, I was instantly floored, horrified by its contents. While others in the congregation seemed pleased to read it, reading nothing untoward into it, I was directed by God’s divine perception to see the truth lurking between the seemingly innocent words.

So now I am called by God to expose this method, this device used by Satan, and written by a self-proclaimed Christian who describes himself as ‘ranked adjunctive professor of theology and culture’ at a seminary.

Our ancient foe has settled comfortably into the American church, and this is one of the ways he has done it. Once we have exposed his device, we will be able to recognize it when we see it, and then, protected by the Shield of Faith, we will not be taken in by his deceptions.

The letter opens by stating that we are the light of the world and that when this light is brought together through the ‘church’ it gains intensity, so that its focus becomes a laser beam. Then it says ‘So, what’s wrong?’

Helpfully, it answers its own question, with a surprisingly candid statement: ‘Most churches are anything but energy-filled. Hell seems to not only be standing its ground, but gaining territory.' At this point the letter could go on to provide useful ways we could combat this tragedy. But instead of prompting believers to pray and denounce corruption and falsehoods in the church, the venerated ‘ranked adjunctive professor of theology’ goes on to tell us that we should not think about these things, that we should pretend they don’t exist. Here are his words, accompanied by a laser-focused translation into its real meaning:

·         ‘Let’s bracket off all these things churches are doing wrong today.’ (Don’t expose sin; it just makes our business look bad)

·         ‘Let’s put aside the scandals, the splits and the outdated strategies.’ (Because these things are just how the world works today)

·         Let’s not worry for a moment about any disappointments you may have with leadership.’ (Those in church authority have paid their way there, and can do whatever they like, so stop whining if they are failing to teach you Christ crucified)

·         Let’s talk instead about what any individual person, in any particular church, can do to help their church reach its full redemptive potential. In other words, let’s go after the lowest-hanging solution-oriented fruit.

Okay, let’s translate this last, offensive statement.

Our adjunctive professor clearly doesn’t want the body questioning the head, which is straight up unbiblical (Acts 17:11, Titus 2:15, 1 John 4). Instead, he cribs Robert Kennedy— ‘ask not what your church can do for you, but what you can do for your church.’  Herein lies a major theme today.

Our pastors and radio pastors are constantly promoting the importance of your local church; their intimation clearly being that you cannot be a Christian unless you support your local church. Let’s get something clear: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH WANTING TO GET SOMETHING OUT OF GOING TO CHURCH. 

You go to church to (1) worship God with other believers, and (2) to arm yourself with the Word of God, so that you can be a proper Christian the rest of the week. The fundamental problem is that our pastors and teachers are not arming us with the Word, because they are too busy stripping down tenets of our faith and watering down scripture to make it more palatable for wider masses.

And this part, getting the wider masses, making our faith more appealing to more people, is what the professor means when he writes ‘help the church reach its full redemptive potential.’ He’s not talking about teaching and learning redemption, but about getting more people into the pews (or to be more precise, to get more money into the offering plates).

But that’s not enough for the professor. He decides to refer to the congregation of a church as ‘the lowest-hanging fruit’. Nice. Mock us while failing to arm us with the Word.

That term ‘solution-oriented’ is one of those new-age self-help expressions that mean precisely nothing at all. It’s designed to sound intelligent, to make you think that the writer knows his business and that you should therefore blindly follow his advice. Such slimy tactics are exposed in the eye-opening parody/expose The (Psycho) Path to Success.

 As if that’s not enough, the professor concludes his prologue with this humdinger:

‘Isn’t that what all of us will answer for at the end of our lives anyway? Not what others did, but what we did?’

Did you catch his tactic there? Do you see what he is inferring? The professor tells us to ignore the scandals in the church, pretend there is no corruption, because it doesn’t matter to you, for you will have to answer for what you did.

As intelligent as the professor may be, he doesn’t appear to realize that he has just undercut his entire manifesto. The bible tells us that, yes, we will have to answer for what we did, but that includes failing to do good and denounce evil wherever we see it (1 John 5:16, Matthew 18:15-18, James 4:17 also known as Sin of Omission).

If we see corruption in the church, it is our sacred duty to expose it, to bring it to light, which is what I am doing here. In advising us to ignore it, the professor is setting himself up for judgment by Almighty God.

He goes on to provide a baker’s dozen of ways to help your local church. He is careful to use self-improvement expressions and to emphasize positive thoughts and words as the true power behind your life—again, like we’re eating great tips out of the palm of a life-coach or super hip guru. 

