Snoopy Marched at the Wedding

A few years ago I attended the wedding of a friend of a friend. It was held in a prominent mega-church a few miles down the road from us.

The wedding was a large gathering, in the smaller second chapel hall in that huge building. Within the walls of that monstrous structure was a coffee shop, an ice cream parlor and a book store. In the front lobby, was an immense fountain in the shape of a cross modeled after modern art, standing about ten feet tall. This cross could be transformed into a baptismal.

The lobby was so large that it could easily hold a couple of hundred people milling around visiting with one another.

As I looked around me I wondered what kind of people would love coming to a place that would have caused Christ to wield a whip in protest.

The main pastor of the church, also a radio personality, performed the ceremony, in which the entrance music was of the sixties rock vintage, the ending music was the "Snoopy" theme. As I watched the bride and groom come down the isle, I didn't see a bride and groom, I saw the Snoopy Dog, I was used to seeing on television when I was growing up.

Upon entering the reception for this couple, who claimed to be believers, I witnessed this celebrity pastor wearing a long black woman's wig. The groom asked him to do it as a joke while he greeted the 300 guests that came through the line.

YES! This wedding was a joke and in a building that was supposedly dedicated to Christ and His Work. I milled around for a short time at the reception mostly out of curiosity. I saw young women in very short skirts, no coverings on their shoulders and much silliness happening in groups all over the huge reception hall.

There were two short verses from the Bible mentioned in the wedding ceremony and none in the reception hall.

My heart was very heavy as I walked out the front doors of that church. The family of the bride had raised her to only wear dresses and she was chaperoned everywhere she went to protect her reputation and virginity.

The rules they had for this young lady protected her, but did they bring spiritual maturity? Not one bit! Sometimes our rules on our children are really for our own reputation rather than their spiritual well being of the child.

Why were the parents not mandating what was to be done in the wedding, after all they were paying for it. My belief is, since the young woman was still under her father and he was paying for it, she should have been directed the kind of music that was acceptable, as well as the goings on at the reception.

Too often we are more concerned about being liked and how things look rather than what God thinks about matter. This was the most unholy wedding I had ever attended, orchestrated by those who uphold themselves as godly people, at least morally and outwardly. But where is the holiness?

Welcome to our world of apostate Christianity.

Let the Dead Marry the Dead

Let the Dead Marry the Dead

Believers should not perform the marriage ceremony for non-believers.

The reason for the believer to be marred by a man of God, is for a witness before God to the oneness and purpose in the lives of the couple who wish to become one.

Non-believers who are getting married are in sin without Christ, whether they live together or not, their marriage is not blessed by God, neither is anything else they do. They do not love Him, they do not want accountability on the part of the church, nor will they honor God in their ways after marriage.

It is a blessing to believers to be married by a man of God and held accountable by the Christian community. Those who love Christ will submit themselves to the church concerning their marriage, there is wonderful support from other strong believers when they are a part of witnessing the proceedings, or there should be. The making of promises and the commitment that is made before God.

Non-believers do not submit to God, have little if any regard for their vows and will disappear from the church after the ceremony, never to return. Let the non-believer be married by the justice of the peace, or any one else who is qualified.

In our state of Washington, anyone can marry a couple. All that has to happen is that the couple go to the license bureau and pay for a certificate and have others sign and witness the marriage. For a non-believer to make a vow before a man of God, when they have no reverence for God, is a sham.

Christ made a statement once, to a man who wanted to go back and wait for his father to die before following Him. Christ said "let the dead bury the dead." Christ made it clear that our business, in our ceremonies is with believers, not non-believers.

We can witness to non-believers, we can pray for them to become born again, but we cannot participate in their rituals in any way.

2Cor. 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2Cor. 6:15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

Self Esteem Is A Lie

Next time someone quotes the mantra "we must love ourselves", quote them this verse given by God as a description of the last days.

2 Timothy 3:1-2
King James Version (KJV)
"3 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,"

Worship, Holy Spirit Led or Humanisticly Concocted

Worship, Holy Spirit Led or Humanisticly Concocted

In recent years, the past 40, there has been a concept that has taken over nearly every church gathering, that is not only not Biblical but fosters showmanship.

The concept I speak of is "worship leader", in churches where several people get up on stage, with their instruments in "stage production" fashion to "lead the people in worship."

God expressly taught in His Word that the Holy Spirit leads worship. In this world of make believe, many who are playing church have invented tactics to manipulate the emotions of the people.

The apostate church, because it lacks faith and true worship, has to control the masses while elevating popular people in the gathering.

Nearly everything being done in church gatherings today, especially the mega-church situations, is for the purpose of controlling the people to appear spiritual, when in fact, they are not only less spiritual but grievous pretenders. This is nothing more than theatrics to entertain the masses.

Playing church, is not at all what God had in mind for the worship of His people.

John 4:24 ""God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

We see no mandate in Scripture to place anyone on a stage to help others worship. All worship is led by the Holy Spirit.

There is no substitute for the Holy Spirit when a soul is submitted to Christ. No other person can help another person worship, they can only manipulate feelings.

An outward display of feelings is not the measure of the true worship of a man.

As we have seen many times, whole congregations can scream, cry, jump up and down in ecstatic excitement, while having on leanings at all toward God. The pagan religions do it all the time.

John 7:37-39 "From the innermost being"

"37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From [c]his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

Acts 11:16-17

"16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”

Romans 5:5

"5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

Zechariah 4:6

"6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts."

I have attended churches that have "worship teams", as soon as I see this, I do not stay, because a congregation that would accept a substitute for the Holy Spirit to lead them in worship, are probably substituting many other man made concepts to guide their people.

We might be shocked to find out, when we pass into glory, that there was far more foolishness accepted in the gatherings than we thought. Nearly all of us have been indoctrinated into unBiblical practices in our churches, so much so that they no longer look like the first century church. I am quite sure that gathering did not call their worship "services."

Perhaps if we evaluated everything in light of the Bible guided by the Holy Spirit, we would not be so quickly manipulated by the modern form of worship.