Hollywood’s Continuing War on CHRISTmas!

As I was making the rounds the other day in the daily media outlets available to us, I saw a story in my local liberal paper, which was released by The Tribune, entitled, “Hollywood Scraps it’s Christmas Spirit”. To me this was nothing new and it has been their agenda since it's founding. What I thought was most curious was their total desire now to remove even the secular forms of Christmas from the Hollywood screens as well. They are seeking to eradicate any form of Christmas from the mainstream and are making no bones about it.

What I thought was most curious was their total desire now to remove even the secular forms of Christmas from the Hollywood screens as well.

To the millions of American’s who do not celebrate a biblical Christmas, but who partake in a delusional and fictionally counterfeit form of Christmas, even this move was troublesome.

Today’s counterfeit “Christmas” is made up of it’s many different “holiday themes and secular ideologies”. Christmas seems to be the one holiday that transcends both the ideologies of liberalism and conservatism. True, these two groups celebrate Christmas in many different ways - based on their ideologies - but they usually enjoy the Christmas spirit (secular or traditional) at this time of the year.

What is Behind Hollywood’s Anti – CHRISTmas Campaign?

It is when one dissects and analyzes Hollywood, especially the engine and money which is behind this base godless secular progressive elitist establishment that we see what really motivates them.

It is no secret that Hollywood personal war on Judeo/Christianity, which includes Christmas. What is most amazing is the number of secular Jews, which are behind this godless machine. These particular sons of Abraham despise the Law of Moses and the God of Abraham (John 8:44). This is not an anti Semitic rant, but is a well known fact through out all Hollywood and the media in general. These secular progressive Jews and Gentile are at constant war with our American heritage and culture. Our land has become one massive ideological battlefield.

What is most amazing is the number of secular Jews which are behind this godless machine. These particular sons of Abraham despise the Law of Moses and the God of Abraham.

Hollywood abhors and despises conservative Judeo/Christianity and its values. What horrifies them the most  is what is at the heart of fundamental Judeo/Christianity. The the reality of Almighty God, the Bible, moral absolutes and the reality of accountability to Almighty God in the Day of Judgment send shivers up their spines and they must seek to eradicate this reality to uphold their delusion (Rom. 1:18-32).

But what drives Hollywood absolutely insane more than any other form of Christianity is those who fundamentally believe the Bible and are dogmatic and absolute in their beliefs and position. When it comes to this group, these cannot contain their hatred. These "haters of reality" have produced countless movies that they know will tank at the box office, but their message -reguardless of the cost must get out. In these  movies are found slanderous propaganda against biblical Christianity and those who trust in Almighty God.. Money is no object to these and in their vindictive rage; have wasted countless millions in doing so. Hollywood has indeed put their money where their mouth is.

This endeavor is very personal to them and these seek to indoctrinate American’s with their secular pluralism and relativistic godless perceptions.

As these war with Almighty God and express their unbridled passions and lawless ambitions to America by their licentious and godless movies, these have a goal. This endeavor is very personal to them and these seek to indoctrinate Americans with their secular pluralism and relativistic godless perceptions (Romans 1:18-32).
Since the consummation of the film industry, Hollywood has sought to push the limits of the God ordained boundaries of morality, justice and most of all, the realities of Biblical Christianity. The minority of Hollywood’s godless reprobates of the past – which sought this secularization of America - are now in the mainstream.
.

Today’s Hollywood despises morality, justice and rightness. They have twisted God ordained absolutes seeking to indoctrinate millions of America’s to their godless ideals of secularism and licentious vice. They have sought and have achieved the redefining of godly virtues, morality and peace with godless secular twisted perceptions of their perverted morality. Hollywood has almost single handedly changed the landscape of our U.S. culture - which was founded on Judeo/ Christian values and the fear and reverence to Almighty God. It was in the 60’s when the dam of moral preservation burst and flooded our culture and society with the “new morality” and we have since reaped the horrific whirlwind.

It was in the 60’s when the dam of moral preservation burst and flooded our culture and society with the “new morality” and we have since reaped the horrific whirlwind.

