The theme of this three part series is that reverence for God and the things that represent His person and presence are dead or near death in many American churches and the lives of Christians who profess to be a part of the body of Christ. The church is being called to recognize and take actions to remedy this loss of reverence.

It is through these things which represent God’s person and presence that Satan often attacks the church—the sanctuary, worship, and music. In Part II it was noted that the American church is making two serious mistakes with regard to music in worship. There has been a loss of sacredness in worship music and that worship has been humanized and redirected toward man and away from God. But the corrupting influence of worldly music in the church goes much deeper than these two issues and will be examined in Part III.

Music – Adoration of God or the anthem of rebellion

Without question music is the driving force in corporate worship and is of such importance that it must be addressed separately. Little more can be said in this section other than to repeat some of the thoughts expressed in Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity.[1]

Music and song are chief expressions in a church’s communal worship of God. When music and songs that mirror the world are brought into the house of God and presented as worship, what distinguishes worldly music from music that is true worship of the living God? Is it words alone? The Old Testament had much to say about defiling God’s house, and things that defile included much more than words. “But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it.” [Jeremiah 32:34. KJV]

Rick Warren is typical of those in the Church Growth movement who believe that the style of music is immaterial and that it is the message (words) that makes it “sacred.”[2]

Music is the primary communicator of values to the younger generation. If we don’t use contemporary music to spread godly values, Satan will have unchallenged access to an entire generation. Music is a force that cannot be ignored.

I reject the idea that music styles can be judged as either “good” or “bad” music. Who decides this? The kind of music you like is determined by your background and culture.

Churches also need to admit that no particular style of music is “sacred.” What makes a song sacred is its message. Music is nothing more than an arrangement of notes and rhythms; it’s the words that make a song spiritual.[3] [emphasis in original]

Writing over thirty years ago, the late David Wilkerson delivered a devastating indictment of rock music which destroys Warren’s contention that the style of music does not matter.

I hear sincere Christians say, “Satan doesn’t own music. It belongs to God. The music doesn’t matter as long as the words are right.” Dead wrong! The devil owns all music that is ungodly and evil. And Satan had all the right words when he tempted Christ. The Israelites dancing around the golden calf had all the right words. Were they not singing, “This is the god that brought us out of Egypt”? Same people, same words—but their god had changed. It is much more than holy, intelligent words. Satan has always spoken in temptation with accurate words mingled with a lot of Scripture, and so has every angel of light who has come to deceive.[4]

A substantial portion of the music in Warren’s church and many others following the Church Growth model is centered on rock music. Unlike Warren who says that it’s just the lyrics that matter, Wilkerson wrote that rock music can’t be defined or judged on technicalities because it is primarily a soul and spirit matter. The line between satanically inspired punk or heavy metal rock and other forms of popular music cannot be drawn by legalistic rules—it is a matter of spirit and truth.[5]

But spirit and truth receive scant attention in many Church Growth/Purpose Driven churches as they compete for the best musical hook to snare the seeker surfing the church scene. Warren and others in the Church Growth movement have forgotten that God’s house is a house of sacrifice. “And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.” [2 Chronicles 7:12. KJV] God will reject any offering that is polluted or spotted in the least bit and that includes music and song.

This is not a condemnation of all non-sacred music. There is much music in the world which is not ungodly or evil in and of itself. However, even when “non-spiritual” popular music passes the spirit and truth test, it still doesn’t belong in God’s house of sacrifice.

In Part I it was noted that a great contributor to the decline in reverence was a loss of respect for authority and hierarchy in the general culture. There is a strong causal link between the general culture’s rebellion against authority and rock music.

Judge Robert Bork in his book Slouching Towards Gomorrah – Modern Liberalism and American Decline wrote that in keeping with the themes of liberalism and its progress in the 1960s, popular entertainment embraced the hedonistic concept of the unconstrained self. The importance of self was expressed in the music of the era—rock ’n’ roll which evolved into hard rock[6] and its various iterations such as punk, heavy metal, acid, and rap. Bork quoted Michael Bywater who wrote of the modern music industry.

[The music industry] has somehow reduced humanity’s greatest achievement—a near-universal language of pure transcendence—into a knuckle-dragging sub-pidgin of grunts and snarls, capable of fully expressing only the more pointless forms of violence and the more brutal forms of sex.[7]

Bork contended that the rock music business clearly understood that a large part of the appeal of rock music to the young was its subversion of authority through its incoherence and primitive regression.[8] Rock ‘n’ roll was the rebellious cadence to which many in the Boomer generation and their liberal elders marched. So too are many in today’s evangelical churches.

Recall that Warren wrote, “Music is the primary communicator of values to the younger generation.” Whether or not it is the primary communicator of values is debatable, but Warren is correct insofar as he meant that music is an important communicator of values. And here we speak not just of the words that communicate values; it is the whole package in which the words are wrapped. The message of rock ‘n’ roll music still communicates the attitudes and values of much of the rebellious Boomer generation to the present day. It has no place in the lives of the followers of Christ, and it certainly has no place in the house of God.

Ravi Zacharias wrote, “The lesson from history is that sanctity within the temple ultimately defines life outside the temple, and without the former, life becomes profane. Just as reverence is the heart of worship, profanity is at the heart of evil.” Zacharias was speaking of worship in the larger sense of living a Godly, holy life.[9] [emphasis added] But if applicable in the larger sense, it is also applicable to corporate worship. There is certainly no sense of reverence in the type of rock music discussed above. Regardless of the words, it is not sacred but profane.

Richard M. Weaver wrote that, “…it is admitted that what man expresses in music dear to him he will most certainly express in his social practices.”[10] One need only look at the social practices that have grown over the last half century as rock music became the anthem of popular culture.
______

In every facet of American life, there has been a decline of the sacred and a breakdown of what it means to be a civilized and moral society. The church must be included in those institutions in decline. One of the reasons for the decline of the sacred is the death of reverence for God and those things pertaining to His person and presence. Without reverence for God and the things of God, the church will also die.

Larry G. Johnson

[1] Larry G. Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, (Owasso, Oklahoma: Anvil House Publishers, 2016), pp.221-225.
[2] Rick Warren, The Purpose Drive Church, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1995), p. 281.
[3] Ibid., pp. 280-281.
[4] David Wilkerson, Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth – Hosea 8:1,” (Lindale, Texas: World
Challenge, Inc., 1985), pp. 99-100.
[5] Ibid., pp. 92-93.
[6] Robert H. Bork, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, (New York: Regan Books, 1996), pp. 125-126.
[7] Ibid., p. 124.
[8] Ibid., pp. 23-24.
[9] Ravi Zacharias, Deliver Us From Evil, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1997), p. 15.
[10] Richard M. Weaver, Ideas Have Consequences, (Chicago, Illinois: The University of Chicago Press, 1948, 1984), p. 87.

The theme of this three part series is that reverence for God and the things that represent His person and presence are dead or near death in many American churches and the lives of Christians who profess to be a part of the body of Christ. The church is called to recognize and take actions to remedy this loss of reverence.

In Part I, it was noted that there has been a general demise of respect for authority and hierarchy in culture which has greatly contributed to the decline in reverence for God. Also, there is a loss of the fear of God among His people which is revealed in two ways. First, there is a loss of reverence for His majesty, holiness, anger against sin, and judgment. The church’s and the individual Christian’s relationship and interaction with God have become so casual and sporadic that it is undeniably apparent that much of the church has lost its first love. In Parts II and III, the Church’s declining reverence for the “things” that represent His person and presence will be examined—the sanctuary, worship, and music.

