If you add all the lists of people saved, everybody in America, the whole population has been saved and filled with the Holy Ghost about six times over in the last ten years. And yet we are as dumb and as dead and as damned as we were when we started off. (Baptism of Fire. Leonard Ravenhill)

"The church began as a movement in Jerusalem. It became a philosophy in Greece, an institution in Rome, a culture in Europe, and a big, wealthy enterprise in America. But God is coming back for a movement"

Christianity is not alive and well in spite of loud declarations to the contrary. “Current evangelicalism has laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Carmel”. (A.W. Tozer)

"On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely evoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense.... " (Teaching a Stone to Talk. Annie Dillard)

 “The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, Heaven without Hell.” (General Booth. Salvation Army) What better description of today’s Gospel?

Christianity of old quenched the flames of oppression, lit the fires of freedom, and led two continents out of the darkness of paganism. Today's Christianity is known for bingo games, softball leagues, and milquetoast preachers. Christianity of old toppled the Roman Empire. Today's Christianity cannot even rid the nation of legal abortion. (Chuck Baldwin. Christians No Different From The World)

The Church...The Organization

Sections

Christian Courses
The Circus Is In Town... Again!
Christians have a seemingly bottomless appetite for new fads and jump from bandwagon to bandwagon every few years.. There is a new book, a new program or a new emphasis every year or so. It's all anyone can talk about; it's all the preacher preaches about - for a while. Then, as quickly as it came, it's gone. A look at some of the most recent Christian courses including The Purpose Driven Program, The Alpha Course, Cleansing Stream, Theophostic Ministry Etc...

Mysticism in The Church...Contemplative or Centering Prayer
The twentieth century, which has seen so many revolutions, is now witnessing the rise of a new mysticism within Christianity. Contemplative Prayer is a practice derived from Eastern and Roman Catholic mysticism. But the question is.. can we find God by entering into an altered state of consciousness?’

The Emerging Church
a controversial  21st-century Protestant Christian usually called a "conversation" by its proponents to emphasize its diffuse nature with contributions from many people and no explicitly defined leadership or direction. EC places importance on interfaith dialog rather than verbal evangelism and emphasizes the subjective over the objective. It seems that the “Emerging Church” is reemerging.

Walking The Labyrinth
  The Labyrinth is touted as a medieval tool for the Postmodern Age. The mother of the modern labyrinth movement is Lauren Artress, canon of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Artress, who does not disguise her contempt for “fundamentalism” and the “religious right,” whose “literal interpretation of the Bible... breeds small-mindedness and mean-spiritedness.” Discernment is at such an all time low that thousands of Christians are embracing this age-old occult practice. 

Church Growth Movement
The Market Driven Church focuses is on what the consumer (Unchurched Harry) wants and thinks he needs, rather than on what God wants and what He says Harry needs. In other words, market-driven churches are built upon the foundation of polls, surveys, and the latest marketing techniques, instead of upon the Word of God.

Counterfeit Revivals
Move of God or demonic deception? It is extremely disturbing to make a comparison between the experiences and behaviour of the people at Toronto, Brownsville and Lakeland with disciples of Hindu gurus who have had a conferring of a form of spiritual "power" or Kundalini awakening on them. The requirements for receiving are the same, the methods of transmissions are the same and the physical manifestations are the same. How then can these ’revivals’ be Christians. Section also examines the origins, progress and underlying erroneous doctrines of the phenomenon. .

Ecumenism
The pressure is mounting for interfaith communion and dialogue. Christians seem to totally forget that they are followers of the man who called the Pharisees white-washed tombs and drove the money- changers out of the temple. We are students of the Apostle Paul, who called down God's curse on anyone who preached a different gospel, the man who publicly confronted Peter. Yet we cosy up to organizations like the World Council of Churches. (Section)

Heresy in The Church
Compromising the doctrines and confusing the gospel is a serious assault upon the character of God, of Christ and salvation itself. Among other topics section includes the Word-Faith and Prosperity Doctrines, Slain In The Spirit, The Anointing, The Tele-Evangelists, Healing, Latter Rain and more

Vineyard Churches
From very small beginnings a mere twenty years ago there are 850 Vineyard churches worldwide (in over 80 countries) with approximately 600 Vineyard churches in the United States alone. They also boast of an international church planting movement, a publishing house and a music production company.  This phenomenal growth, (an average of over 42 churches a year), begs the question.. What are the Vineyard churches about? What doctrine do they espouse?

