“Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” …Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
In this ridiculous and desperate attention-getting stunt, "pastor" A. R. Vernon tries to be clever and funny, but he ends up being offensive and counter-productive...
“Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
“If anyone considers himself religious and does yet not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. ”
Ken Copeland and Jesse Duplantis, on the December 29th, 2015 broadcast of the Believers Voice of Victory claimed that God gave them their private jets because you can't talk to God in commercial airliners. In other words, they claim that they have important conversations with God which would otherwise be impossible if they were flying coach.
Think we're just making that up? Think again. Watch the video below.
HT: Pulpit and Pen
The book of 2nd Timothy is a Pastoral Epistle. That means it written to help define and elaborate on the qualifications and duties of the Pastoral Office. In that epistle The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul makes it painstakingly clear that a pastor must rightly handle the word of truth (scripture):
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
This same qualification is reiterated in the Book of Titus, another Pastoral Epistle:
“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9)
Not only are pastors required by God to rightly handle God's Word, God also commands pastors to preach the word regardless of whether it is popular for him to do so:
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (2 Timothy 4:1–4)
Recently, Bill Hybels, the Vision-Casting Leader of Willow Creek recently proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he does not meet the Biblical qualifications for being a pastor. Here's what Hybels said:
Why any senior pastor would keep fired-up women from full service in the church is just beyond me. - Bill Hybels pic.twitter.com/psnRmFqf5O
— Willow Creek (@wcagls) December 28, 2015Someone needs to send Bill Hybels a Bible because he obviously has never read it (which not only explains why this idea is "beyond him" it also proves he's not even qualified to be a pastor). If Hybels had actually studied God's Word he'd know that it says:
“As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” (1 Corinthians 14:33–35)
“Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” (1 Timothy 2:11–14)
And now for something truly frightening…
Note: this is the most epic #HoverboardFAIL that we've seen yet.
Warning: You cannot un-see this video once you've seen it.
We've gone back and checked what Cindy Jacobs claimed God was revealing for 2015 and now we're really confused. As it turns out, back in 2015 Jacobs claimed that God told her that 2015 was the year of the Turn Around. But now she is claiming that God is saying that 2016 is the year Tide is Turning .
But if God turned everything around in 2015 and then is going to turn the tide in 2016 doesn't that mean that 2016 is the the year God is going to smite you and take everything away from you?
Apparently New Year's "prophecies" now come in One-Size-Fits-All. So-called prophetess Cindy Jacobs recently announced that 2016 will be the Year the Tide Turns. She assures every single person watching her video that 2016 will be the year the tide turns in their favor.
So, quick get everyone you know to watch this video so that 2016 will be the year the tide turns!
If you believe that then we have bridge we'd like to sell you in Brooklyn.
Which of these church productions is the most massively spectacular? The most magnificent, colossal and gargantuan? The most unbelievably extreme, bodacious and over-the-top??
But more importantly, do these über expensive spectacles help the church fulfill the Great Commission or are they signs of the decadence and corruption of Evangelicalism?
Here's a heartwarming Christmas story: At John Hagee's Mega-Church they expect members to tithe regularly; however, they realize that some people are poor, unemployed or just "down on their luck," so the non-tithers are required to go listen to Pastor Hagee sing and play the saxophone at Christmas and pretend they enjoyed it. This will compensate for their inability to tithe for one year...
Closing thoughts: it's obvious there are a lot of talented, hard-working volunteers putting in a tremendous effort in these productions; they are to be commended for that. But, in the desire to get people to show up and then "make a decision" for Jesus, these productions take so much time and energy from a church body it seems possible that very little time is left for actual Bible study and discipleship. Just something to think about.
It's not even Christmas yet and some of the so-called "prophets", like Lana Vawswer, are already claiming to receive prophetic revelations for the the coming year.
In what could only be described as prophetic diarrhea, Lana has published what she mistakenly believes are words from the Lord for 2016. Below is just a sample:
As I have pressed into the heart of the Lord for the next year, 2016, I felt He showed me one of the themes He wanted to focus on this year.
