Is the Confessing Church in America building empires to God, leaving most of them to fools who can't seem to get beyond sex, drugs, rock 'n roll, and politics?" In the words of Solomon, "That which has been is that which will be…so, there is nothing new under the sun" (Eccl. 1:9).
Buddy Spaulding suggested this change of perspective in reflecting on the negative side of the Beatitudes.
Something is tragically missing in the faith life of American Evangelicals. Little by little, it is beginning to creep into the social network. Little by little, men and women of the Orthodox Christian faith are beginning to question a sect that believes in the Kingdom of God but has shoved it wholly into the future, permitting the unhindered co-worship of God and the American Dream of prosperity and success.
Are Christian evangelists responsible for bending the person and work of Jesus to the American Dream of prosperity and success? There has been lots of talk about the evils of communism and OPS – Other People's Sins, but virtually no talk about the evils within our churches rising through the comforts of cheap grace!
Some 12 years having passed since Piper's thoughts, a period that has left the Confessing Church weakened through a theology of individualism, pop-Christianity, and spiritual pride, it might be well for us Evangelicals to remind ourselves of the option of exercising the works of faith separate and distinct from nationalism.
The strength of the Confessing Church, on the other hand, has been its unique voice and ability to offer hope and reconciliation to those who have fallen through the moral, economic and ethical cracks of life. The reasoning behind the walk of faith has traditionally been both simple and straightforward and was characterized by an author lost to obscurity:
If love were possible without the Gospel, we would need no Gospel;
If love is not possible by the Gospel, we have no Gospel;
That love is possible by the Gospel is what the way of discipleship is all about.
As long as we think of ourselves as "other" than those in the world, we are not living in God's Kingdom.
Are we part of the Kingdom or part of the accusing crowd?
Interesting statistics from multiple generations.
Anger and Fear or Grief?
