Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

12 June, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Evangelism   When Churches Sacrifice Morality For Evangelism Imagine this scenario: The year is 2050, the place is Germany, and due to changing cultural conditions, Adolf Hitler is once again viewed as a hero. Succumbing to the pressure of the people, the German government has abolished a century-old law forbidding the distribution of his book Mein Kampf. It's bad news for that country, but the one bright spot seems to be that the German church is sincerely motivated to reach the lost. Having learned valuable evangelistic lessons from the American megachurches decades earlier, they endeavor to exploit this new "Hitler mania" and use it to enhance evangelism. It's an aggressive soul winning strategy; what can be learned from it? To make this work, German evangelists develop a set of tracts, literature, and even a study bible containing margin notes from Mein Kampf; it's a smashing success and it seems to be causing widespread interest in the things of God. But what about the fact that Hitler was responsible for the murder of millions? Doesn't that bother the conscience of these evangelists and cause them to think twice? The thought does cross their mind, but is quickly cast aside in favor of the evangelistic benefits of capitalizing on the popularity of this great cultural icon. After all, God wants us to become "all things to all men" in order to win the lost, right? Besides, they are omitting the parts of Mein Kampf that conflict with anything biblical, and are using only the parts that seem somewhat wholesome. Sound ridiculous? It is! What discerning Christian would ever present a morally corrupt celebrity in a positive light, in order to springboard off of the celebrity's popularity, with the intention of enhancing evangelism? Although the Hitler example is an absurd exaggeration, you might be surprised to find out that this category of error happens all of the time in today's seeker-driven churches. What follows is just one example: A few weeks ago I tuned-in the Sunday video feed from Granger Community Church. They were starting a new sermon series "Finding God in Your iPod", which promised to analyze spiritual yearnings in songs from various secular rock groups. The promo page on their church website said "Join us for the next five weeks as we listen to the heart and consider the truths of today's hottest music...". They even promised to give away free iPods in church. In the service that I watched, Pastor Rob Wegner employed an interesting method for determining who should win the iPod for that service. He pulled out an ominous looking cannon, and upon showing it to the audience, he cracked a joke saying "we used to use this every Sunday in my church to launch out the sacrament, just kidding, just kidding". He then proceeded to launch some bundled t-shirts into the audience with the air cannon. One of the t-shirts was marked with "you won the iPod". Rob Wegner's sermon then began with an opening act from the church's band and soloist. They played a popular song by the secular rock group named Nickleback. Pastor Rob strongly endorsed this group, citing all of their accomplishments (number of concert tickets sold, etc). He mentioned that he has a soft spot for Nickleback, because he's a "former 80's metal-head", and said that he (himself) likes to 'rock'. Rob Wegner pointed-out how the lyrics to this Nickleback song sounded "hauntingly familiar" to him, until it finally clicked that "there's this other rocker . . . David something" and his lyrics are so much like this song from Nickleback. This other "rocker" was King David, and I listened as Rob Wegner began making direct wording comparisons between Nickleback's lyrics and holy scripture. Here are a couple of the examples that he used: Nickleback Lyrics Psalm Comparison Prison gates won't open up for me. On these hands and knees I'm crawlin'. Oh, I reach for you. Well I'm terrified of these four walls. These iron bars can't hold my soul in. Hear my cry, for I am very low. Rescue me...Bring me out of prison so I can thank you. The godly will crowd around me, for you treat me kindly. Psalm 142:6-7 Heaven's gates won't open up for me. With these broken wings I'm fallin'. And all I see is you. These city walls ain't got no love for me. I'm on the ledge of the eighteenth story To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit. Psalm 28:1 Read The Full Lyrics From This Song Read More Granger Psalm Comparisons (PDF) Those comparisons (and several more) were listed in the notes that the audience was given at the start of the church service, and what's interesting is how Granger's notes described the Nickleback song (called "Savin' Me"): "Savin' Me addresses a man in prison who wants to be saved ... I really like to tell a story that comes off like a movie inside the listener's head", Kroeger says. (Nickleback Website) Did you catch those three red dots above? Had Granger kept going with the sentence from Nickleback's website, their church audience would have seen this: "Savin' Me addresses a man in prison who wants to be saved and a fallen angel who must return to earth to be forgiven for his sins." But this "fallen angel forgiveness" theology, would not have gone over well with any kind of biblical comparisons. Further biblical incompatibilities, can be found all throughout the lyrics of numerous other Nickleback songs. As you read these examples, remember that Granger's pastor stood in front of their church of thousands, and gave his endorsement to this secular rock group. And an endorsement by one of your pastors is as good as saying "go buy their music, it's ok, nothing seriously wrong with it": From "Feelin' Way Too Damn Good" For 48 hours I don't think that we left my hotel room... We gotta **** **** just one last time in the shower. Well something's gotta go wrong. Coz I'm feelin way too damn good From "Rockstar" Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars And live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap We'll all stay skinny 'cause we just won't eat And we'll hang out in the coolest bars... Every Playboy bunny With her bleach blond hair... Hire eight body guards that love to beat up ***holes... I think I'm gonna dress my *** with the latest fashion Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion Gonna date a centerfold that loves to blow my money for me I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame... From "Next Contestant" I judge by what she's wearing Just how many heads I'm tearing Off of ***holes coming on to her... So I don't have to fight off Every ***hole coming on to her... They think they'll get inside her With every drink they buy her As they all try coming on to her This time somebody's getting hurt... Is that your hand on my girlfriend? Is that your hand?... Each time she bats an eyelash Somebody's grabbing her *** Another song called "Animals" is described by Nickleback as being about "a nice girl and a bad boy who get caught in the act by the girl's dad". I think by now you see where I was going with my opening scenario about the imaginary church that used the popularity of the mass-murderer Adolf Hitler as a springboard for evangelism. It was an exaggeration that I think makes this point crystal clear. Churches like Granger have shown themselves as willing to make peace with the worldly things of the culture, in order to use them as evangelism bait. They've proven themselves willing to use those cultural icons, even if those things are morally bankrupt and not worthy of our attention (much less our endorsement). In doing so, they have conformed to the world, as scripture warns against (Romans 12:2, 1 John 2:15, James 4:4, Colossians 2:8), and demonstrate a lack of trust in the Holy Spirit to make the Gospel appealing to those whom He calls. The Great Commission was never meant to be "evangelism at any cost". As Tom Ascol recently wrote on his blog, when Paul said that he was willing to become "all things to all men", the idea wasn't that we should be willing to become a prostitute in order to witness to prostitutes, or to become a murderer in order to reach murderers. Evangelism must stay within God's moral boundaries, and must always be a means to an end; and that 'end' must always be the Glory of God. Today's worldly churches so often elevate soul winning itself to be the end goal, even as Horatius Bonar warned against over a century ago. When that occurs, purity, holiness, and obedience to God's moral standards take a distant back seat to "whatever works" in evangelism. Related Information and Resources: Spurgeon on the results of making alliances with the world How do today's worldly pastors compare to the pastors of old Our evangelistic credibility should be based on godly living Worldliness is the first sign of the church's backslide Do today's pastors teach their flocks to flirt with the world? Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.299   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism