POST-MODERNISM AND TRUE CHRISTIANITY

It is my contention that the church has been invaded and conquered by Post-modernism. When I say the church, I mean that which goes my the name today, in general terms. I am not of course speaking of the true church in the Biblical sense.

How else can we explain the eclectic and ever varying viewpoints and paradigms of churches throughout the country (Australia) and the world, except that the church has been invaded and conquered by Post-modernism? It is rampant everywhere and it no longer needs a subtle approach to infiltrate the church. It can now appear in blinding light as Post-modernism and be found acceptable by most ‘Christians’ within this country and I suspect the world.

Opposition to Post-modernist ideas is difficult to find, though admittedly it is there. The particularbaptist.com website is one outpost of Biblical Evangelical Christianity (Particular Baptist). It is not the only one – there are many such outposts on the World Wide Web and throughout the spiritual wilderness one can find an occasional welcome oasis in a dry, barren desert.

Yet the overwhelming scenario is that entering a random ‘Christian’ church on any Sunday you will find a place devoid of the Spirit of God, for He has long ago withdrawn His candlestick from that place. It is quite likely that you will find a place that for some time has given itself over to fanciful stories, human devised fables and crowd-pleasing activities. The people there have welcomed leaders that have been only too pleased to scratch the ears of their followers and have eagerly lapped up fleshly pleasing rhetoric that has fallen from their poisoned lips.

What are we to do who find ourselves hungering and thirsting in the wilderness? Are we to join ourselves to one of these dens of iniquity because we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together? Is this the last desperate act left open for a believer who longs to be obedient to His Lord?

I think it is high time that we who truly believe the Bible and follow the God of the Bible and His Beloved Son and the leadings of His Spirit, separate ourselves from such synagogues of Satan and form true Christian churches after the form outlined in the New Testament. It is time that we leave these forsaken places to their own devices and set out on a pathway that has been marked out by those that have gone before.

Our congregations may only be small and seem to have little impact when contrasted with the Post-modernist mega-churches of our time, yet we will be faithful servants of our God. We will be able to trust Him who is our Refuge and Our Strength, knowing that He who will go before us is the all-conquering sovereign Lord.

I find myself in this barren spiritual desert, surrounded by Post-modernist churches and have often felt the need to meet with Christians as I know I should. Yet I find myself unable to meet with those that worship another God and peddle another gospel that I find abhorrent. I long for the day when I will be able to meet with even two or three like-minded godly brethren who will also not yield to the pressures of the day and simply meet with a ‘powerless’ church that has long lost the powerful Spirit of God and is no longer a true witness of Jesus Christ.

May the Lord raise up like-minded brethren who will come together and form the godly churches of tomorrow. May God yet come among us again through the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit and visit us with fresh displays of His gracious power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

CHURCH ASKS FOR PRAYER AFTER TRAGIC SHOOTING OF ITS PASTOR

Following Sunday’s tragic shooting of its pastor, Dr. Fred Winters, during the early morning service at the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Illinois, the church website has issued a statement.

Under the headline, “A Message About Today’s Loss,” it reads:

“Today, a little after our 8:15 service began, a man entered First Baptist Church and fired several gunshots at our Senior Pastor, Dr. Fred Winters. Pastor Winters was taken to the hospital but died of his wounds.

“Please pray for Dr. Winter’s family, our two brave members who were injured when they stopped the assailant, for the assailant himself and his family, and for our church members as they deal with this tragic loss.

“In this day, where uncertainty seems to abound creating an environment in which people are vulnerable in doing things they might not do otherwise, one thing is certain, we, as human beings need a foundation upon which we can live our lives. We at First Baptist Maryville, along with other Christian believers, share this conviction: that foundation is God’s Word. In the pages of the Book we call the Bible, we find the pathway for peace, hope, and a quality of living life despite what circumstances we find ourselves in.

“To those who believe in the power of prayer, we covet your prayers right now.”

The message then gave some “Prayer Service Information” which said, “Due to the limited size of the auditorium at Metro Community Church, our prayer service this evening will be reserved for our members only. We would appreciate everyone continuing to pray for those injured in the attack this morning and their families and for our church as we deal with this tragic loss.

Report from the Christian Telegraph

IT CAN BE A SMILE

What is it about people that can really gain your interest? I don’t mean people who you just sort of know or a person that you chat to once in a while, yet find something interesting about them – I mean people who really catch your interest and make an impact on your life?

There are some people whom you admire because they have done something great – such as a renowned doctor or someone who has battled the odds and won. There are those that are perceived as great even though they have done little that can be truly regarded as meaningful – perhaps an actor or an actress, a football player or a well known pop singer. But it is not these people that I have in mind, as legitimately admired as they may be.

I am thinking about those people that are personally known to you, those people that have perhaps had a special impact on your life or who have a special place in your heart or life. What is it about these people?

These are the people whom you care so much about and that no matter what happens, what might be said or even might be seen, they have a place in your heart and in your life that cannot be dislodged. They have really gained your interest and you are perhaps intrigued by them to the extent that you just don’t feel you can perhaps be ‘normal’ again if they were no longer in your life.

We all have such people in our lives, even though we may not admit it to ourselves or try to give the impression to onlookers that it is not so. Yet it is so. Sometimes these people become our wife or husband, someone we admire or look up to from afar, or perhaps someone we might try to pursue, just feeling that we need them to be part of our life’s experience, no matter how small a part that might pan out to be.

Sometimes it can be just a smile and we are hooked. There we are talking away, as perhaps we have a dozen times before and then there it is – the smile. There may have been other smiles, but now there is this one. It is a smile you cannot forget.

You look and mark the characteristics of the smile. You see the dimples that form when her joy overcomes her and her delight can no longer be hidden away from view. There is the radiance that beams from her face and the eyes that seem to be able to see into your heart and mind, yet does so with a softness, with a compassion and with a knowledge that everything is going to be OK. Even her hair seems to join in with smile and her skin glows, forming part of this treasured portrait that you now will carry with you wherever you go. She may be physically removed, yet there she is, right there with you in the memory of her smile and in the smile that comes when your thoughts turn to that memory.

Sometimes these treasured ones, they leave this life before it seems time for them to do so. Sometimes they are gone well before the time that perhaps you think they should be gone. Yet this smile still remains and they are always there, with you along the way, as you remember the moment you first became aware of the smile and the place you made for her in your heart and in all that you are – because she is there and she cannot be moved from the place that you have made for her in your heart and in all of your being.

It can be a smile – that which begins it all. Something perhaps so small, so insignificant overall, but yet overwhelming for the impact and the pathway on which it sets your feet to tread. It is a pathway you walk, drawn on from such a simple beginning to an adventure of revelation and discovery as even more cherished scenes and experiences are charted along the way and the memories of a person are chronicled in the annals of this one not to be forgotten but always remembered.

There are always hooks on which you can hang the canvas of an experience you shared and of which you always wish to recall. A smell or a scene will draw from the mind a precious time or even a feature of the one you hold dear. There will be a smile, a simple smile that will form on your face that none other knows why – yet you know that your dear one is still there, even in the memories of times you held dear.

There will be times and happenings, all special for sure, yet just knowing her will be enough. What a joy it can be, just to have known and to feel the smile of that you held dear. It can be even a smile, though there be even so much more than that too.

It can be a smile.