6 Flags Over Jesus
6 Flags Over Jesus
“I’m turning shepherds into sheep
and leaders into celebrities
it’s holy sabotage, just look around you
‘cause everything’s for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century” Derek Webb (Ballad In Plain Red)
I knew a man in college who once commented on the local megachurch’s latest marketing shenanigan’s “Yeah, I just call those places Six Flags Over Jesus!”
Which begs the question, have we built a “Six Flags Over Jesus”, instead of a House of God?
David Wilkerson’s sermon “What Happened to Anguish in the Church?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27DIST8qO4I
Welcome to the church of the 21st Century. In my short time in the church, I have seen the pulpit hijacked by all sorts of marketing ploys, political campaigns, wanna be Christian rocks stars, and pastors hoping Oprah will interview them next. I myself have attended churches for all the wrong reasons before, out of boredom, hunger on potluck nights, wanting to meet girls. I even tried to recruit someone for a multi-level marketing business at a Wednesday night bible study once. So I don’t’ claim to be innocent of being part of the problem.
We have all turned The Master’s House into campaign headquarters while He is away, into Country Clubs, Christian Book clubs, free rock concerts, restaurants, single’s clubs, and pastor such and such’s fan club meetings.
We have in fact, turned them into places to do anything but reach the lost with not just a feel good message but a life changing message, and anything but a place for the saved to be sanctified instead of just churchified. We have turned them into places to either conform to the world under the guise of being “seeker friendly” or to shut out the world and let it burn under the guise of “holiness.”
We have all become money changers of one kind or another, using the church to either sell records (I lived in Nashville and saw a lot of this), sell ourselves (popularity contest and keeping up appearances), sell books, sell our candidate or collectively bash the other guy. We sell an ideology of one kind of the other, and sell partial truths for a “love offering”, even better yet, selling out the truth for some money in the offering plates which pays for the carpet and chandelier and a few more “converts” on our “religious scoreboard in the game we play with the church across the street.
Since we live in a society that has absolutely no concept of Holy (set apart for one purpose alone) there is no problem in church culture renting the Sanctuary of the King of King’s out to become a rock concert stadium, a coffeeshop, and book club, a preacher fan club, or a country club. We have no concept of Kadosh (Hebrew for Holy, for ONE Purpose alone, the purpose of The King of Kings). There is no such thing as Sacred Time (Sabbath) or Sacred Space (Sanctuary). We have all become Katholic (Greek for Universal, multi-purpose).
I agree with Derek Webb in this instance, that we need to start turning over tables, in our own Spiritual Living Rooms.
“Though it cost you everything you have, buy the truth, and don’t sell it” (Proverbs 23:23)
When we water truth down, we are not only selling the truth, but also selling a false weight and measure because what is presented as whole truth is only half truth.
Satan would probably confess that “truth without context, is the favorite of all his crimes.”
Ballad in Plain Red (the Church of the 21st Century) by Derek Webb
I’m robbing Peter, I’m paying Paul
I’m changing my name back to Saul
I got to them and you know I’ll get to you
I’m turning shepherds into sheep
and leaders into celebrities
it’s holy sabotage, just look around you
chorus
‘cause everything’s for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century
don’t want the song i want a jingle
I love you Lord but don’t hear a single
and the truth is nearly impossible to rhyme
but I know the songs with all the hooks
and I know some lies that will sell some books
so grab ‘em fast, I’m running outta time
just keep selling truth in candy bars
on billboards and backs of cars
truth without context, my favorite of all my crimes
chorus
‘cause everything’s for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century
bridge
what works verses what’s right
hey what’s the difference tonight?
take out the sign, forget the meal
we’ve got a gym and a ferris wheel
I swear it’s just like the country club down the block
‘cause you can make your life look good
you can do what Jesus would
but you’d be surprised what you can do with a hard heart
chorus
‘cause everything’s for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century
I think you’ve got trouble in the 21st century
so welcome to the struggle, it’s the 21st century
I never thought I’d make it to the 21st century
Lord,Ii love the 21st century
I write these words from the grave
‘cause it’s the only place that I’m safe
and only the dead are permitted to speak the truth
Spiritual Resources Library of Psalm 16 Ministry.
Visit https://www.letstalkshalom.com for more of our Media and Equipping Ministry
If either has blessed you, please consider supporting the cause:
paypal.me/letstalkshalom
Or by mailing Psalm 16’s Founder Brian Newman at
PO BOX 671 Ooltewah, TN 37363
No comments:
Post a Comment