I kept hearing the words over and over "The year of the slipstream".
SLIPSTREAM: "the airstream generating reduced air pressure and forward suction directly behind a rapidly moving vehicle." (www.dictionary.com)
INVITATION INTO THE SLIPSTREAM
2015 has been a year of intense pressure, intense stretching, intense opposition and contending. I believe in 2016 there is an invitation into a divine 'slipstream'. The wind of the Spirit moving in great acceleration but the Lord calling us to a 'positioning' of greater rest. It seems completely opposite and 'illogical' in the natural, but many things the Lord is going to ask His people to do or not do in 2016 will be a great surprise, but MORE is going to come out of divine rest in whatever form that looks like for you (physical, emotional/mental healing, release of striving, settled heart in His nature and ways etc) in 2016.
I felt the Lord say that 2016 would be a year THE GREATEST demonstration of DIVINE REST of heart, mind, soul and body for many, but also THE GREATEST demonstration of ACCELERATION that they have ever seen.
A place of shaking off the shackles of driving and seeing Him break off and bring deeper healing to any parts of the soul that would cause a 'pushing forward'.
For the rest of Lana's incoherent "prophetic" ramblings for 2016 Click Here
“that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6)
This is an article from NPR about churches that are serving beer to attract people to church. This topic is similar to the previous Museum of Idolatry post, (the "tattoo church"): sometimes it looks pretty desperate when churches try so hard to be "relevant."
Photo credit: Corey Grunewald Facebook.com/coreygrunewaldphotography
This is not a post against the responsible consumption of alcohol; we have the freedom in Christ to drink (but not to engage in drunkenness). This is about the worship service becoming much, much less than a worship service. When a church adds beer (or anything else) to attract new people, it's really hard for the central focus of our faith to remain so. But there are some notable efforts being made to use the craft-brew phenomena as a way to start a dialogue with non-believers. For example, here's a very interesting group called "The Bible and Beer Consortium" that holds meetings apart from the worship service to discuss the Christian faith. Here's another group called "What Would Jesus Brew?" And here's a good, short article addressing these "beer/church" issues and the NPR article; and here's one more.
There's a difference between a gathering to exchange ideas, listen to speakers and socialize, and an actual worship service. When churches remove all of the sacred elements from the worship service in the name of attracting new people, they end up hurting the very people they are called to serve.
Ultimately, it isn't a good idea to depend on beer (or any other worldly, cultural thing) to bring people closer to God-we've been given Word and Sacrament by God Himself. Praise be to God!
“Therefore, putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, as you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ”
Because nobody can listen to a regular sermon anymore...
So, let's think about this for a minute:
The God who created the entire universe from nothing, who was born to a virgin, lived an amazing life full of miracles, teachings and healings, then willingly gave His life on the cross to pay for the sins of all the world, then rose victoriously from the dead... all of that is not good enough to get people's attention?
But if someone get's a tattoo onstage during the sermon-that's gonna make the Gospel message a lot better? If only we would have known this before!
“I didn’t want to repent of my sins, but now that some lady got a tattoo during a sermon, I believe. Plus, it’s easier to pay attention to a sermon while being completely distracted. ”
— Said Nobody Ever
Closing thoughts: If pastors continue this downward spiral, where will it end up? If we say that "people are different nowadays" and "we need a gimmick to get people to church these days" aren't we just setting ourselves up for even more ridiculous and embarrassing stunts? And if a person comes to church only because they were attracted to the spectacle that made it "new" and "relevant," what kind of person are we attracting, and why are they really showing up?
The following video is wrong on so many levels.
Aesthetically, it's just weird, confusing and embarrassing.
Hillsong Music Director: "Hey everybody, I've got a great idea! Let's take the beloved and peaceful Christmas hymn 'Silent Night' and turn it into a loud, obnoxious, roaring twenties style, Las Vegas big-band production! You know, kinda like Christmas in a whorehouse! What'ya think?!"
