Street Preaching Must be Redefined by the Local Churches

The Superbowl, the U.S. Open, the World Series, the Daytona 500, Mardi Gras, Gasparilla, Movie Openings,  Spring Break events, 4th of July events, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, you name it; Seems all the street preachers are actually going to these sort of scheduled attractions, parades and festivals. To go out of our way with God’s money to go to a large group of sinners that have no interest in our Savior and are purposefully meeting for sinful reasons may fall under the category of laboring in vain. Don't cast me out yet. Here is my reasoning.

The Laodicean Church Age is agreed upon by most prominent scholars to have began in the late 1800’s or early part of the 1900’s.  This coincides with the first per-version of the word of God in the Revised Version 1881.  Soon after, you start seeing a strain of apostasy.  The shift no longer is consecrated devotion to the Lord, and edifying the church.  It starts to transform to “evangelistic”, Kingdom building, techniques that emphasizes reaching the masses, planned revivals, and inventing a whole new way of doing missions.

Righteousness is not accepted collectively as a nation as it was in the Philadelphian church age.  Holiness is no longer practiced in the government and education systems as it was in the “old days”.  This is the age of apostasy.  It’s a different age.  As much as I or others would love to live in the 1800’s,  or the 1920’2 or the glorious 1950’s, we can’t and we don’t. 

Many outreach minded pastors consider it a full tilt fight, no matter how the world changes, the old time ways continue.  These big events where we tract bomb and street rant, how can sinners decipher his drawing or calling among 50,000 people. 

We think because we live in America and have our rights (Laodicea) that this is our beloved, Puritan Christian nation of old.  It is not any longer.  America is a after thought to God at this point.  Politics, corruption, corporate greed, our school systems, abortions, vanity, materialism, debt, kids killing kids, love of money, crime, extortion, the poor, the fatherless, the degenerate, the proliferate, divorce rates, theft, atheism, sodomy, lawlessness, lasciviousness.  Who are we kidding.  We are another nation that turned on God, like Israel.

What if?

Recently a family member whom I respect and love deeply approached me with a barrage of questions as to why I believed a certain way.  They were informed I was way off the tracks by someone else. 

I can usually handle myself in situations like that but these were delicate matters, family was involved and I didn’t have all the answers.  I also didn’t want to have the appearance as someone who could thrash them with scriptures.  They just seemed so shocked and genuinely hurt with my change of core beliefs.  They even asked about my finances in regards to my giving during this discussion.

I pretty much summed it up by saying to him that after examining things for many years, I just can’t blindly give to men I don’t know, respect, align with or understand. I can’t just go, “Well, God just told me to give to the work so here you go”.  I’m against that mindset. It’s foolishness to me.  It lines up more with the OT philosophies of physical blessings because of offerings. We don’t give to receive any blessings! We give today selflessly, to recieve nothing in return. 

Now, months later, in retrospect, I guess I would say to them, “I just view the church drastically different than you.  I don’t buy in to the nonsense in it.” It's formulas and modern day programs, gimmicks and contemporary styles. It’s not about being disillusioned either!  It’s about waking up to the blatant reproaches! Many fail to acknowledge or examine the symptoms of these reproaches because of the work of the ministry. 

It is so much more than the giving principles and following commissions! How long can we listen to pragmatic teachings and traditions over and over and over? I see so much of “the machine” in our doings, in all of it now that I fear that the best of the independent local churches are now average traditionalist churches, whether they realize it or not!  Just an observation.  Just an onlooker.

Independent but not Individual

Christians, there is such a thing as individualism.  With individualism comes preference, convictions, and standards.  They are all different things in and of themselves.  Some men may be convicted about drinking to much coffee, and for them, they feel God would have them to stop.  It does not make it wrong for all men to drink it.  Thank God for that cause I love it.

Some men prefer reading, some prefer watching.  Some write, some speak. Some prefer coaching some prefer playing.  Some men teach, others preach.  Some like sugar some like cream.  Some like salt some like pepper.  Concerning the body of Christ, there is much more underlined stuff there.  It has to do with gifts and how they can be used.  It may have to do with culture and where some were raised.  

