And then tell me, is this really how the Spirit of the Holy One came?  Find me Biblical proof… and then let’s stop calling this Charismatic/Petecostal foolishness worship.

It is heresy and blasphemy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

More garbage like this, coming soon to a church near you!

Click here to view the embedded video.

By the way, did you catch the popular tagline “Whoever controls the culture, controls the harvest?” That is the theme of the hour for most of the Charismatic, ecumenical group.  “Engage culture, retake culture, identify with popular culture, etc” Since when were God’s people to be cultural cultivators instead of spirit filled servants?  Did Christ die for culture? Can culture be redeemed?  No!  Transform people through repentance toward God, faith in Jesus Christ, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  And THEN culture will change, because PEOPLE make culture!  Get a Biblical view of the culture we live in, instead of filtering the Bible through your culture.

But it fits with the lack of Biblical knowledge and spiritual discernment that is so evident in these times.

Matthew 9:38  Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

Why did not Jesus command the disciples to pray the lord of the culture? BECAUSE –2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

The god of Culture and the Lord of the Harvest are NOT the same.

Although I trusted Christ as my Saviour as a child I spent some time in my early teenage years where I was not excited about my faith.  I knew God.  I went to church.  I was saved.  However, I was sleeping away my life.  Many Christians are spiritually sleeping.  Are they alive, do they have eternal life in Christ?  Absolutely!  Do they give any signs of life?  No.  The life is there, but it is not doing anything.  In Matthew 25 Jesus told a parable about people waiting for the coming bridegroom.  The purpose of the parable was to illustrate their lack of readiness for his arrival.  They didn’t know when he would come, and while they waited they slept.  Too many Christians are saved but sleeping.  They get saved and receive new life in Christ, but after that they want to put their feet up, put their heads back, and snooze until Jesus comes.

In Jonah chapter 1 Jonah was on the way to Tarshish when a storm tossed the ship in which he travelled.  They were on the brink of destruction, and the Bible says that Jonah was asleep.  A sailor came and shook Jonah awake and asked him to call on God to save them.  Can we afford to sleep while people all around us face destruction?  Do we need them to come shake us awake and ask us to pray for their salvation before we will do anything?

When Christ went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray He asked His disciples to come with Him.  While our Lord planned and prayed over our redemption’s price, the disciples slept.  While His anguish showed in sweating great drops of blood, they dozed in the cool of a garden.  While Jesus thought of the cross and the crowd, they dreamt of a throne and a crown.  They slept while they should have been watching, working and weeping.  They failed not because their spirit was unwilling, but because of the fleshly weakness.  Can we cease from the most important calling of life simply because it is difficult or uncomfortable?  Is the satisfaction of the flesh worth sleeping away our one life for God?

Ephesians 5:14 says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”  Isaiah 52:1 says, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion.”  Romans 13:11 reminds us that it is high time to awake out of sleep.  Have you been sleeping?  Awake!!  Has your life and time for Christ been passing you by?  Awake, let Christ give you light!!  Can you see the need of the work?  Who will do it if Christians sleep?  Awake!!  Awake!!  Awake!!

Pastor Paul Gibbesh

Jude 1:11-13  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

My wife currently baby-sits a couple of children.  Though sometimes it has been challenging trying to control them; we have been able to develop a friendship with the unsaved parents, and both of the children’s mothers have visited our church.

Recently one morning the young 4 year old girl that my wife watches came in with a “Hannah Montana” plastic guitar.  This guitar is a full package deal. It sings Hannah Montana songs while the child strums the nylon strings.  There are head phones and even a microphone attached, so the child can sing along and hear himself croon away.  Is this merely a harmless toy?  I don’t think so.

Being a musically conservative, independent Baptist family, and desiring to shun the world’s wicked music, we admittedly had never really heard any Hannah Montana songs.  We allowed the girl to “play” the guitar for about twenty minutes, which turned out to be about 19 and a-half minutes too long.  The first 30 seconds were just an informative learning experience, the latter, just annoyance and aggravation.  My 3 year old daughter, who looks up to this older girl, was bouncing along to the songs and enjoying the “music” that the little plastic guitar spewed forth.  I could see that if we let Hannah Montana sing in our house all day, my daughter would be her newest fan.  Thus the guitar suddenly went missing.