Have reverence for my sanctuary

Most sanctuaries in evangelical churches are now designed to give the consumer-oriented Christians and seekers the ultimate experience in doing church. And what attracts them is entertainment which is now disguised as worship. As a result, seeker-sensitive churches are building world-centered sanctuaries and entertainment complexes designed for and directed at the consumer-seeker instead of being places for Christ-centered worship that is directed toward God.

In the age of doing church instead of being the church, sanctuaries have become state-of-the-art, high-tech enterprises with walls entirely covered with multi-colored lights that are programmed to change to fit the mood dictated by the printed order of service. Strobe lights are coordinated to the music and smoke machines do their work to mimic the atmosphere found at rock concerts. Sound systems have decibel-generating capabilities that can crack paint but which can only convey unintelligible words during the worship service. Sanctuaries now contain the preferred theater-style seating in which one may enjoy one’s favorite drink and popcorn that are available just outside in the lobby. All that is missing are the cup holders, and those will soon be ordered.

But those concerned with the direction and future of the church must ask themselves several questions as to how their plans fit in with God’s view of what His sanctuary ought to be. Where does reverence and awe of God’s sanctuary fit into all of this? What particular facets of this type of atmosphere and activity in the sanctuary help in training our children and grandchildren to reverence God and His sanctuary? How do these distractions encourage and foster a hunger for and seeking of revival so desperately needed in the church and nation today? Is the sanctuary designed to be bait for the seeker and entertainment for the church member, or is it aa house to welcome and honor the presence of God?

The prophesies of Hosea written 2,700 years ago present a chilling portrait of the modern American church. Hosea’s prophecy was God’s last effort to call Israel and Judah to repentance for their rebellion and desire to follow false gods. In Chapter 8 we see the consequences of their rebellion.

Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law…For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal. [Hosea 8:1, 7. KJV]

In verse 14, we see God’s verdict and pronouncement of the judgement to come.

For Israel has forgotten his maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah has multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. [Hosea 8:14. KJV]

Over three decades ago the late David Wilkerson published a small book that compared the condition of Israel and Judah in Hosea’s time to the condition of Christianity in the modern American church. Wilkerson wrote that history is repeating itself once again because many in the American church who claimed to know God “were actually being chased by the enemy into projects that were an abomination to God.” At the same time they were neglecting His true temple, the one not made by human hands.[1] In other words, these projects were not just a lack of reverence but a crass irreverence and contempt for the things of God.

Reverence is the heart of worship

Many Pharisees of Christ’s time acted as if they were very concerned about violating God’s law but in many ways broke that law to achieve their own ideas, traditions, and conveniences. Jesus rebuked them for their hearts were far from God.

You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you; These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. [Matthew 15:7-9. NIV]

Likewise, many in the modern church have also “nullified the word of God” because of tradition, popular ideas, cultural norms, or their own interests. This is the same trap into which the Pharisees fell.[2]

Today’s monolithic seeker-sensitive Church Growth movement is leading uncountable thousands of churches into incorporating man’s ideas of marketing God to the target consumer audience—the unchurched seeker. The Church Growth gurus insist that seekers must be given what they want. As previously stated, worship is now entertainment, and much of the entertainment is world-centered so as to appeal to the seeker-consumer. However, Rick Warren and the other Church Growth advocates have committed a critical error that undermines the entire concept of the Church Growth movement. They have wrongly redirected the purpose of preaching and weekly church gatherings from being primarily focused on Christ and the body of Christ to weekly seeker-sensitive services aimed at the unchurched. Similarly, they have redirected the worship service toward the unchurched seeker instead of being Christ-centered worship directed toward God.[3]

Chapter 13 of Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church is titled “Worship Can Be a Witness.” He states that “Everything we do in our weekend services is based on twelve deeply held convictions.” These convictions all center on the various elements of worship such as “style” of worship, witnessing, seeker expectations, and seeker understanding.[4] What Warren does not talk about is what the Bible says about worship belonging to God.

Perhaps the ultimate expression that worship is a tool for man’s gratification, entertainment, and happiness is found in the words of Victoria Osteen, wife of mega-church pastor Joel Osteen. In August 2014, Ms. Osteen, with her husband standing close behind and nodding his approval, admonished their congregation that the purpose and intent of obedience to God and worship was to make the people happy. In other words, God wants you to be happy; it’s all about you.

I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God—I mean, that’s one way to look at it—we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we’re happy. That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy…

So, I want you to know this morning: Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy…When you come to church, when you worship Him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy. Amen?[5] [emphasis added]

Ms. Osteen’s pathetic beliefs about worship are the ultimate outworking of the gradual redefinition of worship and its redirection from Almighty God to man.

Very few have so precisely described the reasons for this redefinition and redirection of worship as has F. Dean Hackett. He states that this has occurred because there has been a decline in the proper identification of the nature and character of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Over several decades many Christians and non-Christians alike have come to perceive God and Jesus in human terms and the Holy Spirit more as a force than a person. These general perceptions are being mirrored in many areas of life—the media, sermons, writing, teaching, and worship songs.[6]

Hackett believes that the decline in the proper identification and understanding of the nature and character of the three persons of the Godhead has led to two serious mistakes in worship. The first mistake is removing the sacredness of the worship experience. When the words of a song used to worship the living God are so generic that the song is able to be used for other purposes in secular venues, something is missing. Hackett believes that what is missing in the song are those words that provoke holiness and fear of the Lord in the heart of the worshiper. Ture holiness and fear of the Lord result in adoration, worship, and a holy awe of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This occurs when worship and praise music correctly identifies and declares the nature and character of the persons of the Godhead.[7]

The second mistake being made in worship services is the humanization of the worship experience.

Worship songs are being written using terms of intimacy in public worship that are not seen in any of the holy Scriptures on the subject of public worship. That level of intimacy between God and the worshipper reflected in the writing of the Song of Solomon is reserved for the privacy of one’s own heart and life, not public worship.[8]

Without properly identifying Almighty God, the words of a song subtly change the emphasis of worship and the motivation of the worshipper. As a result there is greater emphasis on what the worshipper feels and experiences as opposed to adoration, exaltation, and worship of God. Effectively, worship has become humanized instead of being centered on the divine. The human–centeredness of worship songs is further encouraged by subtle changes in the worship center. Hackett identifies several innovations of recent years which are designed to enhance the worshipper’s feelings and experience: low house lights, spotlights on musicians and singers, and smoke and staging designed to bring focus to the stage experience.[9]

Worship of God is not optional for the Christian, and it is not about making us happy or entertained. God rejects worship that is offered with the wrong attitude or is corrupted by man-centered ideas and practices. Such worship is an offering of less than our first fruits. True worship is an expression of our love, adoration, respect, devotion, praise, and reverence.[10] To our great harm, very little of what is seen and experienced in many evangelical churches of today comes close to this description of true worship.

In Part III, we shall discuss in greater detail the role of music in worship and the lives of individual Christians.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] David Wilkerson, Set the Trumpet to Ty Mouth – Hosea 8:1, (Lindale, Texas: World Challenge, Inc., 1985), pp. 118-119.
[2] Donald Stamps, Commentary – Matthew 15:7-9, The Full Life Study Bible – King James Version – New Testament, Gen. Ed. Donald C. Stamps, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1990), p. 1718.
[3] Larry G. Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, (Owasso, Oklahoma: Anvil House Publishers, 2016), p. 221.
[4] Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), pp. 239, 240-249.
[5] Heather Clark, ‘Do Good for Your Own Self’: Osteen Says Obedience, Worship ‘Not for God’, Christian News Network, August 28, 2015. http://christiannews.net/2014/08/28/do-good-for-your-own-self-osteen-says-obedience-worship-not-for-god-video/ (accessed December 18, 2015).
[6] F. Dean Hackett, “Many Christians Make These 2 Serious Mistakes in Worship,” Charisma Magazine, May 9, 2017. http://www.charismamag.com/life/women/32626-many-christians-make-these-2-serious-mistakes-in-worship (accessed May 17, 2017).
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, p. 221.