You have to wonder what we are doing to our own body when we so hastily cast the heretics, and people struggling out. Especially when we consider that we should be the very ones restoring, admonishing, and encouraging them.  We should be the ones with patience.  Even with the dirty and simple minded.  In the NT, the body of Christ can have church and order exactly how they see it laid out in the word itself.  And it is not like we see in the modern vision.

Most of my past doubt in affairs, angst and frustrations of the church stem from actions of men, not God. I never fully believed certain traditions of men in the Baptist ranks, though I may have preached them for righteous indignation, peer pressure, amens and support or to fit in, I still wondered about our attitudes and thoughts for others not like us.  

I wonder about the crazy guy that was invited by a zealous member.  Most are afraid of those types, I love them.  I wonder about the scantily clad young girl.  Most men are afraid to even approach her for fear of what the brethren or their wife might say, but that is the one that I want to reach.  She doesn’t know any better, she is just worldly.  They shouldn’t shock us or scare us. 

The Wild Bunch ~ A Testimony of a Baptist with Independent Tendencies

Personally, for me, it was in fact a Independent Baptist man that led me to God and the saving power of his Son Jesus Christ. It was a Independent Baptist that showed me a clear presentation. It was the Independent Baptist that showed me the gospel to where I clearly understood it and grasped it’s significance.  The Independent Baptist taught me and showed me the truth and infallibility of the King James Bible.  

On a practical note, an Independent Baptist preacher taught me the invaluable definitions of balance.  An Independent Baptist showed me the importance of individual liberty.  I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for all the Independents Baptist in the sense of the truth and certain positions they have maintained for decades. The wars they have fought and the battles they have won, yeah, I can claim their name to certain extents, knowing their true history.  And I am proud for it.  

I remember being introduced to the first “real” Christian men I ever met.  They were men in a small Independent Baptist Church, 50-70 strong.  An eager bunch to say the least.  All sermons where edifying, instructive and admonishing.  The teaching was verse by verse. About 7 guys in all were all allowed opportunities to preach from time to time, very rare among pastors today to be so selfless with their pulpit.  The song leader was a charismatic man that loved the old time hymns, thank God I was exposed to true song and worship at infancy in salvation so I did not carried up in praise music and charasmania. 

The Independent Baptist were also the first REAL Christians I think I ever met outside of my own family.  It was the first evidence of real Christianity that I ever saw in my entire life.  I was 16 at the time.  I had also grown up my entire life in the Bible belt town of Columbia, SC.  Pastors would kick me, the skateboarder off the steps of their church, but never tried to build dialogue or relay the gospel to me.

These men loved God sincerely and genuinely, those dear people, they loved that old book.  They loved preaching and many of those men to this day still do.  They loved singing and fellow-shipping.  I mean, clean stuff.  Hymns, no mumbo jumbo, just classic old songs from the 17 and 18th century. Get togethers and such, BBQs, just hanging out with like minded decent people. Laughter, love, joy, peace, times of my life I wanted never to end. 

A Convoluted Commission

The fact remains is that men have long made it a practice to use the word, and I cannot stress enough how serious I mean to say, “use the word of God” for private agendas and to further their private kingdoms.  For the common good or whatever lies they have to tell themselves these days, many just continue on, examining others, never examining themselves.  Men will privately interpret passages for private reasons.  It is a common practice displayed among decent and devious men  alike and has been in the works since the time of Christ. 

Missionaries and preachers have long claimed unfounded and loose interpretive callings for ministerial nonsense and money grabbing shakedowns by way of using the Great Commission. They have long found, as the definition of commission states, their doings, performing, perpetuating, sending, act of entrusting, duty; and it is now their proper authority and warrant for exercising certain powers, administrations, and duties in the Great Commission passages.  

These passages in the gospels have been used for centuries to solicit services and funds from among Christian bodies.  Sure their is gain, but no one ever discusses the other spectrums of disorder. To use these passages to solicit service, or even funds and offerings is unscriptural and dangerously close to adding to his word.  

In many cases now, I can only see it as defraudation or using guile and gimmicks to obtain an desired affect.  By applying a teaching or doctrine to these scriptures, then saying they are directly for the body of Christ is adding to the doctrinal position of the passage.  To do so, one must ignore the scriptural integrity of Gods book.  There is a very specific reason for men to deny that there is any disorder.

