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Charles Spurgeon famously said several things about
churches being driven by entertainment and amusement.
This is refered to as the "attraction model church" and
we see it all around us; this is where the church mimics
the world to attract people to the services and
events. Churches imitating the world to draw people in,
rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit. Spurgeon said "...the
preaching of Christ usually ceases when these
frivolities come in. These things are so opposed
in spirit, that one or the other will have to be
dropped; and we know which it will be." At one
point where a church was putting on a series of plays,
he lamented "this is to go on side by side with the
preaching of Thy bleeding sacrifice, O Christ of God!"
Later he said, "By the solemnities of death, and
judgment, and eternity, I beseech you, keep yourselves
clear of the follies, the inanities of the day."
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These are good sentiments, yet all around us we see the
entertainment-driven and the attraction-model church
taking the place of the preaching of the Gospel of
Christ. You say "Oh, our entertainment is about
Christ!", but I say your entertainment is more about
your entertainers and your audience than about Christ!
I say this because I see little to no reverence in these
"worship services"; they are instead full of
flesh-pleasing music, dance, laughter, and
frivolity.
I was speaking with my great friend Richard the other
day and we were discussing this subject. Our
discussion led to me looking up the definition of
"worship" from a couple of sources, all in our
Bibliography. Webster's 1829 Dictionary, which may
have been the last, true dictionary published, has this
to say: "4-Chiefly and eminently, the act of
paying divine honors to the Supreme Being; or the
reverence and homage paid to him in religious exercises,
consisting in adoration, confession, prayer,
thanksgiving, and the like." People in the late
1700's and early 1800's considered worship to involve
the confession of sins, prayer, and thanking and adoring
God! Well, modern worship services seem to have
the adoring down, and maybe some thanking, but what
about the heart-felt confession of sins and serious
prayer?
Unger's Bible Dictionary goes on to say this: "1.
Heb. shaha (to bow down), to prostrate oneself before
another in order to do him honor and reverence (Genesis
22:5). This mode of salutation consisted in
falling upon the knees and then touching the forehead to
the ground..." And in another "4. The Gk. words
thus rendered are : proskuneo, properly to 'kiss the
hand to (toward) one,' in token of reverence; also by
kneeling or prostration to do homage--the word most used
in the NT; sebomai, to 'revere' a deity..."
This is a far cry from the "worship service" of today!
Today's worship services are all singing and dancing,
and nothing wrong with that like David did, but the
hearts of those doing these things are not the heart
that David had! David had confessed his sins and
paid his dues. David had almost died from the
grevious sins he had committed, and God only restored
him after much confession, prayer, crying, and begging
forgiveness! Only then did David celebrate before
the Lord! He did not go out and live like the
Canaanites all week, then sing and dance before the Lord
on the Sabbath!
I'm here to tell you today: this mockery of worship of
my Father, my King, and my Comforter is why this world
is in the shape it is, and this is what will usher in
the time of the Great Tribulation! A church, the body
of Christ, that worships Him, His Father, and His spirit
in a manner that mocks, even if unintentionally, what
worship should be, will bring great sorrow.
Heed my words! You are preparing yourself for the
Church of the antichrist that will come onto the world
stage, and will draw people in with entertainment and
fun, and ignore all of the true worship of God! This is
preparing people to change over from a dead Christian
church to the antichrist's religion of false hope and
eternal damnation.
And if you can't see it happening, how will you avoid
it?
Did the first century church worship like you do?
Or was there just a little bit more reverence? You
want the Holy Spirit to come down on your service?
Then spend all day in prayer, and praise God when the
Spirit shows up!
I despair sometimes of teaching you people this stuff.
Sometimes I tire of trying to convince you people where
you need to be; the Lord gives me these messages and I
give them to you, and I might as well be crying out in
the wilderness! But God is gracious and merciful
and is not willing that any should perish if they will
just turn to Him, so He sends me, and others, to tell
you these things.
Where does this come from? This desire to
duplicate the fleshly draws of the world in the Church?
There seem to be two major causes. One is that
those not saved, or saved and not grounded in the Word,
still want the things of the world but know they should
not have those things. Two is the intermingling of
the world and the church. These two issues go hand
in hand. We will talk about this a little...using
it to "draw in" the unbelievers in just an excuse to
fulfil your own fleshly desires.
Think about it: seriously Word grounded people,
praying and worshiping with the Holy Spirit, don't need
"entertainment" to get people in Church. I have
experienced service where the Spirit of God was there
and you just didn't want to quit praying for each other,
rejoicing in the work the Lord was doing, and revelling
in His Spirit!
But, without this, you need to feel good somehow...so we
have Sunday Entertainment.
This comes from things like the music of Hillsong,
Bethel, and Elevation with messages that are off-base
with the Gospel. These songs may sound like they
are about Christ, but what they are is false doctrines
presented in song.
In the next message we will delve into how Satan uses New Age and
Pagan practices to deceive the Church, we will talk more
on the types of media and what is wrong with them.
For this lesson, we need to look at how we can tell what
is "bad" entertainment.
One of the simplest clues is who is glorified; just
because the words of a song may seem to glorify God does
not mean that the entertainment is Godly in nature!If
those presenting the message are fulfilling the flesh by
singing those hymns, then God is not in it and you need
to steer clear of it! If more attention is drawn to the
performers than to God, then there is a problem. You see
this with a lot of big-name praise groups where people
are applauding the performance rather than falling down
and worshipping God.
Another hint that something just might be wrong is when
they people performing for your service are out at a bar
or some other venue singing non-Christian music on
Saturday night, only to show up for church on Sunday and
play for you. Believe me, there is no separation
from the world in this; separation from the world is a
constant state that we try to achieve, not something
that is only done when in the church building.
With any amount of discernment, which the Holy Spirit
will give you for the asking, you will be able to tell
what is true worship and what is not. If it makes
you uncomfortable, then you should listen to that.
The Christian sitting in a service listening to
entertainment and feeling like something is wrong has
more of the Holy Spirit than the performers do! If
you walk out feeling like you went to a concert, then
don't go back. If you leave with nothing but
adulation for God, then it was the right place to be.
If it pleases you, run! If it pleases God, stay!
Ask God to open your eyes and show you what is of the
Spirit and what is of the flesh.
I will tell you this: neither performers nor audiences,
with a heart full of unconfessed sin, are worshiping in
Spirit and truth (John 4:23). You must clean the
vessel before the Holy Spirit will fill it during
worship!
Every bit of entertainment that is patterned after the
world, even done with the best of intentions, actually
draws you away from the Lord. You must learn to
worship in Spirit and in truth, not in the ways of the
flesh.
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Bibliography Page
1 SpurgeonReference
here.
Entertainment is to provide amusement or enjoyment for
other people.It is, in fact, the opposite of worship.
Biblical References for Worship:
True Worship
Romans 12:1-2
How Not To Worship
Isaiah 29:13
Reverence & Awe
Hebrews 12:28-29
Thanksgiving
Psalm 100:1-5
No Matter What
Daniel 3:16-18
Loving Christ
John 14:15
In Spirit and Truth
John 4:23-24
Clean Up
James 4:8
Thankfulness
Colossians 3:16
Praise
Hebrews 13:15
He Is With Us
Matthew 18:20
No Formalities
Isaiah 1:11-17
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