Introduction
New–fresh–change–connect–“love”–relate: all of these seem to be the main buzz words from the most popular preachers and largest churches; and frankly, from a large segment of fundamentalist Christians. What was once a Christian nation at its founding has become a humanist/modernist nation with a sliver of “Christianity” left for nostalgia’s sake. That sliver of Christianity is nothing of what Christ Jesus left with His apostles. It’s almost as if a new Dark Age has swept across the world that has not been seen since the Roman Catholic “Church” had its iron fist around the world roughly from 500 A.D.-1550 A.D. No, this time it is not the pope, inquisitions, indulgences, and persecutions. In my opinion, something much worse has overcome our world.
This new “Dark Age” has come very quietly. Churches and pastors are being swallowed up in the vices of something called compromise. Compromise today calls itself things like: tolerance, connection, and contemporary. Speaking truthfully, compromise has existed since the very beginning of Christianity; but not in the manner as of today’s churches.
“Where has this come from?”, you may ask. I could go into the history of what is called the New Evangelical movement, or the Emerging Church movement, but others have done that in a much more in-depth manner. Please see David Cloud’s articles HAROLD OCKENGA AND THE NEW EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT HE FOUNDED , and THE EMERGING CHURCH: THE 21ST CENTURY FACE OF NEW EVANGELICALISM. However, I would like to highlight how compromise has not-so-subtly worked its way into Fundamentalist/Separatist Baptist churches over the last twenty years or so. A lot of things I will write on will be completely from my point of view. I have seen some of both sides of the spectrum–and the sad results of compromise.
What I would like to focus on for the next few posts in this series are the fruits that come from this philosophy of compromise. It may even take a few months, amidst other posts of family news and funny happenings, but I look forward to going in-depth. The first topic I will write about is music–what I think can be the Trojan horse of compromise. For example, it is sad how a young person from a church with good music standards can go off to a Bible college with “so-so” music standards, and return four years later with an appetite for Contemporary “Christian” Music that they never had before college. That is no coincidence. It is that college’s compromise.
Anyway, music will be my first topic next week that I look forward to posting.