You will see variations of this in every evangelistic, Baptist church you can find. It is the big idea that is fully entrenched in well fortified Baptist traditions and preserved by some mafia like omerta! It is why there is never a real discussion or theological sit down over it.  Men will look at you like a two headed dragon just for suggesting this may be an off base position. They act this way because the great commission is the prominent “big idea” that many Fundamentalist, and Evangelical, Bible Believing Christians have in their minds for the reasons for doing much of what they do.  Who would ever dare question it right?

Repent or Die!

Before I get started on this hot button issue among Baptist preachers, teachers and theologians, let me say 2 things to establish somethings.  One, as respectfully as I can say it, I don’t care what C.H. Spurgeon or any other Church fore father said on this issue about repentance being essential or necessary for salvation. He ain’t the Pope man! 

I don’t know him.  He is not my friend, nor any other dead men from his era.  I have no loyalty to him, so I don’t hang my hat on what he or any other man say.  He is not my church father on this issue of repentance and neither are you pastors out there preaching it to strongly! You men can take the great Baptist positional quotes you use to bolster your positions all you want.  The matter is, “What saith the Lord?” We will look closely at it.

Secondly, No man living today should be acting or mimicking any way shape or form actions or even messages of Ezekiel, John the Baptist, or in some cases, Jesus Christ himself.  Yes, even Jesus.  Some of you don’t believe that. No man alive today standing behind any pulpit or on a street corner should be preaching like the prophets or focusing on certain things that the prophets focused on. 

This repentance theology, that has creeped in, is also bordering on the edge of a heresy, called “sinless perfection”.  Say a man repents of all their sins believing in the Lord as a preacher would tell them and as many preach but then what happens when they return to their sins?  

Now some would say here, “Oh, you know what we mean, and we don’t really believe that they need to repent of ALL their sins…”.  Then cut it out and quit saying it.  Quit preaching it so incessantly. If you have to defend your position constantly, it may not be attacks from the brethren, it may be God trying to show you something.  This repentance position is weak.

Quit trying to fool yourself and your people into thinking you have some mystical, mythical higher calling then them to tell the world and the people around you to repent of all their transgressions and abominations.  

Judging a Unrighteous Judgment

You may have seen some street preaching men with signs that say;

REPENT, Fornicators, Homosexuals, Liars, Thieves, Masturbators, Obama Voters, Buddhist, Dirty Dancers, Hindus, Gangster Rappers, Muslims, Drunkards, Feminists, Immodest Women, Democrats, Liberals, Evolutionists, Atheist, Potheads, Sodomites,

HELL AWAITS YOU!

I think they about covered everyone! Needless to say, it is evident our public ministries are not bringing in the public! Now, in regards to the above sign, Hell only awaits those who have rejected Jesus Christ and his blood atonement!  

People read these few “lists” in the Bible of groups of people that aren’t allowed in the Kingdom of Heaven without realizing that NO sin will pass over that eternal veil.  It’s why we must be born again.  That’s what this and other passages are simply saying.  Heaven is a Holy place with a Holy God.  Sin will not enter in because we will have glorified bodies, like Christ, when we reside in glory.  Dolts!

The "Old Paths" for New Testament Christians?

"Ask for the old paths!"  Stop it already!!!  I realize I'm stepping on toes here, but I have thought about this for years.  Let me come right out of the gate and just say, the "old paths", whatever they are, whatever you may define them to be, whatever men in history  you may associate with it, they are not for us.  Why do men yell about the old paths so much? Men talk of the old paths, the same way men harp on the old time religion, and the ol' timers.  Some talk about how it used to be 100 years ago, as if they have some real inkling other then grand stories and romanticized nonsense.  Some focus the idea more on scriptural implications.  This ideology is so big in the Fundamentalist, hardcore, militant Independent Baptist ranks today. The glorious Old paths!  Old paths ministries, Old Paths Baptist church,  "We walk the old paths here!"  What does it all mean?

Jeremiah 6:16 says Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [therein].  This is the only time it shows up in the Bible.  It's amazing how men will focus so much on what God focused so little on isn't it. "We should ask for the old paths... " is inevitably followed by what the preacher says he thinks the "old paths" are!  And it usually has the ring of all the things the preacher stands for.  And if it is a pastoral authority control freak preacher, you already have a monster on your hands.