These elite disciples and pawns of Lucifer – the ultimate transgressor of reality and ETERNAL absolutes - are nothing more then his slaves doing his bidding. These disciples of doom are slaves to the works of unrighteousness. They are slaves to their vanity, godlessness and subjective lawless perceptions which is dominated and controlled by their unbridled passions (Ps. 14:1-3, Jude 1:10). These have reaped the godless and horrific consequences of their lawless perceptions and are full of subjective hatred and violence towards any that condemn their actions. What is most laughable is their pursuit of a worldly utopia and visions of peace (Eccl 1:1-3). They hate and despise the very laws and absolutes of time in which one can bring about a temporal peace in this fallen world and they hate and despise the Author of Peace and His followers which testify of the ETERNAL peace which is obtained by the Savior (Isa. 9:6, Eph. 2:4,15, Col. 1:20).

It is the TRUE message of Christmas that Hollywood truly needs to embrace today.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).

Oh that these minions (Hollywood) of the insane despotic king (Lucifer) would turn and seek their Creator! Almighty God calls out in ETERNAL love to all, repent and be delivered from the wrath which is to come (1 Thess. 1:10)!

A Savior is born!
.

All the good intentions of those who celebrate Christmas of the left and the right CANNOT deliver ones soul in the day of wrath. Only the Righteousness of the Lamb, which was born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Luke 2:11), crucified at Calvary (Acts 2:36) and rose again to the right hand of Almighty God can perform this impossible task (Ps. 110:1, Acts 2:32-35, Rom. 10:2-4, Rev. 5).

This Christmas, who needs the movies? May the realities and ETERNAL truths of Almighty God’s holy Word bless your heart and mind this Christmas season with the precious words… A Savior is born (Luke 2:11)!

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

DJP I.F.

Take the Gospel of John Challenge!

What is Sin?

The Base World of Hollywood and the Global Film Industry

The Fall of the Global Markets and the Rise of the Anti-Christ

Never in the history of the “global markets” has so much been at stake. Markets across the world are on the verge of utter collapse. This is not a hyper, over-the-top assessment or a pessimistic “doom and gloom” perspective. This is only the current reality that many do not want to face.

The current global markets are extremely volatile and highly unstable, reflecting doubt and pessimism about what the future holds in regard to their currencies. In view of the economic crisis in Greece, the Euro at present is tanking hard and is sending great panic and uncertainty throughout the world markets. These markets all affect each other like a “chain gang.” When one is thrown overboard, they all go with it.

"They are doing everything in their power to delay what they know in their hearts is coming, a worldwide global collapse of the markets and currencies"

The British pound is on the verge of being akin to toilet paper. The American dollar is weakening at alarming rates. The price of gold has skyrocketed to new all-time highs. The escalating price of gold shows that people are abandoning the currencies of the world while looking for a more sound financial investment that offers better security. What is most insane here is that many of the world leaders have their “heads in the sand” and are trying to be optimistic despite the sobering realities at hand. They are doing everything in their power to delay what they know in their hearts is coming, a worldwide global collapse of the markets and currencies. What is also devious is that somewhere - in the smoked-filled back rooms - are opportunists just waiting to fill the void that will be left after a global collapse with a seizure of absolute power and fascist control. The time honored principle holds that history always repeats itself and nothing is new under the sun (Eccl. 1:9).

The financial crisis in Greece is just a small microcosm of what is coming our way. As countries are spending and printing more currency than the worth it possesses, national debts are skyrocketing. The realities are dreadfully sobering. The present markets are so unstable that a significant crisis could send the markets into a freefall of doom. Just one key act of terrorism, just one key natural disaster, just one key global crisis will cause a chain reaction of panic and fear that will erupt into the world markets and propel them into a fatal tailspin which will bankrupt the world. How close have we actually been in avoiding these catalytic acts in America these last couple of years? (link)

Those Who Have Eyes to See

For the serious student of the Bible - especially those who study Biblical prophecy and end- time events – the table is fully set for the Rapture of the Church (i.e., the redeemed in Christ) and the dreadful Day of the Lord (Mark 13:28-29). As global events continue to come to light in a more clear and focused picture, it is easier and easier to see that the Day of the Lord is at hand. Sadly, as we are at the very doorstep of these events, the majority of world is absolutely oblivious to and clueless about what is to soon transpire. They remain comfortably numb in their delusional, narcissistic and subjective state of ignorance and feel optimistically secure and protected in their paper-walled houses as the world is about to go headlong off a cliff.