It is not my desire to write an article on music, but merely to put forth some thoughts about the worldly indoctrination that frequently occurs at an early age. This indoctrination happens not only in the area of toys, but DVDs, books, and video games.  I am sure this musical toy comes in a brightly covered package.  It is a popular, attractive item and often parents want their children to “have more then we had,” so they endeavour to beg, borrow, or steal to get their children the latest in youth entertainment and pop culture.  I believe this happens not only in unsaved families, who really don’t know any better, but in saved families as well.  They certainly don’t want their children to be the “un-cool” ones in the neighbourhood and they do all they can to make their children popular.

The danger in this mentality is that little by little the once staunch disdain and contempt of those worldly items slowly erodes or even replaces the Biblical foundation that was being laid there.  Instead of teaching children that God abhors worldliness and compromise, and desires that we listen to music which glorifies Him, we let a little sin in the camp and thus neutralize the teachings of Scripture we’ve attempted to instil.  Without even realizing it, parents can set their children’s spiritual growth back years, simply by allowing a double standard in the home.  At Sunday school and church services they are taught that worldly music is wrong, but the toys, DVDs, books, and TV that exalt a sinful lifestyle and music, are allowed to invade the home.

The young minds of children are so mouldable and impressionable.  They do not have the maturity to discern the error and thus fed a continuous diet of confusion, slowly begin to lean toward the world and eventually mirror it.

One day a parent comes home from work unexpectedly and their pre-teen is “rocking” away in his room listening to music that has “never been allowed in our home.”  The Christian parent then thinks, “What happened?”  Why did they all of a sudden being to listen and like those sinful sounds?” I would put forth to you that it wasn’t “all of a sudden,” but that they have slowly and methodically been allowed down the slippery slope simply because the parent permitted music like Hannah Montana’s into the home.  Oh Hannah is not yet an outwardly immoral girl; she seems harmless and fun to the kids, but her music and lifestyle once accepted in the home, makes the transition to and adoption of more evil things, palatable.  Sure your kids may have been partially influenced by schoolmates or friends around the block, but they’ve never grasped the seriousness of the downgrade because the instruction was not serious enough at home.  No wonder your teen now likes rock-n-roll.

Parent, are you surprised at the bad attitude your child or teen displays?  Having trouble getting your child to obey the simplest rules set in place for their good?  Re-examine the influences that are weighing upon them.  Is the television programming that your child views or the music that they listen to chock-full of bad attitudes, disrespect for authority and clear admonitions to “live life the way YOU want to”?  You might find some answers to your behaviour problems there.

God has placed us as parents to be the rulers of the home.  It is up to us to instil in our children the Word of God, so they will live a holy, God-honouring life.    As God said of Abraham in Genesis 18:19,

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

God help us as parents, and especially fathers, to command our children, and “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4b)  God has made the Christian home to be the bastion of truth for training our children.  With so many things fighting to control them in this depraved world, let us beware of a little leaven that will eventually corrupt or destroy the family unit.  In this perverse generation the Christian home needs to shine out as a beacon for the lost to see.

Let me tell you what else I found:

1. At least three videos about pornography (not including the ones that would merely include the usual smut, these were actual documentaries, “comedies” and movies about the subject)
2. That 30% + of the whole store was movies in the “horror” genre
3. That the “family” section was the only area that might be useful, and only 15% of THAT might be clean.

Friends, we make the mistake of grading filth.  It is either good, or not good.  Debating about shades of black or grey is useless.  Step into the light, and view it from God’s perspective.

P.S.  That is the last time I step into that particular store, and it will be some time before I venture into another video store.  There may be the occasional edible tidbit, but I am not convinced it is worth wading through acres of garbage to find it.

I have some questions for those who watched TV or movies in the last month:

1. How many sinful scenes did you see by accident?
2. How many times did you laugh at a commercial that involved some sin?
3. What philosophies of the world slipped into your mind via the combined assault of music and video?
4. What spiritual aspect of your life was helped by watching TV?
5. How long do you think it will take to recover from one vile scene, filthy show, or Superbowl accident?