Reverence for God and the things that represent His person and presence are dead or near death in many American churches and lives of those who profess to belong to the body of Christ.

In some instances reverence and respect may be used interchangeably, but they are not identical. While respect is a special regard, esteem, or consideration, reverence has a much narrower focus and rises to a higher level such as worship, adoration, awe, veneration, or devotion.

The demise of respect for authority and hierarchy

Without a doubt, the decline in reverence within the church and the lives of individual Christians is a reflection of the decline of respect for authority and hierarchy in the larger culture and has led to a general loss of civility and respect for law. The demise of authority and hierarchy is a result of the ascendance of humanism’s false definitions of freedom, democracy, and equality. These false definitions have seeped into the church and eaten away at the biblical understanding of holiness, reverence, and ultimately the fear of God.

As the evangelical church has become a cultural captive of the humanistic spirit of the world, it has absorbed humanism’s demands for a perverted understanding of democracy and equality. God has been “democratized” and is no longer the Great “I AM.” He is ignored much of the time, even in His own house. What is preached from many pulpits today is only a single-sided message that God is all-loving, kindly, non-judgmental, and tolerant. Many in the church have begun to see the once mighty Creator of the universe as little more than a kindly grandfather that is visited only on special occasions (Christmas, Easter, or when in need of a favor). For others, he is portrayed as the big daddy up in the sky, a cuddly teddy bear, or a good buddy who will see them through when they are in a pinch.

This casualness that borders on insolence has invaded the sanctuary where “God meets with His church community.” This informality and indifference in the sanctuary has extended to the manner in which Christians dress. Although there are no biblical directives for dress in the sanctuary, there are manners of dress that are at best disrespectful and at worst are sacrilegious. The position of one evangelical denomination expresses the proper approach to dress that reverences the sanctuary which represents God’s presence.

The dress of both men and women should show at least as much respect as we would expect to show in the presence of an important government leader. On the other hand, we cannot demand the same of a sinner who walks in off the street needing to find Jesus as Savior. Maturity in the Christian walk will naturally show more reverence and respect for God’s presence.[1]

To varying degrees, the profane beliefs, attitudes, and actions of the dominant anti-Christian culture have been absorbed by the church and have greatly contributed to the death of reverence.

Decline in the fear of God

It is a safe assumption that many Christians and churches do not reverence God because they no longer fear God. A. W. Tozer wrote that, “No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God.”[2] But fear is a negative concept in our modern society. And the evangelical church that presents only the soft side of religion agrees with the culture’s assessment of fear. That is why for almost two generations messages on sin, the end times, the rapture, tribulation, judgement, punishment, hell, and other “negative” topics have been banned from many pulpits in America for they don’t sell well to consumer-oriented Christians shopping for the right gospel. In their efforts to avoid the topic of fear, ministers must leave out considerable portions of God’s revelation because the Old and New Testaments speak of fear in relation to God almost three hundred times. But the Bible is explicit that Christians must have a healthy fear of God.

His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation… I tell you my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell, you, fear him. [Luke 1:50, 12:4-5. NIV]

First and foremost, reverence is a matter of the heart. For those that love and obey His commands, fearing the Lord means that they must remain in awe and total reverence of His majesty, holiness, anger against sin, and judgment. For those of His followers who lose the fear of God, there is a corresponding loss of awe and reverence. Those Christians who have lost their fear of God generally develop a casual and sporadic relationship with Him. This strained relationship and growing separation often leads the Christian into a state of ungodliness by which is meant a loss of purity and separation from evil. Therefore, we can say that reverence begins with a right understanding and practice of “the fear of God” as taught by His word.

Reverence for the things that represent God’s person and presence

Although reverence to God must first be a matter of the heart, the depth of that reverence is generally revealed by the manner in which the Christian reverences those things which represent His person and presence. The Old Testament has much to say about reverence for God and the things of God. “Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my Sanctuary. I am the LORD.” [Leviticus 19:30, 26:2. NIV] However, many moderns say that we are not living under Old Testament law but in the age of grace. Therefore, grace has released the Christian from the strict rules and rituals required of the Israelites in the Old Testament. In other words, grace has effectively suspended many of the requirements to reverence the things of God. But this is a misunderstanding of grace.

The Holy of Holies contained the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat and was where the presence of God resided in the wilderness tabernacle and later the Temple. God’s presence in the Holy of Holies was separated from the people by the Temple Veil. The high priest was allowed to enter into God’s presence only once a year to offer a sacrifice for atonement of the sins of the people. No one could enter the Holy of Holies but the high priest. When Christ died on the cross the Temple veil was rent from top to bottom. The significance of the torn veil is that Jesus’ sacrifice made God accessible to all people. For those who put their trust in Him it was now possible to come directly into His presence.

In the age of grace, God’s children may approach Him directly as a child would approach a loving father. But the child must still have a filial fear of God which does not lessen or excuse the Christian’s duty of reverence for God and the things that represent His person and presence. Claims that grace is a replacement of the law is an excuse for many to bring the things of the world into the church but which clearly dishonors those things that represent God’s person and presence. Christ said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” [Matthew 5:17. NIV] The law that Christians are responsible to follow are the ethical and moral principles of the Old Testament as well as the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. These laws and teachings disclose God’s character, desires, standards, and general purposes for all people and still apply today.[3]

There are numerous biblical commands in both the Old and New Testaments which require Christians to reverence God and the things that represent His person and presence. The New Testament does not lessen or relax those standards of reverence due God. We see this continuing requirement of reverence in the book of Hebrews. “Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.” [Hebrews 12:28-29. NIV]

As we have said, a Christian’s reverence as he communes with God is a matter of the heart, but reverence is also required for the “things” which represent God’s person and presence. These can generally be grouped as reverence for places (His sanctuary), persons (people and their relationships including hierarchy), and actions/things (worship, dress, and music). It is through these things which represent God’s person and presence that Satan often attacks the church. In our modern times Satan attempts to lure the church into worldliness by claiming it must be relevant to the culture but which is merely an attempt to lessen and ultimately replace the church’s reverence for the things of God. Writing over a half century ago, our friend Tozer once again cuts through the fog oozing from the smoke machines populating evangelical sanctuaries across the nation and reveals the heart of the matter.

Those Christians who belong to the evangelical wing of the Church (which I firmly believe is the only one that even approximates New Testament Christianity) have over the last half-century shown an increasing impatience with things invisible and eternal and have demanded and got a host of things visible and temporal to satisfy their fleshly appetites. Without biblical authority, or any other right under the sun, carnal religious leaders have introduced a host of attractions that serve no purpose except to provide entertainment for the retarded saints.

Any objection to the carryings on of our present golden-calf Christianity is met with the triumphant reply, “But we are winning them!” And winning them to what? To true discipleship? To cross-carrying? To self-denial? To separation from the world? To crucifixion of the flesh? To holy living? To nobility of character? To a despising of the world’s treasures? To hard self-discipline? To love of God? To total committal to Christ? Of course the answer to all these questions is no.[4] [emphasis in original]

As the church focuses on self and its fleshly appetites, there is also a precipitous decline in attention to and reverence for God and the things of God. In Parts II and III, an examination will be made of the death of reverence with regard to three things that represent the person and presence of God—the sanctuary, worship, and music.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] “Reverence and Respect,” The Assemblies of God. https://ag.org/Beliefs/Topics-Index/Reverence-and-Respect (accessed May 8, 2017).
[2] A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous, (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: WingSpread Publishers, 1955, 1986), p. 39.
[3] Donald Stamps, Commentary – Matthew 5-17, The Full Life Study Bible – King James Version – New Testament, Gen. Ed. Donald C. Stamps, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1990), p. 1683.
[4] A. W. Tozer, Man – The Dwelling Place of God, (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: WingSpread Publishers, 1966, 1996-997), pp. 150-151.