However, the Word of God states:

For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (1 Thess. 5:2-3).
.
The Cause and The Effect

When the Dollar and Euro finally implode under the massive weight of debt, it will send a chain reaction throughout the global markets. Since the markets are all interwoven, they will go down like a house of cards. The world’s reaction will be that of absolute fear and panic. This fear and panic will send shock waves through the world’s investors, markets and traders causing even greater trauma and ruin. There are only two securities in this world that people can trust in. One is money (or mammon) and the other is the Person of Almighty God. An individual can only serve just one of them (Matt 6:24). Sadly, it is in the “almighty dollar” (and other currencies) that most of mankind puts its surety (trust) and hope. In the end money will never redeem our bankrupt souls. Only the precious blood of God’s Lamb can truly redeem us (Col 1:20). In the end the precious blood of the Lamb is the most vital security for both time and eternity.

With the peace and security of the world in great jeopardy and trouble and turmoil all around, the world’s inhabitants will be quite willing to turn over their rights, freedom and national sovereignty. They will hand over all authority to the one who promises to restore that which has been decimated. It is at this point that a world leader will arise in Europe to a place of prominence, and he will seek to restore prosperity by creating a new world order (Dan. 7:8, 20, 25; 9:25, 11:36-39; 2 Thess. 2:2-12; Rev. 6:1-2; 13). The climatic end result of this allegiance will be the “Mark of the Beast” Rev 13:16-18.
/

"It is at this point that a world leader will arise in Europe to a place of prominence, and he will seek to restore prosperity by creating a new world order"

.
With war looming (Rev. 6:1-8) and global economic collapse at hand, the world’s masses will seek for one with all the solutions and answers to the crisis of all crises. They will be quite willing to turn over their liberties and freedoms in a desperate attempt to stabilize the world and salvage as much as they can to insure a “bright and hopeful” future. Little will they know that they in so doing will reap eternal consequences by giving their allegiance to him (Matt 24; Rev. 13, 14: 9-11).

The Master Puppet Master

Lucifer, the master Politian and original Fascist, knows all too well how the game is played. He has been practicing for a long time, waiting patiently for the precise moment to bring forth his master plan and global unity. That plan is global worship for himself (2 Thess. 2:3-4; Rev. 13:4, 8, 12) and global war against Almighty God (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:7; 16:13-16; 17:14a).
,

"As the world at this time is in fatalistic panic and dire need, Lucifer will provide them with his man of lawlessness, i.e., the Anti – Christ"

.

There is no greater way to grab power and install radical laws and ruthless policies than when a people and nation are at the very place of poverty and suffering. In this place they are consumed by their daily needs and are quite willing to even sell their souls to the devil for a piece of meat or a loaf of bread. As the world at this time is in fatalistic panic and dire need, Lucifer will provide them with his man of lawlessness, i.e., the Anti – Christ (Rev. 13). Since they have rejected natural laws and the eternal, righteous absolutes of Almighty God and His saving grace, the world’s inhabitants will be in a state of spiritual darkness and ripe for making a deal with the Devil himself to their doom and eternal ruin (Matt. 25:41). At this point man’s casual unbelief will be channeled and focused into a powerful laser beam of violence and absolute defiance against Almighty God and His program (2 Thess. 2:2-12).

Such events as we are seeing and witnessing today - including the pending global market collapse - are the ever increasing sounds of the steps of the soon coming Day of the Lord.