Mosaic
Erwin Raphael McManus, A native of El Salvador, and graduate of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is the lead pastor and cultural architect of Mosaic, a Christian community in Los Angeles, California. A futurist and author, McManus was named by ChurchReport.com in January 2007 as one of the “50 Most Influential Christians in America.” But...

The Mennonites
Claim nearly 1.5 million members worldwide but have strayed far from their conservative roots.

CCN (Church Communication Network) And Lead Like Jesus
Church Communication Network (CCN) broadcasts live programs to over 2500 subscribers representing thousands of viewers. While there have to be quite a few simulcasts that are valuable, there is plenty of dross mixed in. Consider one of the best known programs... Ken Blanchard's Lead Like Jesus, featuring among others, Laurie Beth Jones..

Questionable Organizations
Missing the mark in too many ways.. Promise Keepers, YWAM, The Seventh Day Adventists, Campus Crusade, The World Christian Movement

Merchandising The Gospel
Pushing The Tacky, The Trashy, and The Trivial. Marketing, not ministry, is the driving force behind most of the industry these days. (Section includes The Shack ... a New York Times best seller with well over a million copies in print. It is Christian fiction that attempts to present a Christian worldview through the genre of religious fiction. But it has been called "scripturally incorrect" and downright "dangerous." So how Christian is it really?)
 

Single Articles

Will The Real Church Please Stand Up
While the evangelical church has been chasing the ever changing fads and whims of our society, she has jettisoned her unique message. At the same time that the church has forgotten her purpose, she has also been infiltrated by a wide range of diluting and influences that have changed the very core of her being.

10 Things I Hate About Church
Worship Pastors - Seriously? Paid singers? Seriously?

True and False Unity
Christian unity is unity under and through the gospel. It is nurtured through the teaching of sound Biblical doctrine. False unity is unity that is demanded and prescribed by religious leaders to their own ideas and organizations. This is the unity that the religious leaders of Israel wanted and that Jesus threatened.

The Contemporary Church
The contemporary plan is plain for all to see—create a worship service (none dare call it liturgy!) that is fast-paced, light on doctrine, and very heavy on music and drama. We are preoccupied with being "trendier-than-thou."

Four Tragic Shifts
Few Christians realize the central concepts and practices associated with what we call 'church' are not rooted in the New Testament, but in patterns established in the post-apostolic age.

Disarming The Church
As history has shown, it is a common tactic for the oppressing force to gain control of a nation by seizing the means by which individuals might defend themselves. Once the citizenry are disarmed, it is a relatively easy matter to exert complete tyrannical control. It seems to me that the same principal holds true in the spiritual realm

Will Christ Remove YOUR Church’s Candlestick?
There are few biblical texts which are so vital that today's church congregations should understand than the 'church messages' of Revelation 2-3, but such congregations usually never hear a sermon on them!' So let us not ignore or neglect the messages to the 7 churches any longer!

Abandonment Theology
Christianity - the deepest, most meaningful and awe-inspiring religion ever, the magnificent driving force behind Western Civilization, and the transcendent hope of mankind's future - has been dumbed down into a comic-book religion.
 

  The Church ...The People

What is ‘love’ in the Bible (Agape) and How Did It Work?
We tend to assume at once that "love" means what it does to us in modern times -- in this case, a mushy sentimentality that never says a harsh word and never steps on the toes of others. but conceptually, it is certainly possible to love one's enemies, and yet also attack them; and the same for one's disciples or allies.

Which Jesus?
A friend of mine told me that everyone wants to follow Jesus until they find out where He is going. He’s going to a cross, and He’s asking you to take up yours as well.

Good for Nothing Christianity
On the one hand we had the unflattering depiction of Mohammed in a series of cartoons, which almost cause the world to erupt into war. Yet Andres Seranno’s Piss Christ (The picture of a crucifix of Christ submerged in a bottle of urine), The Last Temptation of Christ, which depicted a married Jesus getting it on with his wife Mary Magdalene and The DaVinci Code, which many Christian pundits claim questions the deity of Christ did little but cause Christians to retreat into their churches and suck on their thumbs.

Christians No Different From The World
The problem with America's Christianity today is that, for the most part, it doesn't exist! What passes for Christianity is instead an anemic, spineless, diluted substitute without convictions or principle.

