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On Spiritual Reformation by R.S. Neaville
The protestant reformation of Martin Luther’s day did address many wrongs, and did much to further the cause of Christ. It was evident that despite the many shortcomings of its key players, it was indeed an act of Providence and vehicle to connect the Christian back to conscience, God’s grace, and the word of God. With these great strides Christianity was brought to a point of refreshing and renewal with a Gospel to spread that was closer to the original (as delivered by Christ ). It is forever therefore a stepping stone in man’s path back to his creator. It is time now for another such stepping stone, another renewal, another reformation. Just as in Luther’s day, we have grievances to nail to the door of the church. This time is just a little different. It is not one corrupt organisation, but many. It is not just the tyranny of the Pope, but the tyranny of denominationalism, fundamentalism, pragmatism and alot of other ‘isms’ and ultimately ignorance. It is not the selling of indulgences but the selling out of our leaders and pastors. It is not that the Bible is only available in latin, and so only understood to a select group of clergy, no it is far worse. Now the simple truths of scripture are obscured by a flurry of books, TV evangelists, and heretical ideas that misinterpret and twist the scriptures beyond recognition. Critical thought is rapidly becoming an anachronism. To be a member of many of our churches you must check your mind with your hat at the door. So always works the witchcraft that empowers the traditions of men. Strong words you say? in all likelyhood they are not strong enough. We have strayed so far from the truth we no longer recognise it but in small doses, Like children that aren’t yet weaned, we cannot handle much in the way of solid food. The few Churches that do preach the real Gospel rarely go beyond the same diet of pablum they have fed their congregations for generations. Those of us who do find some growth are only those who have learned to seek God for ourselves. And sadly we are the minority. Instead of just shouting a diatribe of vague indictments, let me give some specifics of the problems we face, as well as some specifics about the kind of reformation necessary to address these problems. Instead of congregations raising up for themselves leaders and Pastors, we go outside the congregation and and pay hirelings that care not for the flock. We are more interested in earthly credentials than spiritual ones. Colleges and seminaries are no guarantee that we will get a suitable man of God. Of all the original desciples of Jesus, only one was said to have anything in the way of a formal education...Can you guess which one? It was Judas. Ask yourselves would your pastor stay if you told him you werent going to pay him? or even if you were to cut his pay? Our churches are supposed to be based on Christ as a model. They aren’t. We have let pragmatism decide even that. It is not about right or wrong anymore, but what seems to work. The ends justify the means. In early days of the Catholic Church they rejected Christ as the model too. They based church operation on the Roman Empire. It was what seemed to work in their day. The reason for a Pope is based on the Roman head of religion the Pontifex Maximus. They have statues of saints to pray to just as Rome had the statues of the Gods. and etc. In America we base Church on what seems to work here, free enterprise; the business model, hence every church has a business office. Good old fashioned pragmatism. Just like we go outside our congregations for staff, so we go outside of Christianity for help in areas we don’t have a handle on. For example, Psychiatry was founded by Godless athiests like Friued and Jung. It is a humanistic psuedoscience at best. Suddenly there are so called “Christian Psychiatrists” everywhere. Since when have Godless athiests ever informed religious truth? In some denominations they have instituted 12 step programs to help drug and alchohol abusers. In these programs, you only have to believe in a higher power. That higher power could be a chair! These congregations might as well take their “Christian” signs down, be cause what they are basicly telling the world is that their Christ has not the power to deliver anyone from drugs or alchohol. No, they have to go to the world for help. I tell you these have only made a pretense at Christianity. Our congregations have locked themselves in a form that no longer serves a function. They think of the building as the church, and not the people. The average churchgoer, no matter what the denomination will usually follow this format every Sunday. He/she will attend Sunday School at 10:00 am (if he even bothers) where he or she will sit like a sack of potatoes for 45 minutes and listen to a teacher read lessons not from the bible, but some Sunday school booklet that explains the bible. He/she will then take fifteen minutes to use the facilities, meet and greet with a plastic church smile that goes unused the rest of the week, and than sit in a pew and sing a few songs, say a hurried meaningless prayer, than listen to a Pastor drone on another 45 minutes and than go home or out to eat. Whatever was gleaned from the sermon or Sunday school was promply forgotten at the door. In Many congregations the entire thing is scripted, thus insuring that anything the Spirit has to say never gets said. Most congregations are too busy in their pragmatic gestures to fill the sanctuary to take stock of any real spiritual concerns. They depend on devices, gimmicks and programs with names like “reap and keep” to attract new prospects. No trust in God, just men’s pragmatism. Many Churches keep a constant building fund, like we dont have enough empty church buildings as it is. All this goes to prove the organised church is overly concerned with the physical appearence instead of the reality of the spirit. We uphold traditions of men neglect the changes that only truth can bring. We hold onto
bad doctrines merely so we can have a distinction between “us” and “them”,
or because we were too lazy or afraid to do any individual thinking, studying, and prayer
on our own. We allow others with authority or credentials to think for us. Christ is not
divided, but men are. We believe what we believe often times not because we searched out
the truth and prayed it through ourselves, but rather because we were raised in a certain
church or tradition. We simply dont love the truth enough to seek it out. God says a man
will find Him only when he seeks Him with a whole heart. This is why Paul told us to work
out our own salvations with much fear and trembling. These are just a few of the problems and obstacles we face. I’ m am not going to tell you I have all the answers, because I do not. But this much I do know. Spritual reformation is needed. We need to let go of our traditions, examine what we do, and seek God corporately with whole hearts. We need to avoid doing things that our fathers did them just because they did them that way. We need to uphold what is right whether it seems to work or not. We need to Make Christ our only model. We need to reject the hollow and vain philosophies of men, reject humanistic answers, and accept what it is the spirit tells us corporately to do no matter how much change is involved, or how uncomfortable it makes us. And we need to pray to the Father through Jesus when we read the scriptures. We cannot just take a man’s word for what God is telling us. We need to learn to hear his voice. We need to grow in to the deeper things of the spirit, as stewards of the Mysteries of God. We need a pure Gospel to free mankind from sin and death. We need to seek spiritual answers to our lives, which is the permanent cure for us all. More to come, God Bless you R.S. Neaville
by R.S. Neaville A Prophecy of the Church : The Latter Day House By R.S. Neaville Links
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