How Will You Spend Your Dollar?
,
My friends, this life is but a dollar bill easily spent, giving but little satisfaction in doing so. We are here for just a brief moment, and then we are gone (Eccl. 1:1-3). To put “all of our eggs” into the temporal and doomed basket of this life is the height of insanity, rebellion and unbelief. Eternity is our future and we must all be ready for it on God’s terms, which are holiness and perfect righteousness. That righteousness is only found in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:2-4).

,

"This life is but a dollar bill easily spent, giving but little satisfaction in doing so"

As these darkening and difficult days come to a close and the morning lights are shining on the horizon of the Kingdom of Heaven, may you be sure to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior! Your final destiny - and your ultimate destination - depends on your choice. Place your trust in Him today; you will never be the same!

The Kingdom of Heaven is surely at hand!
DJP I.F.

Edited by BEL I.F.


Saul Alinsky's Mentor - Lucifer - The Master Politician

Global Calamity - The Birth Pangs For The Coming Day of the Lord
Satan's Abomination of Desolation and Christ's Salvation of Desolation

The False Hope of the American Tea Party

With all that is going on today with the horrific spending practices here in America by our “elected and entrenched” leaders, there is much to be greatly concerned about. In our day a minority of Americans still hold onto the conservative values of our founding fathers, who sought to establish a nation under the adherence and practice of willingly subjecting themselves to the liberating absolutes of the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.

As we look at our history (from the civil war unto this very hour) we have seen this ideal - which is rooted in reality - removed and nearly eradicated from EVERY facet of our Judeo/Christian culture and society.

We have witnessed first hand the wasteland that our nation has become - both (socially and fiscally) – by the Lefts lawless and secular vision they have promoted and put forth.

As the godless Left has slowly and consistently FILLED and SATURATED every facet of our government branches with their lawless ideology - which totally contradicts ALL that our founders believed - we have witnessed first hand the wasteland that our nation has become - both (socially and fiscally) – by their lawless and secular vision they have promoted and put forth.

Now here at the end, Americans are either apathetic or frantically panicking to try undo 100 years of secular social engineering, socialistic fiscal polices and the greedy mismanaging of the American tax payers money. Good intentions pave the road to ruin here in the “Land of the FREE” and “Reality has been forsaken and lawlessness and anarchy has been awakened.

Delusional Preachers of this Hour

Countless conservative talk show hosts through out these 50 states are daily trying to sustain the panic stricken masses with optimistic appraisals and fictitious ideas and remedies that can NEVER fix our current decimated fiscal state, let alone our catastrophic social crisis that has exponentially sent our fiscal national debt to the moon. My dear friends, How do you save a steel sinking ship when it is filled with 95% water? The obvious answer… You do not! You abandon ship and hope that the sinking ship does not suck you into its abyss when it goes down to Davy Jones locker. That is where we are today here in America. Either you have the courage and fortitude to face this reality or you do not. The choice is yours, but whatever you choose, NOTHING will stop this ship from sinking! Do NOT deceive yourselves about our day and hour! My friend, NO Tea Party will stop the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from their soon up coming horrific ride (Rev. 6).

Either you have the courage and fortitude to face this reality or you do not. The choice is yours, but whatever you choose, NOTHING will stop this ship from sinking!

Through out this nation, Americans (conservative, moderate and liberal) in their subjective delusional worlds and minds are vainly hoping for the best as our nation’s fiscal house is at the precipice of default and implosion. With blinded minds of ignorance and great faith these believe that we as a nation can remove this consuming exponential behemoth one day and undo 100 years of the horrific consequences of social and fiscal lawlessness.

The Boy with His Finger in the Dike

As we come near to the end of the “Great Experiment”, the Tea Party was founded and started to awaken American to our sobering fiscal realities and sought to hold Washington accountable for their actions. Thank Almighty God for this movement, but sadly and in all reality, this movement - as the little Dutch boy with his finger in the fractured dike - has only slowed down this consuming LEVIATHAN very minutely. Alarmingly, under this cry for accountability by the Tea Party, all goes on in Washington as Washington always does but at an even faster pace. My dear friends, just look at these last 6 years, big Government has morphed into Enormous and Ginormous Government! Even with the countless voices of the Tea Party, Conservative radio, active U.S. citizens and a small group of law makers, ALL goes on as usual. Nothing can stop this U.S. beast from consuming and moving us ever forward to a socialistic state of tyranny and oppression. My Friends, Are we not already there!

