Ingrid,

When I read your article, “The American Pastor Police Report Grows Daily,” something dawned on me. No doubt you remember the story of King David and his fall into sexual sin with Bathsheba.

“Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. “

- II Samuel 11:1

Notice the phrase here: “But David stayed at Jerusalem”.  At a time when he, as the leader, should have been engaging in battle, he opted not to, sending others to do his work for him. While the pastors and ministers in places like Azerbiazan and China get arrested for being salt and light, engaging in the moral war that rages; predominantly, American pastors are “staying in Jerusalem”.  In Jerusalem, it’s so much easier for them to tell people how to “have their best life now” or how we should have a “generous orthodoxy” than it is for them to stand up in their pulpits and condemn the California Supreme Court for declaring good that which is evil.   Martin Luther spoke against this taking of the easy road:

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

As with King David, could their fall into sexual sin be a result of their avoidance of their rightful place at the front of the battle?

Grace & Peace,

D.R.

A Slice reader responds:

“Rabbi Lustig presents a rather diverse group of people representive of all nations and religions who, according to him, are “equal in God’s eyes”.

But, if I understand the Word of God correctly, all of humanity, every individual from all of history, representing all nations and all faith systems will stand before the heavenly throne on the great Day of Judgment to give account to God. And, according to the words of Christ, his definition of diversity will be seen and known as such: sheep and goats. That’s it!

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”  (Matthew 25:31-33)

Righteous heaven bound sheep. Unrighteous hell bound goats. So much for equality.”

P.

Dear Ingrid:

I love apologetics, I love smart Christians in general, D. James Kennedy, R.C. Sproul, Ravi Zacharias, they are brilliant scholars who studied the Bible as well as being Renaissance men in that they have an excellent knowledge of the world as well. However, the simple fact remains, that when we try to conform or compromise to the world, no matter how many books you’ve sold or how big your ministry is, you are not doing what God wants you to do. Period. I read through the prayer and found it to be very, very inoffensive, matching up with the Jewish people’s current perspective of God. Ravi knows how important the exclusive belief in Christ is in orthodox Christianity. As with the whole Rob Bell scenario that is still exploding over at alittleleaven.com (closing in on 200 comments), I have come to the belief that it is not enough to simply represent Christianity at a conference without preaching the gospel. How are the people going to believe what they have not heard? I mean, isn’t that Christianity 101? That’s what we need to get back to.

I suppose telling a lot of truth makes you a good Christian ministry, but apparently telling the whole truth makes you malicious.

L.

Hey Ingrid, long time reader, first time writer, keep it up!

Just wanted to let you know that I checked out the homepage of Church at Rock Creek and found the new sermon entitled Toxic People, a three week study. It sounded familiar and then I did a quick search and came up with something very interesting.

(This won’t surprise you) but, apparently, they copied Rick Warren’s sermon and splashed on some new graphic design to fool people into thinking that the pastor came up with it on his own. Ha! I remembered the title only because I was at another megachurch and heard this exact same sermon “preached” on. At least Johnathon Edwards had the scholarly decency to write his own sermons. Anyway, thought I’d point it out so you can see the true shallow pathetic nature of this “movement”.

L.

Yes, L., sermon recycling is a common practice these days as men like Rick Warren offer sermons for purchase on their websites. Today’s pastor can order a turnkey ministry online with Rick Warren’s sermons, movie excerpts from WingClips.com, and canned music if he doesn’t have a hot band to play Sunday morning. I heard from one reader on Monday whose pastor read an entire sermon from the pulpit Sunday as his own. The problem was, it was written by a nationally known Bible teacher. They borrow one another’s words, it says of the false prophets in Jeremiah 23. Pastors today do this when they have nothing to say from the mouth of the Lord. They’re not in contact with God and that’s why they have to take their sermons from one another. The spiritual fruit of this kind of leadership is everywhere in our carnal churches.

A reader sent in these thoughts on the emerging teachers today.

Dear Ingrid,

These emerging church types, along with the New Agers, often use Christianized talk, but with a different meaning. They state that the words in the Bible can mean anything and ultimately there is no ascertainable meaning. This sounds very “spiritual” in an intellectual way; but I use these facts to combat this:

1.) The words on the page is NOT the Scripture, but the meaning of the words on the page is the Scripture. I think that this is a carry-over from Rome; when they would parade around holding up this huge bible, acting as if that book and the words thereon was God’s Word! If the written words on the page of the book is God’s Word, then how can our Blessed Redeemer be called “The Word.” It is the meaning, the message of the book that is the Scripture!

