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Sanctuary or Auditorium – Does it Really Matter?


I had lunch with a friend the other day. The topic of church growth came up, as it often does. He informed me of a trend in his church that has provoked him as of late. He has noted that the place believers gather together to offer praises in worship to their God, the place where the bold proclamation of God’s word is presented to the people, the place once known as a sanctuary is now simply being called an auditorium.

This isn’t an isolated occurrence. When my old church moved from their sanctuary into the gym (preparing for growth) the term sanctuary was dropped and it became an auditorium. Even the conservative baptist church I attend now calls it an auditorium.

My friend was so troubled by the terminology he confronted the pastor about it. He argued that the church has been referred to as a sanctuary throughout history and carries with it a sense of awe and reverence in the presence of the Holy that should not be changed.

In light of our discussion, a question has been hammering in my brain the past few days: Continue reading →

My ‘Simple’ Sunday


Sorry I’m so late reporting this, but summer is a difficult time of year for me to post on a consistent basis. We have two computers, but my wife uses one for summer school and my kids stay up to all hours on the other one playing games and texting their friends. I can’t wait for fall, frankly.

Anyway, let me give a brief overview of how church services went Sunday. Pastor gave his first message on ‘Creating a Simple Church.’ I held my breath, hoping he didn’t propose a bunch of radical changes couched in corporate lingo to communicate the need to re-focus the church. I was pleasantly surprised, however. The message did not resemble much, if anything I had read of or listened to about ‘Simple Church’. He did center the message around the book’s thesis: We need to focus all the ministries in the church around the bible commission to make disciples of all nations. But it appeared to me he took the central idea of the book and built upon it without relying on the book’s methods to do so. He made the message his own. Here were his three main points: Continue reading →

Coming Out From Among Them – Part 4


I had arrived at a crisis point in my spiritual life and I just didn’t know what to do. Our church had bowed its knee at the altar of Purpose, worshiping the Church Growth Goddess, who had seductively lured it away to her sinful bed. She had successfully inflamed passion for numerical growth, fame and influence to a fever pitch among our leadership. They had yielded to her will in matters of faith and practice. I strongly felt God’s call to come out of her, that her sins would not be imputed unto me or my family. However, I didn’t know where to go. I felt I needed a well thought out plan before exiting stage left.

I still had not found a church home for us to root ourselves in. After 11 years in a pentecostal\charismatic type church and seeing a lot of goofiness done in the name of God, I was looking to make our home in a more conservative, scripture-saturated atmosphere. I didn’t completely rule out a ‘full-gospel’ church since there are a couple in our town with good reputations, but I honestly couldn’t bring myself to attend them. I have too many questions and concerns about tongues, prophecies, prophets and spirit baptisms to be comfortable in one right now. Most of the other churches I considered have been influenced, to some degree, by Rick Warren. So many choices, so few options. So while I pondered and prayed over our future, we continued to attend services on Sunday morning and on Wednesday nights. Continue reading →

Coming Out From Among Them – Part 2


In Part 1 of this series I wrote that three major events led directly to my departure from my old church several months ago. I want to chronicle those events here in hope that some of my readers may be able to detect the infiltration of the heretical principles of the church growth/seeker sensitive/purpose-driven movement creeping into their own congregations.

In October of 2005 I underwent my own personal reformation of belief, turning away from Arminianism to Calvinism, away from a man-centered theology to a Christocentric theology. This startling change began, due in part, to my intense dissatisfaction with the church and the preaching from the pulpit. As I examined the messages I couldn’t help but feel the biblical content was minimal, with the wisdom of men used as filler. That sent me on a journey to discover the truth about the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This, in turn, led me to embrace Reformation Theology. However, I did not leave my church immediately. Instead, I turned on my discernment radar and listened closely to every word spoken from the pulpit. Sadly, I must report, the results were appalling. Continue reading →

Enlarging My Borders


This blog has primarily focused on issues of theology and personal experiences in evangelism, but I will now begin integrating the themes and articles from my discernment blog into this one. Shortly, my other blog shall cease to exist and I will journal onward only as a quite peculiar pilgrim.

Be ye warned! You shall be exposed to heresies, watered down doctrines, false teachers, big teeth and slicked back hair. Please keep barf bags and smelling salts nearby. Things could (and probably will) get a little ugly at times.

For those readers who willingly bring injury to your intellects by digesting both my blogs, I ask for patient endurance as I republish articles from over there. I will continue to post new things interspersed with the discernment articles, so please don’t take an extended leave of absence. I have several interesting topics in the skillet – so stay tuned!