Everybody Who Should Know Better at Hillsong: (silence)
But beyond the ridiculous nature of this one particular song/video there's the more serious problem that this "thing" claims to be the church...
Hillsong leads the way when it comes to "churches" featuring worldly, gigantic and expensive spectacles to attract a large audience. They are laughing all the way to the bank, too, as this global empire continues to gobble up followers around the world.
“Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world.”
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what it the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ”
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
Closing thoughts: For those of you who say "but this was a performance at a special concert event-this wasn't an actual worship service; you need to see this in it's proper context..." Here's a question; why would a "church" have an event/concert with moral guidelines that are different from the moral guidelines that govern a worship service? Why be "a little more like the world" to attract people to a spectacle (like this video) and then "re-adjust" things for a Sunday morning service? If this video is supposed to be sleazy on purpose to somehow try and teach a lesson, Hillsong doesn't mention it anywhere-and this is from their own YouTube channel. It seems that this is just a very obnoxious version of Silent Night to grab the attention of the crowd. Note: A few hours after we posted this video, it was "made private" by Hillsong; the video on this page now is a copy we put on Vimeo.
For more information, here's a link to Church Watch Central's Hillsong page.
As of January 14th, 2016, here is an important Follow Up Article!
Here's the "Han Solo" pastor attempting to defend his church's publicity stunt/Star Wars obsession with obviously pre-planned, "sound-bite" style answers (and a winning smile!):
This video came from an web page dedicated to getting publicity-it's an online "press kit." Seriously. Here's the "publicity stunt" web page:
In this online press kit the pastor, Tim Lucas, says, "We believe we have the greatest story in the world, but the challenge is reaching people with that story. There are no rules that say church has to be dry and boring."
So, the story of God coming to earth as a baby so that He can eventually die on the cross for our sins isn't enough. That would be dry and boring. But if we talk all about Star Wars and dress in costumes and replace Biblical characters with Star Wars characters that's so much better. The church's press kit says: "Rather than focus on the birth of Jesus on earth, Lucas will share the story from heaven's perspective, which includes a rogue emperor, evil rebellion, miraculous birth, and a cosmic war behind the stars. The idea stems from Lucas' own passion for Star Wars." Yep. This pastor is really passionate about Star Wars.
Is this guy familiar with the term "idolatry?" Or at least "bizarre fascination with nostalgic childhood movie memories that cloud one's ability to fully embrace reality and rightly handle God's Word?"
This pastor (who dressed up as Han Solo to preach on Sunday morning) has jumped whatever remains of the shark. Welcome to Christmas in the land of Evangelical Embarrassment. After church you can get your picture taken with the Storm Trooper "Magi:"
Here's some more examples of "Star Wars at Church" from various places...
In the following episode of Fighting for the Faith, Chris Rosebrough does a partial analysis of a sermon from the "Han Solo" pastor-the sermon review starts at 00:11:46 into the show:
Here's some more over-the-top, supernatural, "Signs and Wonders" videos; notice the similarities between them. This is the "Theology of Glory" taken to an extreme. While it's true we should represent Jesus in our behavior as best as we can, we are not supposed to be Jesus (duh!), or fool ourselves into thinking that the whole unsaved world is just waiting for us to show up and "manifest the glory of God."
Which one do you think "wins" the battle of videos? See the Curator's opinion below...
The winner: Todd White's video kicks sand in the face of all the other supernatural hype videos; watch at 1:15 when every cinematic trick in the book is utilized to emotionally manipulate the viewer and propagate the Dream Destiny Thingy:
“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
Jesus did not come to die on the cross for our sins, apparently-He came to "activate us into the supernatural realm of signs and wonders" or something like that. One thing for sure: He would have needed a huge ego and a huge video budget to compete with this guy-Guillermo Maldonado. These larger-than-life, hyped-up promotional videos are becoming commonplace, and they succinctly present another Gospel altogether. "Get ready to receive your miracle today, and allow God to use you to demonstrate His power here and now! This is a reality you can experience in your life today. Join us as we see more of the supernatural now!" Yikes...