2.) If words can’t be ascertained and the meaning of the book is the Scriptures, then that statement is a blatant denial of the Scriptures. They are denying the Scriptures, plain and simple. Yes, there are differences in interpretation of some aspects, but the core doctrines of the faith remain and identify the remnant. To say that since there are differences in interpretation and therefore lets just accept any interpretation regardless is a denial of Scripture, as both epistles to Timothy and Hebrews 4:12 plainly state.

3.) If their premise on words and meaning is correct, it is not only a denial of Scripture but a denial of the Sovereignty of God and his character. If a Sovereign God can’t communicate to us with a book stated numerous times to be His word, then just how sovereign can He be?

S.A.

Ingrid -

Thanks for the piece you did about the so called phenomenon of “Christian Death Metal.”

I became a Christian in 1990, just as some of this stuff was breaking out in the world.  I had been a huge fan of the usual suspects (Anthrax, Slayer, Metallica, etc.), as well as some of the more obscure, rank, and guttural forms of Death and Thrash metal (Venom, Carcass, Napalm Death, etc.).

When I began serving the Lord, I was initially a fan of the Christian brands of this stuff.  Being really young in Jesus, I just took it for granted that these bands served the Lord and were genuinely trying to be a light in a dark place.  I offered them my total support and patronage.

It wasn’t long before the Spirit began to convict me about this.  I began to develop a sensitivity and started discerning an unholy mixture.  The lyrics often preached, but the sounds and images were so contrary to Christ and His Spirit that I could no longer justify my involvement with it.  I no longer listen to these kinds of bands, “Christian” or non, but I do regularly flip through publications that promote and cater to “Christian” artists in the extreme music scene to stay abreast of where its heading.  When I was listening, there was at least a standard of morality and the bands truly preached Jesus.  At this point, there is literally nothing to distinguish the alleged Christians in this scene from the world.  The imagery is vile, the music cacophonous and dark, the testimony of Christ and His word is absent, and the lifestyle far from holy.

I wrote Doug Van Pelt, who is the founder and editor of HM Magazine.  This magazine is far and away the premier fanzine for all things “Christian Metal.”  I addressed my concerns about the direction of his magazine and the scene it was embracing, as well as the increasing absence of vital testimony.  His response was that we were “wrong” to use rock music in a “utilitarian way,” that is, solely as a tool for reaching lost people (as if that were ever legitimate in the first place).  He said that Christians have a right to “express themselves artistically,” and that personal artistic expressions by the artists were as important to the health of the church as evangelism.  Then in some twisted logic, he asserted that my “utilitarian” view of art had been deemed heretical by the church in some former era.  I returned the volley, explaining that I was under the impression that, “I no longer lived, but Christ lived in me,” placing me under the obligation to glorify Him directly and specifically with all the work of my hands.  I received no answer on that.

The bottom line here, though, is that “Christian Death Metal” is really more symptomatic of a deeper problem.  The root problem is that we aren’t teaching our kids to, “come out from among them, being separate and touching no unclean thing.”  We aren’t teaching them to abandon their idols.  We aren’t teaching them to “stop judging by mere appearances, making a right judgment.”

We are teaching them that Jesus is “cool,” that being a Christian is “cool,” and that if we don’t want to be a bunch of irrelevant, self-marginalized goof’s, we need to carry the Gospel on skateboards with awesome guitars.

It used to just be man-centered, un-Biblical, faulty reasoning.  But it is starting to push the boundaries into some really manifest wickedness.

Thanks again for calling it out.

Blessings,
J

Dear Ingrid,

I wish to comment on the “Quote of the day” post on 1/3/08, where it was stated:

“Worship is now an experience, and its an experience you have to reach
multiple senses. I think thats a step to reach the society where we are.
Church, in the last five years, has really accelerated in the understanding you have to be at least at pace with society technologically, if not ahead.”

A quick background. I have been a “videophile” all my life. I have been
fascinated with video technology since my dad let me use a Super 8 mm
format film camera when I was a kid. Since that time, I have been a
video director, technical director, assistant director, camera operator on
both standard definition and high definition systems, video engineer,
CG operator, and recently audio “engineer” (just learning). I have used
systems with screens that literally cost a million dollars and then some.

Unfortunately, I made the sin of letting the technology dazzle me too much
in church over praising God. And when I felt like my worship was hollow
and worthless, and that “nothing was happening” when I went to the
services I used to look forward to, I had to ask a very damning question:
who, or WHAT was I worshiping? The answer wasn’t God or Jesus. And that
forced me to answer some really deep questions and bring some dark things to the Light.