My (half-hearted) Apology to Jacob Arminius


Dear Mr. Arminius,

I am truly sorry for your loss. Your reputation over the past century has been diminished at the hands of believers everywhere who hold to free-will and Calvinist theology. I, along with multitudes of others, have used your name in vain. We have ascribed the fruits of your theological studies to the works of another man, much more notorious than yourself. Many adherents to modern evangelicalism’s methods of bringing souls to Christ by a simple act of the will apart from a work of grace are lumped together in a category of aberrant theology we call Arminianism. I have realized, to my chagrin, this is giving them far more credit than they deserve. To call preachers who ask lost souls to recite a canned sinner’s prayer devoid of repentance an Arminian is an insult to your good name. Preachers who teach, either directly or indirectly, man’s innate ability to choose Christ contrary to his sinful nature, should not be labeled with your name but with the name of a heretic from ages ago; Pelagius. Continue reading →

The Fruit of Free-Will Theology


Just a few short years ago I had come to the end of my rope. I was ready to hang myself in despair. From the time God saved me in 1995 until 2000 when I finished up college, I had experienced marginal spiritual growth as a Christian. From mid-2000 to late 2005 my spiritual life collapsed.

So what happened to wreck my spiritual growth?

The simple answer lies in my efforts to establish my own righteousness after having received grace. I based my assurance on my spiritual performance. The cause of this faulty understanding had much to do with my limited exposure to teachers and preachers of God’s word. I swore allegiance to only 2 teachers and my pastor. Coming from a Pentecostal/Charismatic background I was taught early on to only listen to so-called ‘spirit-filled’ preachers, teachers and prophets.

Translation: I should only perk my ears toward pentecostal types who believed in tongues and spirit baptisms.

I could hardly tolerate any of the TBN preachers and teachers who fit this profile, although I would tune in to John Hagee and Hal Lindsey from time to time. I didn’t bother with the so-called ‘dried-up non-spirit-filled’ teachers, so my options were very limited. My pastor preached messages that were focused more on the happy life than on the scriptures so I wasn’t growing in the word much through him.

Note: Little did I know at the time my pastor was following the Church growth/Seeker-sensitive blueprint for manufacturing mega-churches. But that is another story… Continue reading →

Tiptoeing Through the TULIP: The Importance of the Doctrine of Radical Corruption – Part 2


In part 1 we learned the importance of teaching the doctrine of Radical Corruption is in bringing us to realize we cannot please God in our natural state. All attempts to do so should immediately be abandoned. it is utterly futile. Our offenses against God cannot be overcome by the counterweight of good deeds, no matter how impressive. Our sin is always before us. The wages thereof is death.

In light of this reality,

Radical Corruption teaches man to forsake his works and cling to the work of Christ.

Christ lived a perfectly sinless life. He was the spotless lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for all sins for all time. The shedding of his blood on the cross remits the sins of all who come to him. His bodily resurrection assures the bodily resurrection of all who are called by his name. The burden and curse of the law upon us is taken off our backs and laid upon Jesus Christ. In return it pleased the Father to impute (or transfer) the righteousness of Christ to us, so that at the judgment on the last day, all God will see is the work of Christ on our behalf and not the sins we have committed against him. The gavel of God’s decree will strike a thunderous blow, echoing across the cosmos, proclaiming the justification freely given us by God’s good grace.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Rom 10:3-4) Continue reading →

Tiptoeing Through the TULIP: The Importance of the Doctrine of Radical Corruption – Part 1


We live in a truly miraculous day and age. Here in America, life has been made easier (but more complex) by the combination of great advances in technology and fertile imaginations. Cell phones enable us to contact anybody just about anywhere at any given time. Notebook computers can wirelessly access the internet from just about any location imaginable. The internet itself has become the world’s knowledge-base. There is no subject that cannot be thoroughly mined by simply ‘Googling’ it. Oh how I wish the internet had been around when I was in school. I actually had to go into a library and read books! Life is good. Life is accessible. Life is easier than at any time in history. But as Paul Simon once sang, ‘These are the days of miracle and wonder. Don’t cry baby, don’t cry.’ Continue reading →

Tiptoeing Through the TULIP: Radical Corruption – Part 2


In part one we established that man is:

A. A fallen creature
B. A bondservant to the Devil
C. A sinner not only in action but in nature. Man sins because he is a sinner, not a sinner because he sins.

We ended Part 1 with the question, Does man naturally have the desire to turn from his sin in sorrowful repentance and exercise the kind of faith that saves the soul from God’s Holy wrath?

It’s a good question, deserving of a scriptural answer. But first, let’s take a look at man’s ability to attain God’s righteousness through the keeping of the law. Continue reading →