The third and final prescription for the church is to seek a broad spiritual awakening across the body of Christ as well as revival of individual Christians and the local church. The pattern of sin and falling away from God followed by repentance, revival, and restoration of His people is a recurrent theme in the history of God’s dealings with the Israelites in the Old Testament. This pattern is illustrated in Psalm 80 as the author pleads with God to once again revive and restore His chosen people.

Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. [Psalm 80:14-19. NIV] [emphasis added]

The essence of revival of the church is a return to God and His ways. In the Old Testament there were at least twelve instances of revival.[1] Preceding each of these revivals there were at least four common elements present:

• A spiritual decline among God’s people.
• A righteous judgement from God – While varying from revival to revival, God’s judgement led to prayer, brokenness, repentance, and a desperate seeking of God’s face. Sometimes God’s judgement led to the deaths of the wicked.
• The raising up of an immensely burdened leader or leaders who had a heavy burden of the moral and spiritual needs of God’s people and the nation.
• Extraordinary actions were taken, the most common of which was a call for a Solemn Assembly of the people who humbled themselves, sought the Lord, wept, fasted, mourned, prayed, confessed and repented of their individual and national sins, and who committed themselves to leading a Godly life and separation from all unrighteousness of the nations.[2]

The prophet Joel called for a solemn assembly following God’s judgement on Judah by sending a horrendous swarm of locusts that devastated the land due to the drunkenness and rebellion of the people. “Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.” [Joel 1:14. KJV] [emphasis added]

For those Christians of our day who are in anguish at the spiritual condition of the church and the nation, there is perhaps no verse that is more invoked in their prayers for revival and restoration than 2 Chronicles 7:14. It is sometimes called the revival verse.

…if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. [2 Chronicles 7:14. KJV]

Notice that God required His people, not the culture at large, to turn from their wicked ways. Although this promise was to Israel and not to other nations, it is a biblical principle that when adhered to has been proven to dramatically change the church as well as the destiny of cultures and mankind’s history for the better. During times of spiritual and moral decline within the church and nation, God will hear His people and respond with spiritual revival, renewed purpose, and restored blessings when the four conditions listed in verse 14 are met.[3]

If my people will humble themselves – God’s people must humble themselves. Humility is a brokenhearted expression of spiritual poverty and wretchedness. This humility comes from their shame and chastisement as their failures and sin are exposed and recognized and for which they now express true sorrow followed by a renewal of commitment to follow God’s commandments and direction for their lives.

If my people will pray – Prayer for revival it is an incessant and desperate plea for mercy and a casting of one’s complete trust and dependence on God. Such prayer is not a casual, intermittent recitation of the awfulness of the one’s situation and a request for a Band-aid® to treat the abrasions caused by a fallen world so that one may get back to more pressing matters of the hour. That’s not a prayer for revival and restoration.

If my people will seek my face – Seeking God’s face is seeking his presence. When God’s presence is withdrawn, Christians feel it. The individual Christian and the body of Christ must turn back to God and seek his presence once again with passion born of a hunger, a burning desire to feel and see more clearly the nearness of His presence. This leads to a deeper and closer relationship with Him. As the Christian basks in His presence, there will be an increasing desire to please Him by obeying His commandments, plans, and purposes for his or her life.

If my people will turn from sin – Christians must repent for their sins and turn from their own sinful ways and rebellion against God. This is a separation from evil influences while focusing on a life of purity and holiness.[4]

Prayer – The common threat

Although all four of God’s conditions are necessary for revival and restoration of His people, it is prayer that stands at the vanguard and acts as a covering for the other three. Dr. A. T. Pierson once said, “There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.”[5] Throughout all of history, the common and inextricable thread running through all spiritual awakenings is the concerted intercessory prayer of Christians. This was proven in each of America’s three Great Awakenings between the 1730s and the 1860s.

The church must not be discouraged if it does not see immediate results from its prayers for revival. Sometimes God must shake His people with drought, disease, war, economic collapse, or other calamities. At the beginning of the First Great Awakening in America, Jonathan Edwards prayed 2 Chronicles 7:14. But things didn’t seem to get better immediately, and the shaking continued with many tragic events and unusual deaths. God used these deaths and natural disasters to urge the people to church. Conversions began to increase due to prayer. People started talking about eternal things. And the Great Awakening eventually followed and served as the foundation of the American republic four decades later.

The Third Great Awakening that began in 1857-1858 is a pattern for the modern church. It was called by many names including the Businessman’s Revival, the Layman’s Revival, and the Union Prayer Meeting. Although popularly called the Revival of 1857-1858, it bore all the marks and qualifications of a general moral and spiritual awakening in America. [Note: Revivals tend to be localized events (church, village, town, or city), but an awakening encompasses a much larger area (district, county, or country), can last for years or decades, and significantly raise the moral standards of a society.[6]

The revival sprang from an initial meeting at the noon hour on September 23, 1857 in the upper room of the Dutch Reform Church in lower Manhattan. Jeremiah Lamphier had advertised the prayer meeting, but only six came that first day. Three weeks later, a financial panic that had been building since August exploded on October 13th when banks were closed and did not reopen for two months. Attendance soon mushroomed as businessmen from nearby Wall Street began attending. The prayer meetings quickly spread to other churches, auditoriums, and theaters.[7] During the winter months the crime rate dropped even as in mass unemployment caused by the financial panic engulfed the large city and where one would expect the crime rate to rise under such circumstances.[8]

The greatest intensity of the revival occurred between February and April of 1858. The initial effects of the revival were felt in New York City where the revival began. The prayer revival also sparked local church revivals in New England, the Midwest, and upper South (beginning particularly with New Year’s Eve “watch night” services); in separate women’s prayer groups; and on college campuses across the nation.[9] The character and results of the Revival of 1857-1858 were described by Matthew Backholer.

The lay influence predominated to such an extent that ministers were overshadowed. This awakening was not a remote piety in little corners of churches, but to the fore of everyday business life, college life and home life. It was right there in the nitty-gritty of everyday work, not just a Sunday affair.[10]

After considerable and careful research, J. Edwin Orr, one of the twentieth century’s foremost revival historians, confirmed estimates that over one million solid, long-lasting conversions occurred during 1858-1859 out of a population of less than thirty million.[11] Historians have debated the impact of the Revival of 1857-1858 as it related to nineteenth century social reform efforts. But, the reality was that the 1857-1858 Revival was about personal religious transformation but with which society greatly benefited. The revival caused men and women, in both the North and South, to be spiritually prepared for the coming struggle in which the nation would exorcize the demon of slavery and recover its national unity.

One hundred and sixty years later America and the church are again in profound rebellion against God, and as a result He is pouring out a measure of judgement on the nation. Whether this measure of judgement is remedial in nature or a final judgement depends on the actions of God’s people. Pierre Bynum says that America is ripe for destruction because of the rebellion of the church.

The Evangelical Movement in this country is characterized by an arrogance that is almost beyond belief. The neglect of prayer, the involvement in Philistine methodology, the moral evils, the doctrinal corruptions that characterize the Movement are sufficient to cause the people of Sodom to wonder at God’s justice in destroying their city while sparing the United States.[12]

The nation’s only hope is for God’s people to once again humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways. From such comes revival.

