Pastors of churches are beginning to be pressured to perform same sex marriages while being persecuted if they will not.
There is an easy solution to this growing problem.
If believers would follow the model of the first century church, meeting in homes rather than owning expensive building with mortgages, they would be spared the stress of debt, upkeep, heating and water bills, while their funds would go to the needy believers and missionaries in total.
Then there is the added burden of those silly unproductive meetings over the 501c3 status granted by the government, with all their intricate rules that waste a believers time.
If God's church met in homes, lets say 20 or fewer families per home, there would be homes all over the cities singing praises to God every worship day. Ungodly people would be less likely to infiltrate demanding same sex marriage and other evil practices to be performed among the believers.
There would be no advertising to the public to come, the believers would be going out to the non-believers in their work places, their neighborhoods and any other place they happen to frequent. They would not be invited to the services unless they became born again. The worship would be maintained only for believers, as the non-believers become born again, then they would be brought in as full brothers and sisters in the Lord.
We have followed many traditions that are not of God to make it easier for us to avoid witnessing, letting the leaders do it all, when we are all called to share the gospel. And, many leaders are not sharing the gospel regularly except with scant messages from the pulpit, entirely generic so no one has to be confronted.
We put on lavish programs hoping the non-believer will like us, thinking that if they like us they will like Christ. That could not be farther from the truth. When we entertain people, they will come for the entertainment, feel loved no matter how they act or who they harm, and continue on in their sin on their way to hell. I have seen this time and time again.
Christ never called us to entertain people or find ways to get them to like us. He called us to preach the gospel, share what Christ did for us and do it in plain language, verbally with conviction enthusiastically.
Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
No where in the Scripture do we see any instruction to bring non-believers into the worship. If they show up of their own accord, then they should hear a strong message of repentance, hope if they trust Christ and hell if they refuse. If they leave offended, then they never wanted God to begin with and will either come back to find the way of salvation, or avoid coming because their heart does not desire God.
All this phony play acting as though we love them through silly programs without a strong gospel message has inoculated non-believers. They hear the message week after week and never make a decision because their egos and feelings are being massaged to enjoy the gathering.
Non-believers who come for the entertainment should not like it, they should be convicted of sin, so that they will have to make the choice to either repent and follow Christ or leave.
The non-believers have become comfortable in the church gathering, engaging in the activities, learning Christian lingo, just enough to make us think they are true Christians and then bringing wrong doctrine and attitudes into the body without challenge. This is why the organized church has become apostate.
It is time for the true church of God to begin praying while studying the word to discern the way the church should function. If we are willing to leave behind all our human traditions to do things God's way, we may see amazing blessings in our spiritual growth and the physical growth of the church, and I don't mean bigger and better buildings, I mean new converts who are on fire for the Lord. The buildings are no only not necessary they have become a monstrous detriment to the spiritual health of the believers.
John 21:17 "He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."
To sum things up, the modern traditions of a one man pastor, church buildings, inviting non-believers to the gathering of the believers, celebrating pagan holidays and many other traditions have ruined the witness of the church of God.
If each one will seek the Lord for their part in the gospel, I think we would find we no longer have a desire for these meaningless and useless traditions that weigh us down severely.