Thank God for this movement, but sadly and in all reality, this movement - as the little Dutch boy with his finger in the fractured dike - has only slowed down this consuming LEVIATHAN very minutely.

Americans and those who are active in the Tea Party (we here at the IFB being of those Americans) need to comprehend the REALITY of the hour and know with ALL our hearts that America dream is over. How many Americans today are willingly gullible, naive and delusional about this reality? These cannot see past their noses on this reality. They are imprisoned in a subjective world with NO vision of the ETERNITY that awaits every single one of us (John 3:16-17; Rev. 20:1-3, 11-15; 21:8; 22:11). This is not a fatalistic or “give up” mentality. The REALITY is that the jig is up and innumerable lawless consequences and 5^th column foes of our American constitution have entered into the mightily seized Alamo and it is just a matter of precious time before we ALL fall. IT MUST BE my dear friends. To think other wise is to willingly to deceive yourselves!

What to Do?

In these very sobering hours may the realities at hand bring you to the comprehension that bigger forces are at work here in America and in the world in general (Eph. 6:12).

The stage is being set for far greater evils and horrific policies of godless fallen man that will enslave and engulf the entire world (Rev.6-19; 13). Do these biblical observations sound like the ravings of a mad man? Well my friend, they are not! To be wise in this world, one must KNOW the Savior and Creator of this World (John 1:10-12, 3:3-7, 17:17, Rom. 1:16, 1 Cor. 18-31, Heb. 1:2-3). Without Almighty God and His precious Word - which is the ONLY source and key of revelation and light to unlock the subjective, delusional prisonhold of this vain and futile world, there is ABSOLUTELY NO hope! 

WITHOUT Almighty God’s Word and revelation ALL is a mystery! ALL is unanswerable! ALL is despair! ALL is hopeless!

WITHOUT Almighty God’s Word and revelation ALL is a mystery! ALL is unanswerable! ALL is despair! ALL is hopeless! My friend, do not deceive yourselves with false hopes, false vain ambitions. False saviors, and false Utopian visions that can NEVER come to pass in a sin ravished world (Gal. 1:4). My friend, do the very best that you can in this hour for the critical and fatal condition of our nation, but do NOT place ALL your trust in it my friend, see the BIG picture from Heaven’s ETERNAL perspective and trust Almighty God for the Kingdom of Heaven is TRULY at hand!
.
(Eph. 5:16-17!)

DJP I.F.

(Note little man in top of title picture in upper left corner. What can he do?)

God left out of Obama's Thanksgiving remarks

God left out of Obama's Thanksgiving remarks

Looking at America from the Mountain Top

Here in America we are on the edge of fiscal and moral collapse with NO savior or remedy in sight. My dear friends, do we here at the IFB continually sound like a chorus of “doom and gloomers” to you? Well... many think so, but my dear friend climb the “mountain top” of REALITY and look down from the HEAVENLY perspective at the wasteland which is now America (John 8:32,36, Eph. 2:6, Col. 3:1-4). Please tell me how - from this perspective - will we ever regain our moral bearings and eliminate the effects from generations of godless influence which have been rooted deep in our culture and society? It will take nothing short of Christ’s second coming to earth to destroy and uproot this reigning leviathan, which will happen at the blood bath of Armageddon (Zech. 14:12; 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 14:14-20; 19:11-21). The prideful wilds of godless secular liberalism and its social engineering have left multitudes unable to cope with reality and be responsible and morally productive.

With “unbelieving sincerity” they are leading multitudes astray from the unalterable realities of time and eternity and their desperate need for God’s saving grace found in Jesus Christ.