As important as revival is to the church, it must add the previous two prescriptions to complete the church’s healing as discussed in Parts IV and V. Christians must resist cultural captivity through cultivation of resistance thinking that is essential to voice a prophetically untimely message to the church and a lost and dying world. This must occur in conjunction with a restoration of the doctrines, teachings, and practices of the New Testament that guided the first century Christians.

A final word to resistance thinkers who become prophetically untimely people

For those that develop and practice the art of resistance thinking, the outcome will be frustration, anger, and sorrow for they are untimely men and women, out of step with the trendy and fashionable, never at home in their present age, and whose message will be rejected by the majority. This occurs because resistance thinkers have a counter-perspective that is anchored in the uncompromising Word of God. Prophetically untimely people have the courage to say “no” to things that are wrong, but there is a price that is paid for their boldness. They are called purveyors of doom and gloom, mal-adjusted, out-of-touch with reality, divisive, legalistic, and haters among other vilifications. But those labels are of little consequence to the resistance thinker who speaks an untimely message.

Their greater pain and sorrow comes from their broken-heartedness as they see the lost-ness of friends, family, and the church that have become acclimatized to and are held captive by a culture saturated with the humanistic spirit of the age. Anger surges in their breasts as they see Satan’s devastation of the lives of men, women, and children engulfed by a sin-soaked world system and a church that is oblivious to the enemy within. They are in anguish at the destruction of the nation’s hard won Judeo-Christian foundations at the hands of false teachers, secularist and humanist philosophers, ungodly politicians, and their groveling fellow travelers.

The prophetically untimely resistance thinker can take solace in that their feelings of sorrow, anger, frustration, and brokenness are similar to the feelings common to all of the Old Testament prophets. They were few in number and rejected by their own age as are resistance thinkers in the present age. But the prophetically untimely resistance thinker can also take comfort, encouragement, and direction from the words of A. W. Tozer written long ago.

Take nothing for granted…Go back to the grass roots. Open your hearts and search the Scriptures. Bear your cross, follow your Lord and pay no heed to the passing religious vogue. The masses are always wrong. In every generation the number of the righteous is small. Be sure you are among them.[13]

The church is sick and the nation suffers. The road back begins with resistance thinking. Be among those to sound the alarm.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Rev. Pierre Bynum, Family Research Council Prayer Team, April 19, 2017.
http://www.frc.org/prayerteam/prayer-targets-rev-ro-roberts-the-solemn-assembly-national-day-of-prayer-may-4-2017 (accessed April 20, 2017).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Donald Stamps, Commentary, Fire Bible: Global Study Edition, New International Version, Gen. Ed. Donald Stamps, (Published by Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC, Peabody, Massachusetts; Copyright 2009 by Life Publishers International, Springfield, Missouri), p. 723.
[4] Ibid.
[5] J. Edwin Orr, “Revival and Prayer.” http://www.jedwinorr.com/resources/articles/prayandrevival.pdf (accessed April 11, 2017).
[6] Matthew Backholer, Revival Fires and Awakenings, (www.ByFaith.org: ByFaith Media, 2009, 2012), p. 7.
[7] Michael McClymond, ed., Encyclopedia of Religious Revivals in America, Vol. 1, A-Z, (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007), pp. 362-363.
[8] Backholer, “Revival and Prayer,” P. 62.
[9] McClymond, “Revival Fires and Awakenings,” p. 262-263.
[10] Backholer, “Revival and Prayer,” P. 63.
[11] Ibid., pp. 62-63.
[12] Bynum, Family Research Council Prayer Team, April 19, 2017.
[13] A. W. Tozer, The Root of the Righteous, (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: WingSpread Publishers, 1955, 1986), p.5.

In Part IV, we saw that resistance thinking is an essential prescription for what ails the evangelical church in American and Western civilization and is a characteristic of God’s prophetically untimely people who have the courage to give voice to a message that stands against the church’s cultural captivity by the humanistic spirit of the age.

The second prescription for the church is a return to New Testament Christianity by embracing all of its distinguishing elements found in the first century church.

Restoring New Testament Christianity

There are several norms or hallmarks that give shape, definition, and context to New Testament Christianity. All of the distinguishing elements found in the early church (except for the writing of the New Testament Scripture) are available to the twenty-first century church. Space does not allow more that a cursory mention of the more significant observations and findings with regard to some of the missing fundamentals of New Testament Christianity. A more extensive examination of these elements can be found in Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity.[1]

To a lesser or greater degree in many evangelical churches, the hallmarks of New Testament Christianity are no longer found. Before the church can make the necessary course corrections, it must first identify the essential elements that are missing and have allowed it to slide into cultural captivity by the humanistic spirit of the age. Eight of the standards or hallmarks are listed below and include a brief discussion of the modern evangelical church’s departure therefrom. As stated above, the list is not meant to be complete or the discussion comprehensive.

• Irreplaceable power and presence of the Holy Spirit – Many modern churches have dispensed with the irreplaceable power and presence of the Holy Spirit in all aspects of church life which accounts for their powerlessness, spiritual poverty, and shallowness. The Holy Spirit will not allow Himself to be merely an accessory occasionally added to a church’s agenda. He is either the center or He will have no part of the program. Because many in the body of Christ and its leaders are more interested in doing church than being the church, they fail to wait upon the Holy Spirit and His enduement of power. His absence is the missing ingredient that leaves the church’s efforts a dry and tasteless imitation of the real thing. Unless the church moves and operates in the power of the Holy Spirit, its attempts to recapture the missing norms and hallmarks of New Testament Christianity will be in vain.

• The Old Rugged Cross – Many in the church have substituted a new cross for the old cross. The new cross seeks to comfort, please, and entertain. However, they are preaching another gospel and not the message of the cross found in Matthew’s gospel which has reverberated across two thousand years of Christianity and still means today what those words meant when first written. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” [Matthew 16:24. KJV] Beginning at Pentecost, a small group of Jesus’ followers believed this message, preached the cross of which Jesus spoke, and turned the world upside down.

• Christ – Our Savior and Lord – New Testament Christianity’s concepts of sin and salvation have been replaced in many modern churches by the discredited doctrine of a divided Christ in which Christ the Savior and Christ the Lord have been separated. According to this doctrine, a sinner may accept Jesus Christ as Savior without surrendering to Him as Lord. But, the sinner who accepts Christ as Savior and walks away without accepting Christ as Lord perseveres in his sin. Yet, many evangelical preachers emphasize the acceptance of Christ as Savior and de-emphasize acceptance of Him as Lord. Some will say that the “Lord” part of one’s commitment to Christ comes later, sometimes even after church membership, because it is a process that takes time. In other words, the “saved” Christian will at some point also decide to make Jesus Christ the Lord of his life. But A. W. Tozer wrote that, “It is altogether doubtful whether any man can be saved who comes to Christ for His help but with no intention to obey Him.”[2]

• Repentance and turning from sin – The world’s definitions of love and tolerance have invaded the church and compromised the gospel message. As a result, the message of many churches is that God’s nonjudgmental love is so vast that he will overlook sin for a season if not altogether ignore it if one will only acknowledge Him. The new definitions of love and tolerance require unconditional acceptance of the sinner and is presumed superior to the biblical approach that requires repentance and turning from sin. Cheap grace is the end product of preaching the world’s definition of nonjudgmental love. If the church does not make this distinction clear, it is guilty of misleading people as to their eternal destination.

• Doctrinal purity – For the last several decades many in American evangelical churches have tampered with the meaning of scripture. One source of this doctrinal corruption is the pervasive and careless use of unfaithful translations and even less reliable paraphrases. A second source is the demise of serious expository preaching. There is a greater danger of doctrinal mischief when there is an over-reliance on topical messages that tend to cherry-pick verses which are inappropriately divorced form the larger meaning and context of the biblical passages. They do this in order to “prove” a point or prop up man’s opinion. The third reason is that many evangelical churches ignore serious preaching of major themes of the Bible such as prophecy and end time events. These are seen as not being culture-friendly and therefore a hindrance in growing the church. As a result large portions of the Bible are not included in their preaching and teaching—a form of taking away. These practices water the soil in which heresy grows.