I used to prescribe to this notion myself when i was a Fundamentalist successionist.  The old paths!  It was a neat idea.  Many preachers love that Jeremiah 6:16 is in the Bible.  It is a good springboard for rabbit trails and hobby horses.  People?  Why are we messing around in law and prophets so much?  Why are we wanting to allude to some mystical old paths, some mystical realm that only exist in the preachers minds.  Whether you preachers keep trying to get your young preacher boys to be like Hudson Taylor, George Whitfield, Sam Jones, or Lester Roloff, or you are using the prophets as good examples of public ministry, you guys need to understand what age you are in TODAY!  You are using his word too loosely.  You are no longer teaching our young men to be individuals with a book.  But you  are pushing them to follow traditions of men, claim the same callings of men, follow the same commissions of men and to practice preaching styles that are not fitted for NT men.

A New Priesthood ~ Part 2 - Vital

A Treatise Against the New Priesthood

~A kick against the fundamentalist pricks~

Every time you tell me about God doing some great work and a soul getting saved, I will tell you about the 10 families I know being displaced because of Popish pastors!  Every time you tell me about the rare soul saved on the street, I will point out to you the hundreds and thousands of seeds ripped out of good ground, for the sake of “our call to preach!” 

Every time you point out the exceptional bus conversion or VBS conversion, I will point out the hundreds of young people who are being manipulated for numbers to report, and confused from the many different presentations they get from all the varied, but yet zealous workers.  

Every time you tell me some grand missionary story or missions endeavor, I will bring up the flip side of missions, the controlling mission boards, the gambit of deputation, the separation, the division, the business side of the missions minded men, the white families living like kings with attack dogs, razor wire fences, and servants among poor natives.  I will tell you about the loss of innocence and youth of children who grow up on a mission field, the destroying of families, the ripping apart of families, the church splitting, the Westernization of other cultures, and the monetary-hedge-fund-like corruption done by those who say they are “the called” on a foreign field.  Every time you read some good prayer letter, I well tell you about hundreds of defrauders and con-men that write good prayer letters too.

Every time you tell me about the one wonderful, teacher and pastor, I will tell you about the 100 others who are pastoral authority, rage ruling lunatics.  Who control with fear, manipulation, resentment, and anger trying to pass it off as righteous indignation. Every time you cry to me about being faithful to the man off God and not forsaking the assembling, I will point out to you the thousands of good Christians who read the book, talk with the Lord, have a relationship with God, and are imprisoned in their churches in traditions, under a popish Baptist pastor!  What are they to do, be faithful to error, get out of church, start their own?  What?  You tell me oh great knowing pastors out there.  You have the answers for everything!

Every time you tell me about the 10 street preachers that do it right, I will tell you about the army of ministries that now exist solely to confront, do battle, scream, rail, yell and tell people to quit their sodomy, drinking, dancing, fornicating, adultery, idolatry, completely devoid of any gospel presentation, of his death, his burial, his resurrection, his grace and his blood.  Horribly and incomprehensibly damaging the message we are supposed the be preaching for any hearers within the sound of our voices.

"Prognosis Negative!"

I have often thought, as I add my occasional write ups or rants, to my forum of choice, "I am to negative!"  I'm sure many preachers struggle with this thought in preparing thoughts and sermons. I have positive studies, and sermons!  I have messages about heaven, charity, the apostles, Old Testament saints, and joy and peace.  I love preaching, teaching, studying, writing and dwelling on Jesus Christ, the gospel of the grace of God, the wonderful stories in the Bible, however, I have chosen to put different things on this blog.

I have been accused of "adding to the problem" with my writings, and some have even suggested that I am in heresy, and have grown contentious and dividing! What I have found in seeing this behavior displayed a multitude of times, from many walks of believers in fundamental ranks, of the baptist persuasion, is this pattern of deflecting or misdirecting. It is just there way of hiding or running from what they are hearing.  They are SO knowledgable many of them, but as the young rich ruler, "yet lackest thou one thing".  These topics, or "things" that people like myself bring up, some of it is shocking, I know!  Some things I have said to people, they look at me like I am a devil, or led by one! It breaks my heart.  I wish they knew!  I wish they knew the real me. The talk about my negative words, while ignoring their negative results.

