tschuckman@aol.com
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Hello Friends and Readers:
We could and should examine the two edges/ sides of the sword. I am posting this timely article because their are good opinions floating across America and Europe these days, as church attendance has dropped, big time. On one hand those who seriously STUDY the KJV Bible know the truth that set all Christians free !
I believe that we all need to consider all the points and comments before drawing a conclusion. And I have even posted the old idea [after getting royally burned a few times, and finding out that I honestly didn't have ONE "friend" in the entire congregation, after I decided to move on... ] Especially after I donated more than $5K to help that particular church, in Upper Michigan, a few years ago ! I have also been in other churches where the people loved me, but I have to move to a better location after I retired. In fact, I am still in contact with many of my old friends after all these years.
"Standing in a church no more makes a person a Christian ---- than standing in a repair garage makes one an auto mechanic or a car !!" We have all known or observed people who come to church faithfully, yet have not learned the KJV Bible, nor any other kind of Bible in those same 50- 60 years ! It's not that they are stupid, but they don't ever force themselves to THINK or desire to have the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in their hearts and minds ! Simple. I have also seen and heard young, pre-teen, children rattle off all the 66 books of the Bible, locate and explain what the Bible says ! That's exciting, admirable, and even humbling.... when grown up so many adults are so ignorant, lazy, and just don't care. The New Testament books in the Bible, such as 1,2,3 John, and 1,2, Peter and Jude, explain how Father God and Jesus, with deal a strong kind of Justice at just the right, correct time. Right now is the time for all Christians to seize the day, now, to share the Gospel with everyone we meet, if possible.
I, as most folks know and understand, am a Disabled Vietnam Veteran: 68-70, also a 30.5 year Chrysler worker [from Kenosha, Wisconsin, USA. And there are days that I can barely get out of bed without horrible pain. And right now the US Gov't is taking all the PAIN KILLERS away from hurting, honest, deserving disabled Veterans !! Isn't that too, cool ? Ha! But we are all used to shafted, screwed and abused.... LOL. I predict that many more Disabled Veterans will be dead in one year.... and I don't care to elaborate on that subject, today. But for all the ghetto punks and criminals, pain drugs are easy to get ! But when Father God, and Jesus, finally decide to "put the hammer down" and launch the "Great Tribulation --- for the next 7 years, ending with Armageddon [Revelation 16: 16], the entire Earth shall experience much hardship, food shortages, earth quakes and other tragedies. But even right now, April of 2018, Christians are the MOST abused, persecuted people on Earth, ever hoping and praying for God--Yahweh to put an end to their suffering. I think that our President Donald Trump is, at least trying to do something to ease the suffering Christians and Jews.
I am certainly not arguing with Hebrews 10: 24, 25, but sometimes most or all of the so-called 'churches' in our area are teaching and spreading a super, far, Left--Socialist doctrine, that also promote abortion, street drugs, and racial inequality, even racism ! Beware. So, many Christians just band together and get into House Churches.... where 4-5 family can all meet for Christians songs, prayers, music, and Bible study, conducted by one elder [at least] who knows the Bible well.
Warm Regards,
Thomas G Schuckman
Email: tschuckman@aol.com
Do You Have to Go to Church to Be a Good Christian?
From time to time, someone objects to the need to attend church regularly. They say they can be good Christians without participating in church. I don’t agree.
The Bible encourages church attendance. The letter to the Hebrews states: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24-25).We see in the Bible the example of the apostles and disciples meeting together in worship and fellowship regularly.
Trending: Congressmen Drops 50 Page BOMB on Bobby Mueller, Dems FREAK! But why do people skip church? I read recently an interesting anecdote at sermonillustrations.com, where a pastor asked in effect, What if we treated going to church like going to sports events? With tongue-in-check, the pastor declared he’s had it with sports:
“Want to know why? ….
“Every time I went, they asked me for money.
“The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly.
“The seats were too hard and not at all comfortable.
“I went to many games, but the coach never came to call on me.
“The referee made a decision with which I could not agree.
“I suspected that I was sitting with some hypocrites—they came to see their friends and what others were wearing rather than to see the game.
“Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home.
“The band played some numbers that I had never heard before.
“It seems that the games are scheduled when I want to do other things.
“I was taken to too many games by my parents when I was growing up.
“I don’t want to take my children to any games, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.”
In short, if you’re looking for an excuse to miss church, virtually anything will do.
Dr. D. James Kennedy made an interesting comment about attending church or the lack thereof.
He said, “Though reared in Sunday school and church as a child, as soon as able, in my early teens, I squawked loudly enough that my parents quit sending me (note well: ‘sending’ me), and for ten years I had nothing to do with Christ. Oh, I sought my pleasures, my fulfillment, my joy, the meaning in my life in all of the things of this world and found, I thought, some little satisfaction in it all. But I could go day after day, week after week, month after month, without ever giving Christ one single thought, and yet, if you were to ask me if I were a Christian, believe it or not, I would have said yes.”
Kennedy did not go to church because he did not want to go to church. When he got converted and his heart was changed, God changed his “wanter” (his term), and now he wanted to go to church…to hear God’s Word, to praise Him, to be with God’s people.
There’s an old statement among the nominal parishioners of the Church of England that the role of the Church is to help people get “hatched, matched, dispatched.” That is, they get baptized when born. They get married in the church. They have their funerals in the church. But in the meantime, the church has little relevance to them. How sad.
I have found many personal benefits from attending church, from participating in corporate worship, including many encouraging messages.
I find the music very uplifting. The church where I serve uses traditional and classical music. It also makes a difference to be a part of a corporate body of believers to hold each other up in prayer and accountability.
We don’t go to church per se for the benefits it may cause us. But I have mentioned in this column before that researcher Dr. Byron Johnson from Baylor University has found that on average, when a white American attends church on a regular basis, he adds seven years to his life. When an African-American attends church on a regular basis, he adds 14 years to his life.
But most importantly, there’s no indication in the Bible that one can truly be a Christian while regularly separating from God’s people—the church. The church is where all of the “one anothers” of Scripture (e.g., “Love one another,” “pray for one another,” “bear with one another”) are lived out. And the Apostle John warns that we cannot claim to love God if we reject each other, adding, “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12).
Church attendance and participation is a good thing all around—and it’s not optional for the Christian.
###
Jerry Newcombe, D.Min., is an on-air host/senior producer for D. James Kennedy Ministries. He has written/co-written 29 books, e.g., The Unstoppable Jesus Christ, Doubting Thomas (w/ Mark Beliles, on Jefferson), and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (w/ D. James Kennedy) & the bestseller, George Washington’s Sacred Fire (w/ Peter Lillback) djkm.org @newcombejerry
www.jerrynewcombe.com
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