‘Be generous with your financial resources’ he advises. I give from a grateful heart, but not everything I give goes to the ‘church’. I like to know where my tithes are going, to the poor and the needy, the sick and unchurched. I get the sneaking suspicion that the money I put in the church offering plate is funding my pastor’s next vacation cruise.

He admonishes us to ‘give an umbrella of grace to your pastor . . . be one of their floaties.’ I’m sorry, but a deacon, a church leader, is biblically held to a higher standard, and therefore must work to live up to the biblical standard as he is called (1 Timothy 3 is very clear on what is required of these pastors, and leaves no room for indulgences of the flesh).

He tells us to send our pastors positive encouraging emails. Okay, maybe I’ll do that once. It just seems a smidgen backwards, the sheep feeding the shepherd, but whatever.

Like a good student of the Word/Faith movement, he suggests we gossip about our church with our neighbors, in a positive way (this should be easy, since we are ignoring the negative actions in our church). He resorts once again to fancy uplifting but ultimately nonsense new-age phraseology: ‘Unleash positive public relations in your neighborhood and community.’ Yeah! Now I’m totally psyched. After all, the bible is all up about gossiping . . . er, wait, is it the other way around?

His next line of advice is really just more of the same: ‘Work hard on having a positive attitude of a cup half-full instead of a cup half-empty.’ Hmm, nothing about the Holy Spirit yet, or on thinking of the things of heaven . . . but half-full cups are good, in a shallow meaningless modern sort of way.

For his next suggestion our professor tells us to handle disagreements biblically, citing the same verse he used before for another tip (I’m beginning to suspect it’s the only verse he knows). Handling friction biblically is sound advice, but instead of sticking to scripture, he can’t help but throw in yet another empty maxim: ‘In general, just practice the habit of agreeing to disagree agreeably.’ This is exactly the sort of useless advice filling the pages of self-help books, and spilling out of giant speakers at life coaching seminars.

For his 12^th tip, the professor encourages us to welcome all manner of sinners to church. Those with tattoos and piercings and practicing lifestyle choices contrary to scripture are to be welcomed in—and so they should be. After all, churches are filled with sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

But once again he can’t leave it at that. He goes on to say that we should ‘welcome everyone’s differences and scandals with the greater scandal of grace. Not affirmation, necessarily, but always with acceptance, so that they can experience that grace for themselves. It’s the Jesus way.’ 

Okay, Jesus forgave sins, and then accepted the repented believer. Jesus never overlooked un-repented sin. He exposed it for what it is—sin. Sin must first be exposed as such, or repentance and salvation will not follow.

For his final trick, the professor finally offers up righteous advice: pray.

But then he goes on to tell an old tale about how women praying in church basements were the anchor of the church, and by extension the kingdom of God. Once more the professor here is completely disregarding the cross, salvation, repentance, the importance of leaning not on our own understanding but on the Word of God (Proverbs 3:5), and the vital truth that the church is the body of Christ, and that Jesus is its head.

Why no mention of Jesus, professor? Why so much stress on the importance of the church, but not on the Rock on which it is based? Why not a single mention of the Holy Spirit and His central role in the life of the church?

My fellow believers, there is much more to the Christian life than pretty little sayings and inspirational adages. Every believer is called to a spiritual life. A life filled with the Holy Spirit, with the testimony and power to serve God. It is a bold life of compassion and love, one devoted utterly to the will of our heavenly Father. The bible makes very clear what is sin, and how we are to identify and expose it as such. Billions of eternal souls hang in the balance. They won't be saved with pretty sayings and empty adages.

If you are serious about your faith, about serving God, then you need much more than a baker’s dozen of tips—you need the Word of God, which is ‘living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart’ (Hebrews 4:12).

It is according to that verse, by God’s revelatory grace, that I was able to discern the intents of the professor’s heart, and thereby expose them.

Real faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). No pretty expression, no motivational self-improvement seminar can save you—only Jesus saves. You know Him by studying Him, in the Old Testament and in the New.

I have searched the professor’s blog and found it just as wanting in the presence of the Holy Spirit as this letter (which is one of his posts). Either my pastor copied it from the blog or was sent it in a pastor newsletter. If you received it in your church bulletin, beware. He and others like him would have us believe that heaven is only 7 Steps away. There is no mention of the desperate need of Jesus Christ in every life, or of the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.

‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world’ (1 John 4:1-6).

Now you are armed with the discerning Word of God. Use it wisely! God bless!