The American bedrock and moral foundation is rotten to the core while oblivious, unregenerate Conservative Republicans and religious Christian Conservatives are talking about 2010 and 2012 as if all will be golden and restored to a healthy, proper order. Beloved, do not drink the conservative optimistic Kool-Aid of the “False Prophets of Optimism.” Thank God for them, but they are clueless about God’s revelation, the day in which we live and the coming of the Day of the Lord. With “unbelieving sincerity” these are leading multitudes astray from the unalterable realities of time and ETERNITY and their desperate need for God’s saving grace found ONLY in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:2-4; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9). My dear friend, do not be deceived (Matt. 7:13-20; 24:4)! Place your faith and trust in the Savior of the world and not man for the Kingdom of Heaven is truly at hand!

DJP I.F.
,

Sandusky, the Homosexual Pedophile Monster

Sandusky, the Homosexual Pedophile Monster - link
By Gina Miller on November 15th, 2011

Godly Music That is Truly Honoring to the Lord

Worshipful, Reverent, God-centered, Biblically Based Music Which Is Appropriate for Those Who Have Been Purchased by Christ's Blood

God has wonderfully delivered us from this present evil world (age), according to the will of God and our Father (Gal. 1:4). We are bought with a price and we are no longer our own (1 Cor. 6:19-20). We are bought by blood and bound by love. We are separated unto the gospel of God (Rom. 1:1) and we are separated unto the God of the gospel. Having brought us out of a horrible pit and out of the miry clay, He has put a new song in our mouths (Psalm 40:1-3).

The new song, by its very nature, must be very different from the old song. The world knows nothing of the new song. They know nothing of deliverance from sin and peace with God. They know nothing of a precious Saviour ("unto you, therefore, who believe He is precious"–1 Peter 2:7). To them the cross is foolishness (1 Cor. 1:18; 2:14). The only songs they know are self-centered and pleasing to the flesh. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:7-8), neither can their songs.

The world knows nothing of the new song. They know nothing of deliverance from sin and peace with God.

When I (George Zeller) first came to the Middletown Bible Church in 1969, it was my first exposure to a Bible believing church, and one of the first things I noticed was that the music was different. The pianist was not accomplished. She did the best she could and made her fair share of mistakes. But the people sang from their hearts as if they really meant what they were singing. They were not just going through a religious ritual. They were redeemed and they loved to proclaim it. I had been to many churches where the music was quite polished and professional, but it lacked the sounds coming from souls who knew that they had been set free. The difference was quite evident.

An actor was asked to recite the 23rd Psalm. His recitation was fluent and exceptional, with perfect intonation and diction—a flawless performance. A godly pastor was asked to recite the same Psalm. It was done from the heart and the difference was profound. One man knew the Psalm but the other man knew the Shepherd. So also, those who truly know the Shepherd are going to sing much differently than those who know Him not.

One man knew the Psalm but the other man knew the Shepherd.

How can someone sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs if he is unsaved, unspiritual, having not the Spirit? On the other hand, how can a spiritual believer delight in the "song of fools" (Eccl. 7:5)? The two are incompatible. The new song belongs with a new creature in Christ. The old songs belong to our past life to which we have died ("old things have passed away"). "For ye died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God....Christ who is your LIFE" (Col. 3:3-4).

There is a massive movement in our day to bring the music of fools (CCM) into the house of God, including the jungle pulsing drumbeat and everything else connected with such sensual and fleshly musical styles. Worshipful, spiritual, reverent, God-centered, Biblically based music is becoming more and more rare in the churches. Instead of honoring the Rock of Ages, we have entered the age of Christian rock.

Peter Masters, Pastor of the Metropolitan Temple in London (where Charles Spurgeon used to preach), has shared similar concerns:

The 'culture' of the house of God must be joyful, yet at the same time honour the deeply reverent ethos of biblical worship.