• The narrow path – The church has become worldly because it has accommodated the spirit of the world within. There is a dynamic tension in which the individual Christian and the church must live—being in the world but not of it. We cannot avoid this tension for it is an inherent part of every Christian’s walk and every church’s ministry. To attempt to lessen the tension is to fall into the ditch of worldliness or, conversely, to disobey Christ’s command to share His message by separating ourselves from the world. In spite of the best of motives, a large majority in the modern evangelical church appears to have fallen into the ditch of worldliness through an accommodation of the spirit of the world within the church. When the world’s value system invades the church, the church becomes worldly and is the true church no longer.

• Preach the Gospel message – The church has failed to adequately and effectively proclaim the gospel. If the chief function of preaching is to unleash the word, then we should be concerned with how that word is to be unleashed. We have previously mentioned the decline of expository preaching. Topical preaching, polemical or disputational preaching, historical preaching, and other forms of preaching have their rightful places. But these forms have replaced expounding the Word of God to a substantial degree in many of today’s evangelical churches and have greatly contributed to a rapidly growing biblical illiteracy within the church. The message of the Bible has been dumbed down and therefore is made a husk without the life sustaining core from which the Christian finds spiritual nourishment. But such is foolish preaching (as opposed to the foolishness of preaching) and also inhibits the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the sinner. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, both the minister and the sinner are utterly powerless to change the sinner’s condition from death to life.

• Avoid being unequally yoked – Under duress from a culture heavily saturated with humanistic concepts of relativism, tolerance, and inclusion, many evangelical leaders and Christian organizations have embraced an ecumenicalism that reaches beyond the boundaries of the Christian faith. [See: culturewar.net for articles on “Ecumenicalism – Evangelicalism’s misguided group hug – Parts I, II, and III”] In their efforts to be ecumenical and culturally relevant, they have attempted to find common ground with apostate churches which are Christian in name only, with anti-Christian organizations, and with false religions that stand in opposition to God’s word. When ministers, ministries, and churches mix the light with darkness, they effectively have disobeyed God’s word and bring reproach on their ministry and the gospel of Jesus Christ. [See: 2 Corinthians 6:14]

______

In their quest to reinvent and re-energize itself through human efforts, many churches have pushed aside, trampled upon, or forgotten the essential foundational standards of New Testament Christianity including the eight listed above. It appears that many modern accommodating church leaders believe the disciples’ ministry in the first century could never be successful in the twenty-first century because it is too hard, too narrow, and too dull for the modern generation. It is said that it offers little to maintain their congregants’ interest or capture the attention of the post-modern generation. Therefore, the Bible’s old-fashioned, austere message is judged to be out-of-tune with the times and must be modernized to win friends and make converts. To that end the gospel message must be revamped by softening the rhetoric to make it seeker-friendly. The Christian church must also be overhauled and reorganized around sound business principles. It should identify its purposes in light of the culture and be driven by specific goals whose achievement in numbers and dollars can be properly measured and success gauged. It must also hire a first-rate public relations firm to survey the market and construct a ministry theme to best attract and connect with the community and meet its wants and felt needs. Next its leaders must rent or build a high-tech, multi-media, theater-style auditorium; employ a well-educated and socially acceptable ministry team to replace that scruffy band of disciples; and mount a multi-faceted media campaign to enlist members into Christ’s new church—The Church of the What’s Happening Now. In time the spiritual side will take care of itself if we can just get the seekers in the door and help them become better adjusted. Then the Holy Spirit will be free to do His thing as long as He doesn’t lay any guilt trips on the people.

During his visit to America in 1930, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about the condition of the liberal church in America. While attending one New York church, he described the church’s profusion of social and charitable activities to the virtual exclusion of the pursuit of its true calling. “One cannot avoid the impression, however, that in both cases they have forgotten what the real point is.”[3]

But almost ninety years later we can say that the evangelical church has also forgotten what the real point is. The point forgotten is that the church must declare the eternal truth of God and His relation to man. This was done in every generation from the first century church to the present in cultures that were uniformly hostile to the message of the church. But in our modern day, instead of evangelizing the world, the world is evangelizing the church. To a large degree the value systems of the church and the world have become indistinguishable. As a result the church has abandoned its role as “…a holy, powerful remnant that is consecrated and available to God…[4]

By returning to the doctrines, teachings, and practices that guided the first century Christians, the modern church can once again gain a comprehensive, integrated, and unifying understanding of New Testament Christianity. In light of that understanding, the church will discover its critical departures from the New Testament’s standard and can make the necessary course corrections. Restoring New Testament Christianity is the tonic that will revitalize the church and empower it to escape from the cultural captivity of the humanistic spirit of the world.

In Part VI, this series will conclude with an examination of the final prescription necessary to restore spiritual health to the evangelical church – revival.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Larry G. Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity, (Owasso, Oklahoma: Anvil House Publishers, 2016). Chapters 25-32.
[2] A. W. Tozer, The Root of Righteousness, (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania: WingSpread Publishers, 1955, 1986), pp.96-97.
[3] Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2010), p. 107.
[4] Jim Cymbala, Fresh Power, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2001), p. 22.

The American church is dying and parts of it are already dead. If one needs proof of its condition, a re-reading of Part II will reveal the severity of its illness. This is not to say that Christianity is dying for Jesus said, “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” [Matthew 16:18. KJV] [emphasis added] The remnant church will always survive, perhaps bloodied and bent for the moment, but it will survive.

There are three prescriptions for what ails the evangelical church in the West: development of the art of resistance thinking to challenge the forces of cultural captivity (conformity, popularity, and a quest for a distorted cultural relevance); return of the church to New Testament Christianity by embracing all of its distinguishing elements; and revival of the body of Christ as it moves and operates in the full power of the Holy Spirit.

Resistance thinking

The church has been captured by the modern humanistic, secularized culture, and this captivity has led to fragmentation of the Christian worldview in the West. This captivity has resulted in a loss of a right understanding of objective truth found in God’s divine revelation recorded in the Bible. This loss has caused many Christians to descend from the glorious heights from which they once could clearly see truth to a forest of facts and minutia that obscure truth and ultimately destroys within men’s minds the concept that truth exists. This is the consequence of the cultural captivity of the church.

How does a Christian regain a vantage point from which to rise above the distortions caused by their cultural captivity? Without such vantage point, one cannot understand and resist the prevailing spirit of the world that has invaded much of the modern church. Os Guinness called resistance thinking an art form, something a Christian “can learn and cultivate until it becomes a habit of the heart.” But apart from God’s help, a Christian’s efforts to develop the traits necessary for resistance thinking are futile, and he falls into the same mindset of the culture from which he intends to escape.

Guinness proposes three practices that will help Christians “cultivate the independent spirit and thinking that are characteristic of God’s untimely people.” These are an awareness of the unfashionable, cultivating an appreciation for the historical, and paying constant attention to the eternal. Their relative importance is shown by their ascending order .[1] Notice that the first deals with the temporal, the second concerns the past, and the third is eternity which is beyond time.

Awareness of the Unfashionable

Many of the problems of the modern church occur because of its desire to be fashionable which usually sits on the three-legged stool of conformity, popularity, and the quest for a warped cultural relevance. These comprise the links in the chain that binds the church in its cultural captivity. To discern and resist the essence of the fashionable church’s captivity, Christians must have an awareness of the unfashionable by which is meant an awareness of God and His ways which stand in contradiction to much of what passes for modern Christianity.