Let me warn anyone and everyone who is in video or sound production
who will listen: I made the mistake of praising the creation, rather than
the Creator. Don’t be mistaken: my mission is to spread the true Gospel
to the end of the earth, via video and audio and transmission by whatever
means is available (including word of mouth, of course!). But instead of
using equipment as a great *tool*, I let the means become the end. Thankfully, the Lord revealed this to me, and I have repented.

In saying this, I am not asking you to throw any of your equipment
away. I want you to consider this: what goes out on the “program”,
“preset” or “air” feed…or what goes over the sound system…or on Tv
and radio, for those in that area of ministry…is what God is watching
and hearing. Every word. Every sound. Every pixel on the screen. Is it
glorifying Him? Really? Are your videos edifying the body of Christ, full
of quality teaching, or is it more like a laser light show?

With all the technology we have, there is an incredible, I would dare say
unprecedented opportunity to bypass secular media, who generally won’t
report on anything we do anyway these days (unless it’s a scandal or other
controversy), to preach the Gospel via multimedia. What I see on major
“Christian TV” networks may look very professional in the world’s eyes,
but in terms of content, most of it is starving the people who are watching or listening of the real and true Gospel that this world so desperately needs to hear! So before you get that high-definition video, Dolby 7.1 or higher sound system (again, nothing wrong with these), please, for the sake of your soul, and of those in your church, seriously
pray over this:

1. Is your church really grounded in the Word of God? If the answer is no,
forget everything else. This needs fixing first. And NOW.

Then, if AND ONLY IF #1 is true…

2. Is it your goal to “look great” with your video, or to have a system
so that the message of the Gospel can be proclaimed clearly?

3. Is the goal of your sound system to make the church “rockin’”, or to
bring a sweet, sweet sound to our Lord’s ear?

4. Is your goal in being online is to share to others the deep things of
God, or to “be cool”?

I’m now the audio engineer at my church (since no one else wants to do
it, and I’m learning, baptism by fire!). I make sure everyone sounds their
best, and that the recording goes well for our podcast. The purpose for
this is so that our congregation is assisted in hearing the Word
proclaimed, joyfully praising God, and for those who missed our services
due to illness or whatever reason, can hear it online. And then,
edify other saints and bring the Gospel to the world. I’m blessed and
surprised to hear people from all over the world listen to our podcasts!

So we’re considering, for our small church, to get a small video system so
that our tireless childcare servants in the basement can watch and hear
the service while the very young ones are taken care of. They literally miss one service every several weeks because they can’t watch or hear the service now. If we do get the system, we will not do it to keep pace with technology; but to edify the saints and the servants of God. That should be the underlying reason for any technology (or anything else) in the church, period. Sometimes, the bigger and better technology brought into the church just reflects the style over substance found there. Don’t let that get into your hearts, brothers. Been there, done that.

Thanks, Ingrid, for your ministry and that of VCYAmerica.

G.S.

Note: The only editing done on this email is for language and identity.

Hi. My name is barb t********.
i found your article quite offensive, and here is my reason.

i am a catholic, and i firmly believe there is a god, but i don’t attend services very often. so would that make me a “satanist”?
i don’t think so.

so would that make a band “satanist”, because their lyrics don’t speak of praying, or of christ himself?
i believe not.

now what i do believe is that you are an extremely ignorant person. you are ignorant in the fact that anyone who doesn’t worship jesus is satanist. MANY people do believe in god, but it doesn’t have to be OUR god.
so would that make arabics satanist because they believe in allah, and not jesus christ?
would that make people who use “swear words” or people who “involve copious uses of the f-bomb spinkled with liberal uses of the s-word” in their daily language, satanists?
i don’t think so.

and another thing.
i read your article about “all i want for christmas body worship”
are you F****** kidding me?
noone said that “jiggling to mariah carey in tight jeans” was the new way to worship god.
thats another assumption on your part.

is it because mariah carey didn’t sing directly about jesus, that she is a “satanist?”

mariah carey is an amazing singer [with an 8 octave range, as a matter of fact.]
i find it ridiculous that you’re basing “the new way to worship god” on what a few girls did, instead of basing your judgement on the christian population as a whole.
i find it to be B*** ****.

and what the F**** are you talking about when you mean that you “fully expect Christian pole dancing to make it to church on Sunday morning very shortly.”

are you joking? because of what a few girls did, you’re going to believe that of all things, POLE DANCING is going to be brought into the house of god?

i firmly believe you are i need of some psychiatric help.