A ruling principle in Christian worship for generations was the need to distinguish between sacred and secular, or between sacred and profane, or spiritual and worldly. The 'culture' of the house of God must be joyful, yet at the same time honour the deeply reverent ethos of biblical worship. Until recently, evangelicals believed that the church and the world represented opposing standards and lifestyles and tastes, and so most of the world's popular jollities were treated with great suspicion. Spiritual worship was never to be confused or mixed with, or even tainted by, the debased end of the popular entertainment spectrum, because one belonged to the realm of sacred things, and the other to the realm of secular and profane things. All were convinced that Almighty God would be offended, and realized that lost sinners could not be called out of the world by a church that had adopted its lifestyle and entertainment values.

It was believed by virtually every serious Christian that to employ in worship something that was obviously associated with (or had arisen from) an alternative culture of free sex, godlessness, drugs, and emotional orgies would be worse than inappropriate - it would be sinful.

They therefore disclaimed the help of a fleshly world and its idiom, relying instead on the power of God, and so they had spiritual power in their worship, not the carnal 'power' of entertainment-emotionalism.

Christians of the recent past saw that two different worlds and kingdoms stood in stark contrast to one another, the churches being the upholders of God's sovereignty, and holiness. They represented the Holy and the High. They therefore disclaimed the help of a fleshly world and its idiom, relying instead on the power of God, and so they had spiritual power in their worship, not the carnal 'power' of entertainment-emotionalism.

As if to test the convictions of believers, the hippie and worldly Christian movements came into being, and initially, most conservative evangelicals were appalled. Why are they not all still appalled? Quickly, the new trends were picked up by leaders of youth groups, shallow churches, and certain international evangelists who had come to put earthly appeal before the standards of the Lord.
.
Called Out of the World

The father of the faithful, Abraham, was called to come out of the culture of a pagan world, and live life in an altogether distinctive way for the Lord. The children of Israel in the wilderness were severely judged for wanting to go back to the foodstuffs of Egypt, even though these were not intrinsically sinful, because God had provided something special for them. The Lord was teaching them to be a distinctive people. Under the law of Moses the people were taught in many ways to distinguish between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean, even if it meant the forbidding of things not inherently evil, in order to drill into them the law of distinction and separation. New Testament Christians have traditionally believed (as Paul said) that these 'things were written for our learning'.

There must be a marked distinction between sacred and secular.

Whether we consult the Old or the New Testament, purity and separation are ever to be maintained in worship. There must be a marked distinction between sacred and secular. The New Testament repeatedly commands us to hold ourselves apart from worldly activities which exalt or enshrine sinful acts and lifestyles. This is a tale of two kingdoms. 'Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world,' says John. Wherever this world's culture distinctively serves and represents fleshly living, it is to be rejected by believers. Historic, mainstream evangelicalism has always taken this very seriously. Today, pastors and leaders of inferior spiritual substance are wrecking the worship of these churches, and selling them into a progressive worldliness from which they will probably never recover. This is the tragedy of the hour. What is the point of preaching or contending for sound doctrine, if the church's practice has submitted to the world and become offensive to God? What is the point of correcting the sails if the boat is irreparably holed beneath the water line?

Ministers may continue to preach sound doctrine in the midst of carnal noise - but they will only be serving Satan's purpose by calming and reassuring the faithful, while corruption gains total control. Many churches which have gone down this road in recent years have already become markedly shallow, frothy and indifferent to biblical standards. They have turned their Father's house into a den of entertainers. The writer has many testimonies to this effect, and has seen it in some very large churches in the USA. There, numbers have sometimes increased, but faithfulness and spirituality have plummeted. This is the future for those who defect to the contemporary worship scene. To go this way, therefore, is to be guilty both of great foolishness, and spiritual disobedience. We must stand clear - not on the grounds of taste, but on the grounds of sin.

There numbers have sometimes increased, but faithfulness and spirituality have plummeted.

When it comes to music standards and anything else, may we not allow the world to squeeze us into its ungodly mold (Rom. 12:2). May we delight in singing the song of a soul set free!

He put a wonderful song in my mouth,

Of worship and praise to our God!

Many shall see it and fear and believe,

And shall put all their trust in the LORD

(From a song based on Psalm 40)

The problem with using rock music in the church is twofold: 1) What you win them with, you win them to; 2) What you win them with, you'll have to keep them with.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

GWZ I.F.