What is the root cause?

How is it that most of the preaching that is being done in this counrty is being done by pastors that have this false teaching that God is here to meet your felt needs, just believe that he rose from the grave and confess with your mouth.

How can a real christian not come under conviction? Do they realy believe their own message. Do they themselves even know God! Or do they just know about God? Are they good men that have been taught wrong by their bible college?

I really would like to know are they decieved/misinformed or just afraid to offend anyone and water down the gospel. I'm sure both apply but predominatly?

Jude v3 tells us to contend earnestly for the faith.

1 Tim 4 v1-3 tells us about deceiving spirits and doctines of demons, lies in hypocrisy, etc.

2 Tim 3v1-5 talks about perilous times, the list that follows can apply to both non-Christian and Christians.

I supposed some can be deceived, misinformed, afraid or be a man pleaser.

Whatever the case may be, one cannot help but notice the avalanche of compromise that has descended on the Church.

We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as well as to warn the wicked and the righteous.

God help us to watch and pray, and Jesus told us to.

God bless.

2 Corinthians 4:4
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
KJV

John 16:2
a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
NKJV

Jeremiah 23:16-29
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD. They continually say to those who despise Me, 'The LORD has said, "You shall have peace" And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, 'No evil shall come upon you.' " For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury -- A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. " I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. " Am I a God near at hand," says the LORD, "And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?" says the LORD; "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the LORD. "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed!' "How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,” who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?" says the LORD. "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
NKJV

Blinded, thinking they are doing God a favor, speaking from their own heart, unknowingly fulfilling prophecy. These are some of the things the Lord has lead me to in my contemplation of this. I have been so broken over this issue, my heart melts, I hate it. May we not falter in our prayers over this!

Purify us oh Lord, anoint our eyes that we may see. Give us deep desire Lord, desire for Your word, for Your presence, for Your truth to reign in all of Your people. Amen.

Another something that has come to me, through experience, which you may find completely invalid and bias, in which case throw it out, is this:

I have noticed that a great deal of baby boomers, whom I have come in contact with over the years, were burned by fundamentalist churches in their youth. Upon listening to these people's accounts it was obvious these churches they attended in their youth were quite dry and dead, and as Joseph Hart put it "dry doctrine, though ever so sound, will not sustain a soul in the day of trial." Further brother Len said "Our problem today is…dead fundamentalism."

So to tie this up, I believe that three main responses have come about from these burned baby boomers. Either the boomer responded by going cold, they attended Church as a youth but because of some tragic incident and lack of living doctrine in their life they have sworn off Jesus, who was "not their when they needed Him". Second there are those who, praise God, got hot, they were plugged into a living church, a Church filled with God that preached the word uncompromisingly. And the final, which we see so much of today, they went Lukewarm, they despised those dry fundamentalist teachers of their youth, and as their ears started to itch they heaped up for themselves preachers who would preach what they wanted. (Please recognize that this is very generalized and I share it as something I have thought about yet never wrote out before, I believe that this may be one of the many causes of the current Lukewarm state of many fellowships in America)

How can a real christian not come under conviction?

I read the one brother's response (Trevor), which was quite good and I've seen my life at different stages in the various categories he gave.

Our hearts are hardened when God puts his finger on something and we refuse to repent and relinquish control. In Hebrews 3 & 4 we are warned [b]three[/b] times not to harden our hearts. It's a terrifying thing to do this because the convicting arrows of the Holy Spirit will no longer pierce our hearts.

Some months ago, I went to a public gathering to hear someone who is considered to have a prophetic annointing, which he actually does have. He disappointed much of the crowd when he spent nearly three hours talking about repentance. There were a lot of angry people, because they didn't want to be confronted concerning their sin. I've spent much of my life running from such confrontation and now feel short-changed if the scriptures are not quickened in my spirit and one of the primary ways this happens is through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.

death2self wrote:
Do they themselves even know God! Or do they just know about God? Are they good men that have been taught wrong by their bible college?

one of the tragic resaults of this has been that we now have non born again christians teaching others how to become christians, thats why i belive so many fall away, yesterday i visited a vebsite totally designed against christianity and was all against it and it only purpose was to destroy christianity, and i could not help to be amazed at how much work someone had spent on making this site, it was incredible... just to prove something they dont belive in anyway! but its sad i could not help wonder if the person was an "ex-christian" , i dont belive there is such a thing, becuse if you have seen the son of the living God where else can you go? i dont belive anyone really born of God falls away, but thease "man made christians" are setting the standard now days in christianity, the majorority of christians dont even know what it means to be a christian,

isent it time people got to know what christianity was all about? atleast the people in church...

Quote:

THEY CAN'T!!! True Christians are chosen by the Holy Spirit and convicted. Worldly Christians aren't.

We moved in the spring and while looking for a new church I would meet one on one with the pastor to see if his understanding about the lord was sound or not. Only found one who was a real christian, the rest couldn't define repentance properly, no concern for holiness, no fear of the lord. Affraid to offend his flock with the true gospel. This is crazy! the churches must then be filled with hungry people. Since most of them have no leadership!

Corey_H wrote:

How can a real christian not come under conviction?

THEY CAN'T!!! True Christians are chosen by the Holy Spirit and convicted. Worldly Christians aren't.

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit... and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." (JOHN 15:16-27)

"If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement." (JOHN 16:7-8)

Regarding worldly Christians and the Apostate Whore (that ought not to be called a church)...

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself." (COR I 3:16)

Now, if we are the temple of God...

"...they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. AND SUCH AS DO WICKEDLY AGAINST THE COVENANT SHALL HE CORRUPT BY FLATTERIES... But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not..." (DAN 11:31-38)

"They that swear by the sin of Sa-mar'-ia, and say, Thy god, Oh Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Be'-er-she'-ba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again." (AMOS 8:14) The "sin of Samaria" being the idolotrous worship of Ahab and Jezibel whilst claiming outwardly to fear God. Beersheba is where Abraham, and later Isaac, make an oath, or compromise with the Philistines... which symbolizes, I imagine, the Christian's compromise with worldly idols.

"When ye therefore shall see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judae'-a flee into the mountains..."

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou aret lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked..." (REV 3:15-17)

The root cause is "SELF". The vast majority of pulpits across the land refuse to teach the cross of Christ, self denial and the teachings of Christ. To touch on any of these and have authority (a quickening spirit) in the proclaiming of them, it takes a committment to press in and recieve nan anointing and that takes time, self denial, and application in life of those things taught by Christ. What a narrow path! There's power in the preaching of the ressurection, we don't hear that much either. How sad :-(