Let me state the obvious: Every show, movie, song, image, or idea that you allow into your mind subtly alters who you are. Therefore, during the average viewing hour, one is exposed to 12 minutes of the world’s music, several blatent appeals to materialism, and repeated calls to be conformed to the world.  And that is just in the commercials!  The remaining 48 minutes of actual “showtime” is rarely edifying, to say nothing of it’s detrimental effects on your thought process’.

I will tell you that the Comcast problem was no accident, spiritually speaking.  The god of this world is at war with Christ, righteousness, and Christianity, and every little “accident” is another victory for him.  People, turn OFF your TV for a month and see what you have been missing.  Peace in your home, an unfettered conscience, and a clear mind are just some of the benefits awaiting you!

Friends, I used to watch TV.  Even though I was “selective” in my habits, it began to drag me into the mire, and eventually almost deafened me to the pleadings of the Holy Spirit.  It becomes addictive, an escape from reality, and a means for Satan to drug us into nonresistance.  Please wake up! Your time and energy are too valuable to the High King of Glory to waste it in hypnotic homage to a portal from the pit.

Pastor Hollingsworth

(By the way, my mom used to cover the commercials during hockey games in 1985.  What excuse do we have for watching them now?)

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

It is a whole lot easier to be transformed with the TV off.

*****

• I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. ~ Groucho Marx

• We cannot blame the schools alone for the dismal decline in SAT verbal scores.  When our kids come home from school do they pick up a book or do they sit glued to the tube, watching music videos?  Parents, don’t make the mistake of thinking your kid only learns between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.  ~George Bush

• If you came and you found a strange man… teaching your kids to punch each other, or trying to sell them all kinds of products, you’d kick him right out of the house, but here you are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don’t think twice about it.  ~Jerome Singer

• The television, that insidious beast, that Medusa which freezes a billion people to stone every night, staring fixedly, that Siren which called and sang and promised so much and gave, after all, so little.  ~Ray Bradbury, The Golden Apples of the Sun

• Television’s perfect.  You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back and drain your mind of all thought.  And there you are watching the bubbles in the primeval ooze.  You don’t have to concentrate.  You don’t have to react.  You don’t have to remember.  You don’t miss your brain because you don’t need it.  Your heart and liver and lungs continue to function normally.  Apart from that, all is peace and quiet.  You are in the man’s nirvana.  And if some poor nasty minded person comes along and say you look like a fly on a can of garbage, pay him no mind.  He probably hasn’t got the price of a television set.  ~Raymond Chandler

“Everybody is looking for the next wave. We went from cathedrals to churches with pews and vaulted ceilings to the Willow Creek model — the theater seats and big screens and big production — and for me, the biggest movement right now is the intimacy issue,” said Snider. “How do we do ‘big’ small? If we have to get 500 people in a space, how do we get it to not feel like 500 people?” – Greg Snider

Why is everyone looking for the next wave?  Are the unchangeable precepts of God as transient as a wave?  Do the eternal Scriptures need to surf the changing need of culture?  Have the need of man’s soul changed in the last 6,000 years?  Then why are we perpetually striving to be relevant?

I firmly believe that true Christianity is always outside the box of culture and that Heavenly ideas are always difficult for the unregenerate to comprehend. Our shameless need for acceptance from the world reveals our whormongering nature and backslidden condition.

Jude 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Now, I am not against renting buildings.  Our church rents, and many others do also.  Because of the evil nature of the movie industry, I might have difficulty renting a theatre.  But it is the need to be culurally neutral, the urge to blend and homogenize that irritates and vexes my soul.

Christian, don’t ride the wave.  Anchor to the Rock, and let the waves break as they may.

There will always be another wave…

There is only one Rock.

I will not document the bloody history of the godless rite.  Others wiser than I have written much upon the dangers of Halloween.  Yet many Christians still participate in this vile tradition. The old saints of Ireland must bewail our spineless co-operation with the world.  The cries of murdered children and savaged daughters echo through the corridors of time and condemn our co-operation with this ghastly spectacle from Hell. For the “treasure” of a sack of sugar many Christians allow their minds to be polluted and their children’s innocence to be assaulted.  Brethren, it ought not to be so. O, let me encourage you to abandon the sugar and seek spirituality!  Leave the gore and look to God!

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;