Stop Apologizing To The Devil
Is anyone besides me tired of being so nice? You can search the Bible through and through and you will be hard-pressed to find that adjective in reference to Christianity. Somewhere along the line we have become convinced that the greatest thing they can ever say about you as a Christian is that you are a “nice” man.

Grab A Hose
We are fixated on last-days prophecy and study the fig tree, the four-horsemen, the bear from the north, six-six-six, the mark of the beast, and try and figure out just when all hell is going to break loose on the earth. All the while the world is on fire as we sit around and try and figure out how long it will take for the fire-truck to make it down our street. You see, we really don’t believe what we say we believe. If we did...

From Christ's Church to iChurch
 Christianity has become just one more brand we consume along with Gap, Apple, and Starbucks to express identity. And the demotion of Jesus Christ from Lord to label means to live as a Christian no longer carries an expectation of obedience and good works, but rather the perpetual consumption of Christian merchandise and experiences—music, books, t-shirts, conferences, and jewelry.

The Carnal Christian
Lest anyone should think that being carnal is a place of safety- let me remind you of this verse in Romans. Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
 

The Church ...The Pastors

Power From The Pulpit
The sermons preached in too many churches these days are given by what I call “Woosie Preachers.” A woosie preacher (or minister, priest or rabbi) is one that either does not have a firm grip on national and world affairs and the dangers they pose—and does not want to learn them, or simply is afraid to address them from the pulpit.

Biblical Preachers Unwelcome
The next time you hear someone refer to the great men of the Bible, ask yourself, "Would that prophet be welcome in my church today?" In most instances, the answer is a resounding no!.  Why? Take a look at practically every single Old Testament prophet. Ninety percent of their preaching was negative. They seldom had anything positive to say, especially about the way their nation's leaders were behaving.

America’s Basic Problem is a Pastor Problem
if enough preachers would decide to be the courageous proponents of truth, as were our ancestors, and would determine to preach the truth without fear or favor regarding any person or political party, they could turn our ship of state around post-haste! I further believe that if they don't do it soon, it will be (if it's not already) too late.

...And The Pulpits Are Silent
Despite what the political parties would like you to believe, the problem in America is not the politicians, it is the pulpits. How did we ever get such man-pleasing leaders? They are concerned with being too harsh, they tell me that “Jesus is in control,” that they are not “called” to fight evil and that "we should pray for our enemies.” Where have these guys come from? What we need is a return of the Voice of God thundering through the prophets standing in America’s pulpits. Not the prissy Purpose Driven drivel passing as the Gospel today.

Light A Fire Under Your Pastor
Okay, Mr. Kindling-Wood, you have a decision you are going to have to make. Are you sick and tired enough of the lukewarm preaching to come out of your comfort zone and begin to set little brush- fires? If you are not willing to make a stand then you have no reason to complain. It is time to stop waiting on the big log to set the rest of you on fire.  Put up or shut up

Soul Sick America
Ted Haggard won’t be the last to fall. Many more are afflicted with the illness. Sin is nothing more than soul-sickness. Americans are rotting in their souls and instead of a pastorate of John the Baptist’s trumpeting the cure, America’s pulpits are filled with snake-oil salesman marketing the “blessings of God,’ feeding our flesh, increasing the butts and the bucks.

Strength of Weakness
Many will say that God has blessed these men with fame, fortune, honor and celebrity in order to bless us with their talent, knowledge, wisdom and expertise. They will tell you that God has gifted them as chosen individuals set apart to reveal God’s own greatness to the world. But, they would be wrong.
 

The Church ...The Blueprint

The Pattern Of The New Testament Church
Christ’s church, consists entirely of a priesthood of believers who have been “baptized into Christ” . There never was and should not be any clergy-laity distinction. Additionally it is fact of history that the early church met in the homes of its members. No special church buildings were constructed during the New Testament era, nor or for the following two hundred years. The New Testament knows nothing of an inert, believer-priesthood whose only function is to passively absorb sermons and pass the offering plate. (Several Articles)

The Problem With Creeds
The word creed is from the Latin credo, meaning, "I believe." Of course, there is nothing wrong in itself with stating a belief. This is, in fact, necessary if we will take a stand for truth. One might even agree generally with the teaching of the material in a creed; but a "creed" goes beyond stating a belief. It is essentially an authoritative statement of a particular position (or positions) to which others are expected to assent.