“For false christ’s and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”
Here's a happy, peppy and positive promo video for a woman's conference called "Love Your Life" at Lakewood Church. As a side note, try to not notice the world's skinniest skinny jeans being worn by Lisa Bevere in a stadium full of women struggling with body-fat/shame issues at 11 seconds into this...
Here's what the Bible says:
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple."
Acts 20:24 "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and ministry."
Revelation 12:11 "And they have conquered him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death."
Want to "learn how to get better at life by using what you presently have?!" Want some "inspired life coaching to create opportunities for your success?!!"
Here's the Success Seminar you missed from January 2015 (if you're real super lucky he'll have another one in January 2016!)...
“...and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”
“Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’”
When Chris Rosebrough first began blogging on the Museum of Idolatry (the actual web address was www.alittleleaven.com) in February of 2007, this is how he explained it-and it's true today more than ever:
What has become of the Christian Church in America?
Answer: Too much of it has decided to mimic the world. Too much of it has stopped preaching about man’s sin and need for a savior. After all, that message is boring, passe and irrelevant to unbelievers. These new seeker sensitive, purpose-driven, Willow Creek wannabes have discarded expository Biblical teaching and have replaced it with man-centered, self-help pep talks that are appealing to the world around them. This was foretold in God's word nearly 2000 years ago by the Apostle Paul.
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”
We are not called to partner with the world and pop culture. Instead we are called out of it and set apart from it.
“Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Think of this site as a Museum of Idolatry.
This site is a collection of the crazy and worldy things that occur when the church decides to satisfy itching ears rather than faithfully preach Christ Crucified.
This site is a collection of the worldy insanity that is being passed off as church today.
This site is not positive. This site is not politically correct and it is not seeker-sensitive.
“Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”
At times this site also makes fun of the idolatrous things that we're exposing. If that makes you uncomfortable, please consider the examples given to us in the Bible of Godly men making fun of those who follow after idols and false religion. The example set for us by Elijah on Mt. Carmel is one of our favorites.
“And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
We hope you find our collection eye-opening and we pray that it will spur you into action and cause you to consider what you can do to change things.
We believe that change begins with getting back to having the message of Christ Crucified for sinners as the center and substance of all of our preaching.
“And I, when I came to you, brothers,did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
As we're building and expanding the brand new Pirate Christian Media website (at the end of 2015), we will continue to document and expose the growing apostasy that's pervading the church. Perhaps it will help you see the dark and wicked things that were right in front of you all along.
If you are comfortable defending and promoting the latest version of the worldly "church," we passionately hope you'll return to God's Word and carefully consider all that He has to say about the true Church and reject the teachings of men.
May God be given the honor He is due (which is long overdue!),
Steven "The (New) Kurator" Kozar
This is so exaggerated and over-the-top, it's beyond embarrassing-it's a parody of itself. "Extreme worship, drama, an in-your-face word, and of course, the raw presence of God!!"
Because regular worship is not... extreme enough. And unless a word is in-your-face it's no good. And the normal presence of God is okay, but the raw presence of God is even better (actually, just the "normal" presence of God would kill you). The young people subjected to this kind of delusional Christianity are to be greatly pitied. Most sadly of all, this extremely hyper, overly-emotional approach burns people out-just as it did in the days of Charles Finney...
Here's a video of people jumping around, crying and then Pastor Salvo yelling a lot; and sounding more "inner-city-a" the longer he speaks-a:
Church by the Glades advertises: Don't be on the dark side and miss church tonight! See you at 6:00 as we continue our series, "Villains, Bad Guys and Minions." — at Church by the Glades. Wow. Someone was on the dark side. Who's the one choking out the Word of God?
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“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3)
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