Following his call for repentance of the northern kingdom of Israel, the prophet Hosea added a postscript, “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them.” [Hosea 14:9. RSV] Because the wise Christian has the knowledge of God and His ways, he may also discern the fashionable ways of the world that must be resisted.

The Christian message conformed to the fashionable methods of today’s popular evangelicalism is little more than a consensus of opinion that arises from group thinking which has little connection to God and His ways. Such thinking leads to a fuzzy theology which is one of the reasons that a large majority of Christians cannot make a biblically accurate presentation of the gospel as described in Part II. Like their liberal forerunners, the evangelical church in the latter half of the twentieth century and to the present day has abandoned New Testament Christianity and replaced many of its doctrines with another gospel. Guinness described this sorry state of affairs.

And now, early twenty-first century evangelicalism mimics popular culture as closely and successfully as anyone could ever hope to while still getting away with it. In each case the end result is not only a betrayal of the faith but a hapless impotence before the very audience the church was out to impress…Signs are that, unless some drastic rethinking takes place soon, the corruptions in evangelicalism will worsen and show through in theology, not just in practice. Evangelicals have followed the broader cultural shift from “religion to spirituality” and in the process have become chronically individualistic rather than corporate; they have become “do-it-yourself” in their preference rather than living under authority; they are increasingly syncretistic rather than exclusive and discriminating.[2] [emphasis added]

This was written in 2003, but fourteen years later widespread corruptions in evangelicalism are now present its in theology as well as practice as Guinness predicted. One need only listen to the latest heretical pronouncements from the Pontiff in Rome or tune in to many of the mega-church pastors in America. These false teachers forfeit the unambiguous truth of God in the name of cultural relevance through an accommodation of the spirit of the world within the church. But such accommodation leads to a Christian faith that dispenses “…a license to entitlement, a prescription for an easy-going spirituality, or a how-to manual for self-improvement.”[3] It is a false religion, a weak and unrecognizable shell without the sustaining truth and power of New Testament Christianity.

True Christians must define themselves by the gospel and remain faithful in the day in which they live. But the world doesn’t want to hear their message for it is untimely because it conflicts with the audience-friendly message dispensed by many within the evangelical church. However, the radical call of Jesus to come and die will always be unfashionable in the modern world. To retain their prophetic untimeliness, faithful Christians must always have an awareness of the unfashionable.

Appreciation for the historical

One of the central tenets of the humanism is progressivism which is built on the dictum of the perfectibility of man, a “…belief that critical and autonomous human reason held the power to discover the truth about life and the world, and to progressively liberate humanity from the ignorance and injustices of the past.”[4] We see the outworking of progressivism in humanism’s creation story of evolution, the self-centered striving to climb the ladder of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, the social engineer’s incessant push for equality through leveling society, and the psychologist’s endless efforts to minister to the needs of unfallen but damaged man.

The common theme of progressivism is that the good old days were all bad and have nothing to teach mankind in his march toward perfection except for one thing. History can serve as humanism’s “horrible example” preceding its altar call. Thereafter, man can kneel at the shrine of progressivism and repent for his original sin of dabbling with a supernatural God.

The progressive view of history rests on the belief that the most advanced point in time represents the point of highest development. It assumes that “…that history is an inevitable march upward into the light. In other words, step by step, the world always progresses, and this progress is inevitable.”[5] A consequence of this view of history is that the historical record must be judged only in light of current beliefs, assumptions, and politics. If one holds the progressive opinion of history, the views of the present generation must be superior to timeless truths, tradition, heritage, and the wisdom accumulated through the ages.

However, the historical record is one of the greatest contributions to Western thinking, and by default the Bible stands at the center of that history in shaping and molding the Western mindset. Undoubtedly, the weight of history supports the biblical worldview which is a reflection of truth received not only through biblical revelation to the ancient Hebrews and first century Christians but is also a reflection of those unchanging cultural universals built into God’s creation and observed down through the ages. But in their rush to relevance and accommodation, evangelicals have abandoned an appreciation of their own historical roots.

In their haste to cast off the wisdom and experiences of generations of our Christian forefathers, today’s evangelicals have mischaracterized the meaning of sola scriptura which has led to a measure of anti-intellectualism and spiritual shallowness. The church must not reject its rich history and knowledge gained over the centuries which are invaluable to understanding of scripture. The successes and failures of the church through the centuries serve as priceless lessons that both illuminate and elaborate upon the Bible’s teachings. The teachings and writings of the great minds of the Christian past such as Augustine, Luther, and Calvin give much insight into a right understanding of the scriptures.[6] Given the benefit of hindsight, we know they got some things wrong, but without a doubt they were profoundly right on many things.

Guinness believes that an appreciation for the historical gives the best counterperspective to the distorted perspectives of the modern day arising from the humanistic spirit of the world that has captured much of the church.[7] Therefore, an essential for cultivating the art of resistance thinking necessary to become prophetically untimely is an appreciation for the historical.

Constant attention to the eternal

Constant attention to the eternal is the last but most important element necessary for cultivating resistance thinking and is characteristic of the prophetically untimely followers of Jesus Christ.

God said, “For I am the Lord, I change not…” [Malachi 3:6] But in our modern times, the church has lost sight of this truth. Over one hundred years ago, the rejection of God’s unchangeableness was evident in the liberal churches of the era. In 1910, Earle Marion Todd, writing in The Christian Century, captured the spirit of the liberal churches’ abandonment of unchangeable and eternal truths.

Change, unceasing change, is the eternal law…Not only are things changing; they are growing. The world, the universe, is becoming more beautiful, more wonderful, more complex…[T]he church, like every other institution that is to continue to live and discharge a vital function, must adapt herself to the changed conditions. (Jan. 20, 1910).[8] [emphasis added]

So too, in the name of change and relevancy, the modern evangelical church since the 1960s has become increasingly obsessed with the temporal at the expense of the eternal. It seeks to make better men for the day but neglects the destiny of their eternal souls.

But as Guinness points out, “the church’s pursuit of relevance by being constantly timely is a mirage.” [emphasis added] Such relevance becomes self-authenticating, that is, we are relevant because we say we are relevant which is meaningless to the point of being dangerous. To be in constant pursuit of relevance, the church must bow to the “unholy trinity of the powerful, the practical, and the profitable.” Guinness writes that by bowing to the idol of temporal relevance, the church has ridden “slipshod over truth” which is a “means of corralling opinion deceptively. Until, that is, we finally deceive ourselves.”[9]
______

An awareness of the unfashionable, an appreciation of the historical, and constant attention to the eternal are necessary elements in the development of the art of resistance thinking. Resistance thinking is not just a mental exercise but also a matter of the heart that requires a return to the hard and unpopular themes of the gospel. Resistance thinking is an essential prescription for what ails the church. The second of the three prescriptions will be discussed in Part V: a return of the church to New Testament Christianity by embracing all of its distinguishing elements.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance,” (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), p. 95.
[2] Ibid., p. 98.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Christian Smith, The Secular Revolution, (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2003), p. 54.
[5] Murray N. Rothbard, “The Progressive Theory of History,” Ludwig von Mises Institute, September 14, 2010. http://mises.org/daily/4708 (accessed October 28, 2014).
[6] Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth-Liberating Christianity from its Cultural captivity, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2004, 2005), pp. 280-281.
[7] Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance,” pp. 100-101.
[8] Earle Marion Todd, Christian Century, January 20, 1910, quoted by Keith Meador, “My Own Salvation,” The Secular Revolution, Christian Smith, Ed., (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2003), p. 279
[9] Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance,” p. 106.

