Upping The Antics
Written by: Min. Tim Butler
With all of the foolishness that we see taking place in many of our churches today, I come to let you know that we ain’t seen nothing yet. As churches compete to build membership in an effort to boosting their prestige, I believe it will come a time in the near future whereby pastors will begin to up the antics to a higher level. I believe the time is nigh if not yet here already. The endless games we often see played in the church today, it’s a wonder why more saints are not filled with righteous indignation. For this cause Jesus turned over the money tables and begin whipping those who used the church (the house of God) for selfish gains.
What will it take for saints to be filled with enough righteous indignation to draw us to the breaking point? When will enough be enough? When will the people of God cry out and say, we won’t take it any more? When will we come out from among them and be ye separated? How much abuse will we take from church leaders who would seek to have preeminence and lord over the flock of God?
Can the sheep really hear HIS voice? How much longer? What is the next great antic to plaque the church? Saints beware of subtle and crafty tactics used to cater to the flesh. Begin to test the spirit to see if the spirit is of God. We’ve seen the “Simon Says” preaching played when the preacher tells everyone to look to their neighbor and say “this, that or the other”. We’ve seen the false tongues encouraged by some church leaders in the absence of proper interpretation. We’ve seen many church leaders use their organist to play a certain style of music in an effort to build up a certain climate to alter the minds of the people to persuade them to “fall out”, then they call it being “slain in the Spirit”. How foolish!!! We’ve seen some church leaders convince members to make strange sounds and noises to have a form of godliness. We’ve seen the antics but I don’t believe we’ve seen anything yet. What’s next? I wouldn’t be surprise if the antics increased to the level where people were encouraged to “rent their clothes off” and run around the church “butt naked”. I believe the competition to have the biggest church will grow to the level where some preachers would do just about anything to entertain the people in order to keep the crowds coming.
Jesus warned us to beware of false prophets masquerading as men of God but inwardly are nothing more than wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15). If you have a good church today, praise God and be grateful. How could a person know if they are in a good church?
1. If your pastor is more interested in building membership than making disciples, it is a good chance that he uses different sorts of antic to draw people in and this is probably not the best place for a committed Christian to be.
2. If your pastor does not practice “church discipline” and members can openly practice sin, then this is probably not the best place for a committed Christian to be.
3. If people are foaming at the mouth and falling on the floor like they are crazy and making strange noises, this is definitely not the best place for a committed Christian to be.
4. If your pastor is more interested in filling his pockets than meeting the needs of those who are struggling, this is probably not the best place for a committed Christian to be.
5. If you have an issue or a concern and you can’t get an appointment to meet with your pastor, then this is probably not the best place for a committed Christian to be.
Keep seeking to find a good Bible teaching church. The Bible says, if we seek we shall find (Matthew 7:7-8).