In recent years there has been a growing trend towards entertainment in the church.  Church buildings are constructed like theaters.  The focus of the building is a stage rather than a pulpit and colored lights and elaborate sound systems are installed. 

In some of these churches multi-million dollar screens and closed circuit television pipe the messages of the “star” pastors to far flung satellite churches in differing locales.  Behind this trend is the notion that the church must sell the gospel to unbelievers.  Churches thus compete for the consumer on the same level as the latest TV reality show or a major motion picture.  More and more churches are relying on marketing strategy to sell the church. 

I have believed for years that Arminian theology is what drives this approach.  If one views conversion as fundamentally dependent on an act of the human will then any method is good if it works.

This whole plan for “doing church” presumes that church services are primarily for the purpose of recruiting unbelievers.  But in the New Testament church services are primarily for believers to worship God in spirit and in truth. 

Acts 2:42 tells us the pattern the early church followed in their assemblies:  “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Note that the early church’s priorities clearly were to worship God and to edify the brethren.  The church came together for worship and edification; it scattered to evangelize the world.

In Matthew 28:19-20 the Lord Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples to “go into all the world proclaiming the gospel” not to wait for them to come to the church building.

At North Athens Baptist Church it is my desire that everyone feel welcome to meet with us, but unbelievers ought to be a bit uncomfortable.  The reason for this is because our services are primarily designed to worship God by the word and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  These are things that the unbeliever has no frame of reference for until God regenerates them through our gospel witness and the converting power of the Holy Spirit.

Of all the truths of the Christian faith perhaps the one that 21^st century men find most distasteful is the exclusivity of Jesus Christ in salvation.  The great cry of our day is for tolerance and pluralism and this cry is being heard in the church as well as in secular society. 

Evangelicals maintain that salvation is to be found in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.  There are not many roads to heaven there is only one, Jesus Christ.  Men will laud our theology so long as we do not claim that Christ alone can provide the forgiveness of sin and righteousness that God demands for entrance into eternal life.  Yet, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that there is no salvation for anyone outside of Jesus. 

Acts 4:12 states unequivocally: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”  The apostles were merely echoing the words of Jesus Himself for He taught them in John 14:6 that he is the only way to the Father and so the only way to heaven and eternal life. 

If this truth is compromised then we are on a slippery slope that eventually leads to a loss of the gospel itself.  Dr Albert Mohler has written an article that speaks about this issue and of the continued health of the evangelical church.  It is interesting reading and can be found here.

The recent death of Michael Jackson has once again focused attention on the celebrity worship that is rampant in America and indeed, the world.  We are a culture that is infatuated with fame and the cult of celebrity has become a virtual religion whose congregants really worship themselves by giving their praise and adoration to the rich and famous that they wish to copy. 

 Years ago Andy Warhol famously prophesied that “…in the future everyone will be world famous for fifteen minutes.”  It seems that there is no price that people will not pay, no humiliation that they will not endure in order to achieve their fifteen minutes.  The sin of idolatry is at the heart of this cult.  Idolatry occurs when men and women love something else more than they love God (Mark 12:30-31; Revelation 2:4-5) when they serve something other than Him (1 Thess 1:9); when He is not the object of their praise (Deut 6:14). 

Paul makes it clear in the Book of Romans, chapter 1 that when men and women will not worship God they naturally worship something else (Romans 1:25).  When the worship of God is absent men substitute the worship of something or someone He has created.  But the sad truth is that none of these counterfeits will ever fill the emptiness of the human soul that was made for God and can only find true satisfaction when people worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Today we celebrate our Independence as a nation.  The privilege of living in this country is a gift from God and we should be thankful for the freedom that we enjoy.  However, the greatest freedom is not political but spiritual and it was procured for us at a price far beyond the blood of mortal men.  Dan Phillips of the TeamPyro Blogspot, has an excellent article on this here.  We should all contemplate this day what real freedom means.

One of the most militant of the new atheists is Dr Richard Dawkins, former professor at Oxford University.  He is the author of numerous books that tout evolution and atheism and recently bought ads on London buses trying to promote his worldview.  He is militantly anti-Christian, indeed he is against all religions but seems to especially hate Christianity.  He is now involved in an attempt to persuade children against religion by enrolling them in a “Summer Camp for Atheists.”  Dr Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has written about this camp in an article you can find here.  This is interesting reading.