One eminent European scholar at Oxford University asked the question, “By the end of the 1970s who will be the worldliest Christians in America?” Following the silence of his stunned audience, he answered, “It will be the evangelicals and fundamentalists.” At the time this assessment was made, it seemed almost irrational because evangelicals and fundamentalists were considered to have been at the vanguard of understanding the dangers of the world and worldliness which had been exhibited by their forthright resistance to such for almost three centuries. The form of this legendary resistance was both rational and cultural, that is, their inner thought life and their outer life within the culture had stood as the bulwarks against a rapacious world and worldliness. But in the intervening years since that Oxford seminar, the professor’s prediction proved correct, and the “evangelicals and fundamentalists have embraced the modern world with a passion unrivaled in history.”[1]

The truth of this indictment is revealed by the in-depth examination in Part II of the condition of the American evangelical church as a result of its failure to resist the lure of the humanistic spirit of the modern age. The trends and direction of the evangelical church expose it as being desperately weak to the point of powerlessness. Having examined the condition of the church in Part II, we will examine the causes in Part III.

Nancy Pearcey cut to the heart of the matter when she wrote that Christians are called to resist the spirit of the world but to do so the Christian must first recognize the form it takes in our present day.[2] Failure to make this recognition has been the downfall of evangelicals and fundamentalists of all denominations since the 1960s, some more than others.

In 1999, Richard Cimino wrote an article titled “Choosing My Religion” which was published by Advertising Age. He described the factors Americans consider when seeking a church. Cimino’s observations on the desires of consumer-minded Christians had been discovered and applied decades earlier by the leaders of the Church Growth movement. What Cimino and Church Growth leaders found was that mainstream Americans had begun shopping for a God to fit their humanistic beliefs and lifestyles. As a result, their preferences had shifted from “religion” to “spirituality.”[3]

The dominant Christian religion in America through the end of the nineteenth century meant having a relationship with and obedience to God. However, by the last half of the 20th century, relationship and obedience had been pushed aside and replaced with the god of self and its quest for happiness. This shift occurred within the church because of the rise and eventual dominance of the humanistic worldview in all facets of American culture during the last half of the twentieth century.

Instead of presenting the world with the message of hope through Jesus Christ, the world infiltrated the church as it embraced elements of a humanistic worldview. Many in evangelical leadership will strongly deny this assertion and point to their success in reaching out to the lost by being culturally relevant. The church cannot dispute the fact that it must translate unchanging Christian theology into a contemporary language and understanding for each generation. But irrespective of the claims of many in evangelical leadership, there is a difference between evangelism that occurs through accommodation of the spirit of the world in many evangelical churches today and the evangelism of an earlier era which was an uncompromised presentation of the word of God in the face of ridicule and rejection by a hostile culture.

Where such uncompromised presentations are discarded in favor of a more sanguine and relativistic approach to the sinner, such conversions accomplished through accommodating the humanistic spirit of the age ring hollow when large numbers of those converts do not thereafter exhibit commitment to a Christian lifestyle.

Whether occurring through compromise, adding to, taking away, misinterpretation, disregard, neglect, or ignorance, the process of accommodation within the church, however subtle, has diminished the authority of scripture and influence of the church. Writing almost forty years ago, Francis Schaeffer concisely described the importance of fidelity to scriptural authority in both word and deed.

What seems like a minor difference at first, in the end makes all the difference in the world…in things pertaining to theology, doctrine, and spiritual matters, but it also makes all the difference in things pertaining to the daily Christian life and how we as Christians are to relate to the world around us. In other words, compromising the full authority of Scripture eventually affects what it means to be a Christian theologically and how we live in the full spectrum of human life.[4]

As we have previously stated, the rebellious, self-seeking nature of modern man is the essence of Original Sin. This is not a new occurrence for see this same pattern of rebellion and self-seeking in the Old Testament when the Israelites prepared to cross the Jordan River and enter the promise land according to God’s plan. However, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh liked what they saw on the east side of the Jordan and wanted to dwell there. The meaning of their Hebrew names revealed their inner natures. Reuben was consumed with sexual sin, was attached to the world, and demanded his own way. Gad was outwardly obedient but placed his self-interests ahead of God and His commands. Manasseh forgot his Godly heritage and neglected the commandments of the Lord.[5]

David Wilkerson described many modern day self-professed Christians as being similar to the two and a half tribes of Israel.

Consider these combined traits of middle-ground Christians: Unstable as water in spiritual convictions; never excelling in the things of God; lukewarm, weak with lust; ruled by selfish needs; neglecting the Word; not taking the Lord’s commandments seriously; making their own choices instead of trusting God; forgetting past blessings and dealings; unwilling to let go of certain idols; justifying their own decisions; not willing to die to all that would seduce them back to middle ground![6] [emphasis added]

They chose the middle ground between their complete captivity by the world and Jesus’ command that His true followers must die to the world. Wilkerson’s middle ground closely parallels Paul’s words to Timothy.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. [II Timothy 3:2-5. KJV] [emphasis added]

The middle ground is the humanistic spirit of the world that has invaded the church, and Christians must recognize the form it takes in our modern age. Without an accurate recognition, how can the evangelical church resist the middle ground’s charms and deceptions?

As was stated in Evangelical Winter, the reason for the decline of many churches in America is not that the rising tide of secularism and humanism are stronger than the transformational power of the gospel. Rather, the church has attempted to continue as a moral force within the culture by becoming culturally relevant. This quest for relevancy has gradually (and for some almost unknowingly) compromised the biblical message, mixed the light with darkness, and preached nonjudgmental love without the necessity of repentance and turning from sin. These doctrinal compromises and non-biblical activities translate into spiritual weakness and ultimately death.[7]

Os Guinness wrote that in the 1980s and 1990s “The new evangelicals were in the process of becoming the old liberals” and “Church growth was now to be ‘on new grounds’.” But on these new grounds were found an “irrelevance of history, the outdatedness of traditional hymns and music, the uptightness of traditional moralism, the abstractness of theologizing, the impracticality of biblical exposition, the inadequacy of small churches, and the deadly, new unforgivable sin—irrelevance.”[8]

What is needed by the evangelical church in the West is reformation and revival. But to have reformation and revival the church must resist the forces of cultural captivity which Guinness identifies as conformity, popularity, and most damaging, the quest for a distorted relevance. The church’s quest for a distorted relevance is religious triviality in which “…many evangelicals are the most superficial of religious believers—lightweight in thinking, gossamer-thin in theology, and avid proponents of spirituality-lite in terms of preaching and responses to life.” The pursuit of distorted relevance must always end in transience and exhaustion. Finally, seeking a distorted relevance along with the quest for conformity and popularity inevitably leads to moral and intellectual cowardice and compromise which is the antithesis of resistance thinking.[9]

In Parts IV, V, and VI, the prescriptions necessary for the church to escape its cultural captivity and seek reformation and revival will be examined.

Larry G. Johnson

Sources:

[1] Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance,” (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2003), pp. 52-53.
[2] Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2004, 2005), p. 118.
[3] Richard Cimino, “Choosing My Religion,” Advertising Age, April 1, 1999.
http://adage.com/article/american-demographics/choosing-religion/42364/ (accessed October 23, 2015).
[4] Francis A. Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster, (Westchester, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1984), pp. 44-45.
[5] David Wilkerson, “Middle Grounders,” David Wilkerson Devotions, September 28, 2009.
http://davidwilkersontoday.blogspot.com/2009/09/middle-grounders.html (accessed March 31, 2017).
[6] Ibid.
[7] Larry G. Johnson, Evangelical Winter – Restoring New Testament Christianity,” (Owasso, Oklahoma: Anvil House Publishers, 2016), p. 242.
[8] Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness-A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance,” pp. 59-60.
[9] Ibid., pp. 71-79.