“It’s Sunday once again and we haven’t even pulled into the parking lot of the church but already the frustration is building. With a glance skyward I whisper a now familiar but heartfelt prayer: ‘Lord, let this be a meeting of the saints. Please let there be something real in the House of God today. No ridiculous nonsense, no overt heresy, no deceptive ploys cast in Your Name, no silly sales tactics. Let us hear some of Your everlasting and immutable truth; anointed and unfiltered. Challenge me through the singular preaching of Biblical doctrine. Dare me to strive for Holiness, to love more freely, and believe absolutely. Let this be the very church service where I die! Where my fleshly passions and desires are nailed on an ancient splintered Cross to be wholly absorbed into a pool of Regal Blood. Never to rise again.’

The words leave my heart but I hold out little hope. Not that I doubt my Lord but because I know the modern church all too well….”

My friend Jim over at LivingElect penned those words, but it could just as easily been written by myself or countless other Christians who have grown so VERY tired of the modern American church.  A quick glance at those assembled on any Sunday leaves one thinking that everything is fine.   People are smiling, sermons are preached, songs are sung, offerings are collected.  But if we take Rafiki’s advice (Lion King) and “Looked Harder!” we see a different picture: believers who are spiritually mal-nourished, longing for just a sip of cold water and a stale piece of bread that never come.  Week after week after week, the spiritual food never arrives, and the body becomes weak.  This is where many of the Contemporary churches have led God’s people.

In an earlier post, I asked the question “Can We Bring Him More than a Song?”  It was a question that Read the rest of this entry →