Dear Wormwood,
Attending a local church today is one of our greatest tools to keep people out of heaven. I’m so glad that the glory of the invisible church, spread out throughout the world from the beginning to end, is not seen by people considering the kingdom of God. If that were the case, we would lose every battle. We have something great working in our favor. When a newcomer enters the church today, the disappointment soon to follow will give us great success, especially if the church takes seriously their faith and is not built on entertainment.
I confess, that the evangelical mega churches have made our job much easier as they entertain the people to death and provide shallow messages of existential glory now. They have done our work for us. Leave them alone. Our greatest success rates will come in those churches who pass around an old liturgy which, we hope, is poorly understand and explained. Our success comes when they open that ancient text and spend their time preaching from its difficult genres.
Even better is when they sing those ancient texts, especially laments, hopefully they are out of tune and poorly suited for emotionalism. Don’t underestimate what a bad experience of music will accomplish. This is perfect for us, because it’s so radically different from an intoxicated culture that lives by emotionalism. Read More»
Chris Gordon | “How the Devil Works to Keep Visitors Out of the Church” | January 26, 2023
Resources
- How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia
- The Heidelblog Resource Page
- Top Ten HB Posts Through The Years
- The Heidelblog Resource Page
- Heidelmedia Resources
- The Ecumenical Creeds
- The Reformed Confessions
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- Heidelblog Contributors
- Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008).
- Right And Wrong Reasons For Leaving Your Local Church
- New Evangelism And The Megachurch
- Symptoms Of Sickness In The Megachurch System?
- The Problem With Rockstar Evangelism
- Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to
Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
Heidelblog
The Heidelblog has been in publication since 2007. It is devoted to recovering the Reformed confession and to helping others discover Reformed theology, piety, and practice.
More by Heidelblog ›
The author writes: “ Dear reader, disillusionment, disappointment, and false expectations in confusing the church on earth with her glorified state in heaven, is one of the devils greatest tools in keeping people out of the kingdom of heaven.”. My rhetorical question is: has Satan ever kept a single member of the elect out if the kingdom of heaven?
I think your rhetorical question confuses causes with means.
David Ciampa: Please explain your criticism of my comment.
Why do we continue to even allow the title of “Church” to those religious societies which our forefathers in the faith would have deemed “sects”. Think Belgic Article 29. “We” (that is those of us who profess to be confessional) ought diligently and circumspectly to discern from the word of God which is the true Church…” Just sayin’.
“much more easier” made my skin crawl a little bit.
Yikes, me too, fixed. It’s encouraging how carefully people read these posts.