Sometimes, even to my self, I sound like a broken record! I don't want to come off as if I am justifying my positions to strongly, but because of what I know of the internet, and the millions of "Christian" blogs (a vague title today) available on the world wide web, why bother with the basics and the milk? We are over saturated with milk sup messages!  Why re-hash the traditional? Why keep defending the same positions, while never dealing with our great many contradictions within the body of Christ.  They are many.  Not just throughout the entire body, but more specifically, the Independent Baptist, of which I was first introduce to some element of biblical truth for the first time!  Thank God for them!

Call a Spade a Spade!

“We are an independent, fundamental, Bible believing Baptist church!”  You may have seen an advertisement like that for a church on a tract, a website, or the phone book.  All the lingo and talk is used: pre-millennial, missions-minded, sin-hating, King James Bible-preaching church.  It has all the persuasion and influence that all religions use.  It’s why we are so aggressive in getting people to come.  We believe we have it, hook, line, and sinker.  We follow the fundamentals of the faith, we preach the truth.  We are not as they, we do things right.  We have order, our statements of faith and the beloved fundamentals.  Which I guess that is all fine.  Other denominations can make erroneous claims, why not the IFB?

I just want you to understand, my mindset and my view is not about starting a revolution, making everyone see my point of view, or to get all the churches to change their format and so on.  I just want others to be aware of the fact that we are no different from the other vain religions who have a great many things wrong at their core.  

It’s just being honest.  Wake up! We are not some special class of Christian that God has called in these last days to stand in the gap and show everyone else their faults and traditions.  In fact, we have many similarities to the religious that we preach against.

Who Watches the Watchmen? ~ an essay

For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth. Isaiah 21:6

“Let him declare what he seeth…”

In the comic book genre, there is a group of anti-hero, super heroes.  In other words, they fought injustices and crime, but had gross moral corruption in some cases they themselves.  This group was called the Watchmen.  They were considered to be extremist vigilantes.  There enemies, the masses and criminal minds, would graffiti a slogan. “Who watches the Watchmen” for police sympathy.

Today, our ranks are very similar.  We expect our super heroes to be full of integrity and honesty.  We assume what they give us is exactly what we need.  We assume our pastors will give us the whole truth, no matter the outcome.  But this has proven not to be so today.  

This cannot be over stated, we cannot simply trust the man of God today.  I could care less how long you have known them or all they have done for God.  I remember telling a Christian once that a pastor lied.  The immediate response to that was, “He could not!”  That was alarming.  This Christian did not respond, “He would not!”, it was “He COULD not!”

I will take this moment to put us all on the same playing field.  Though there may be positions of leadership, there is no preeminence in the body!  There is no pastor that does not sin!  There is no missionary that cannot sin!  There is not one evangelist that is sinless.  There is no pastor who is above reproach or even needful correction.  The same flesh that tempts the wicked pew warmer is the same flesh that tempts the pious preachers. 

“You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake.  You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else"

My Long Overdue Response to the Street Preachers

Let me say that this is less about what street preaching was and more about what it has now become.  Preachers,  like any other group of Christian people, you can have those that are true and honest in their heart.  Then you have those that are deceived or willingly rejecting truth. The men we have been discussing usually hold to some twisted form of theology over emphasizing the repentance aspect and the reforming of the world and all of it’s wicked sinners through in your face, shock and awe style street preaching.    

They truly view themselves as prophets!  Street preaching prophets of doom and gloom, mixed with a little angry Jesus and Paul.  It’s deplorable, and ungodly if you ask me and makes a mockery of what believers are!

If their final authority for public ministry in the 21st century is Methodist from the 1700’s and 1800’s, the minor or major  prophets, or even the Lord Jesus Christ, their actions are full of half-truths and heresy.  They use these same passages to enforce borderline legalism  in their churches, while preaching against this said legalism.  They will protect themselves with this and would say now that the fact that I mention legalism, is only brought about by my conviction through witnessing their holy walk of life.  

These men have an answer for everything that deflects the questions off of them and onto others.  They attempt to bring everyone into their “yoke” of living, and they have the King James to back everything up.