CAN CHRISTIANITY SURVIVE THE ORGANIZED CHURCH?
by Dr. Ken Matto
Probably there is no more dangerous institution where Christianity has been relegated to than the visible church. In the modern church we have educated pastors who will not take a stand on any biblical issue while they are not reticent to take a stand on a political issue.
Are there biblical absolutes today? Of course there are, they are found in the Bible and not in the church. Why? The church has been sidetracked by many means and has become a very mendacious entity in reference to the dissemination of truth. Why are there no biblical absolutes in the church? Let us make a quick list of why biblical Christianity is almost extinct in the church.
When I mention church I am speaking about the holy hour of obligation which many Christians and pseudo-Christians attend every Sunday. First of all, the gathering of ourselves together does not apply to the unbeliever. They may visit but the gathering church is not for them since they are still unregenerate in nature.
The called out assembly or "ekklesia" does not contain the reprobate or else it is an unredeemed body. The church in Scripture is the called-out, redeemed body of believers who were purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us list why the truth is omitted or obfuscated in most churches today. Replacing biblical absolutes are: Psychology, sociology, guilt manipulation, praise songs (repetition ad nauseum), entertainment, drama, soloists, dead elders, dead pastors, over-educated pastors, ecumenical spirit, acceptance of any movement like Promise Keepers, The Emerging Church, or Purpose Driven Church, idolizing of famous preachers, modern bible versions with their attacks on Christ, salvation message neutralized to make it palatable to the unsaved big givers in the church, pastors and elders who belong to esoteric organizations like the Masons, acceptance of Roman Catholics as Christians, the unsaved Jews are God’s chosen people, the modern nation of Israel is preached from the pulpit as if we must genuflect before it for salvation, charismatic theology, signs, wonders and tongues accepted, women preachers, unqualified Sunday School teachers, etc. Do you get the point?
With all these horrific encumbrances to truth, is it any wonder why the once powerful church has become a feeble limb? The command to go forth and preach the true gospel has been supplanted by the mentality of easy believism which is widely promulgated by "Reverend Wonderful" type pastors who like to be nice guys instead of truth bearers.
Can Christianity survive the church? Yes in three ways: If the indolent Christians would dust off their Bible and use it to confront pastors and teachers and make them accountable; secondly, avoid Christian book stores since they are bastions of heresy while selling anything for a buck, most Christian book store owners don’t know truth from lies, just the profit motive. Christian Book Distributors in Peabody, Mass. sells both Roman Catholic books and books on Judaism which is a religion hostile to true Christianity. When a friend of mine confronted them, their excuse was they sell them for religious comparison. When I received their materials and saw the Roman Catholic materials threaded throughout the pages of their catalog WITHOUT a warning to the Christian, then I knew instantly it was the profit motive and they couldn't care less about "Comparative Religion." They are just another Religious Babel Book Store and should not be supported. They have become traitors in our midst and are profiting from their treason and Christian stupor; thirdly, avoid the so-called Christian radio stations which have a line up of ungodly and biblically foreign programs just for ratings and income. (2 Pet 2:1 KJV) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
Can we stem the tide of ever increasing heresy coming into the church? I believe it is too late to save the organized church from Satan’s deceptions because too many seminary trained pastors and leaders are spiritual dolts and can no longer discern anymore, since the Bible is no longer their standard. So what are the new standards in Christianity? Let’s name some: James Dobson; Minirth-Meier, Radio Babel Class with Haddon Robinson who admires people that choose to go to hell; Billy Graham who states he believes the same as Orthodox Roman Catholicism; Tony Campolo and his wife Peggy who advocates homosexuality; Steve Brown who prays for the Pastors and the Priests, and so on.
What is the answer then? Do we just stop going to church? What about the command to not forsake our assembling together? The modern church as we have it today is a Roman Catholic paradigm. If you read the New Testament paradigm of the church, you will not find the method of 100 people listening to the same one week after week. If this is the way God meant it to be, why did He give spiritual gifts to all believers?
The movie theater method of worship is not biblical at all. It glorifies one man as pastor and sets him up as "THE authority" in the church while all other believers are assigned the moniker of unqualified. On a personal note, it is interesting that all the clear biblical thinkers I know have never stepped inside a seminary. Those who have gone are the very ones who muddy the waters of truth.
We do not violate any Scriptural mandate by not attending an official, organized state church (incorporated). It is when we don’t have any Christian fellowship is when we violate Scripture. As the age of home schooling is upon us and growing, the age of the return to house churches is also upon us. The ones who turned the world upside down were members of house churches. Today, the ones the world turns upside down are members of organized churches.
In home churches all believers will be able to exercise their spiritual gifts instead of sitting in pews waiting for the weekly pabulum to begin or end. Let’s send these pastors out to work for a living so they do not have the time to sit around and invent new ways to displace the truth of Scripture with man-centered teachings. Let’s get them out of the pulpit and into the workplace for a dose of reality. This will also prevent pastor’s confabulations where they devise more ways to throw truth out of the church. Well, you have heard my conclusions, what’s yours?
(Jude 1:3-4 KJV) Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. {4} For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Pet 2:1-3 KJV) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. {2} And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. {3} And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
-2/10/1996