This past weekend I was able to view live stream preaching at a conference that took place in Pasadena, CA. I did not pay to view all sessions but was able to see the evening sessions that were no fee to watch. There were great sessions but the 1 that stood out to me the most was when Mario Murillo preached. He preaches with truth and speaks with truth. I think I also watched a portion of him preaching a second time. I was in search of what he shared about the modern day church so I could jot down a few notes. He was spot on when he shared how there are nowadays "commercial buildings with crosses on them and they don't need big screens, skinny jeans & fog machines." He also shared, "He who opposes tyranny is serving God." He even delved into this ... "Evangelical leaders that voted for Joe Biden how can you endorse abortion like that-how can you destroy marriage if you knew disaster was going to come. There are real prophets & non prophets. Some churches are built on air marketing & human personality. A purifying storm is coming. The church needs to understand what they are doing warning before the times are coming. Preachers need to live by right values and the young preachers stop learning the ways to sustain celebrity." Now that was my compilation of notes I took and not all said in onetime at the same time ok.
When I lived in Ohio I went to see the actual church in Oberlin, Ohio where Charles Finney preached. The person that showed me around the church even let me stand behind his pulpit to see what he saw when he looked at the congregation. I was told he had it built so he could look into the eyes of the congregation as he preached. When he saw sin he called it out. How can you see the eyes of your congregation when overhead lights are turned off and bright lights are in your eyes as you stand on the stage you are preaching from? That concept has baffled me for quite some time now. It is as though churches want to have the look, feel of a nightclub atmosphere as opposed to a church setting preaching with the lights on. Allowing the preacher to look into the eyes of their congregation.
If there is nothing to hide then why are the lights turned off or dimmed during the church service? I could just imagine Charles Finney walking into one of these services and questioning is this church? These are my thoughts but I went to the church he preached in and none of this was going on in that church a few years ago. I also went a few times to Finney Chapel on the campus of Oberlin College. It is a small chapel and has lots of stone work inside the chapel. I even went on a few occasions to the cemetery where he is buried. I do beleive he would rollover in his grave or something like that (how the expression goes) if he saw the state of some churches today. Church is church and quit trying to make it look like a nightclub atmosphere to please people ok.
I first expereinced this type of church setting when I lived in the Atlanta region. People I knew said I had to go to I beleive the church name was 12 Stone. I went one Sunday and could not beleive I walked into a dark church that looked like the interior of a nightclub. They did not turn the overhead lights on at all. That really baffled me. Then at the close of the service there was no invitation to invite Jesus into your heart. An altar call that is. This bothered me to the point that after church I went to one of their hospitality kiosks and asked why there is no altar call. It was explained that if people wanted prayer there were people to pray with them. Hello, if there is no altar call then how do you know you need salvation, common sense, common sense. I then explained to them that I was trained that anytime a church has a service there should be an altar call even if it is for the 1 that responds to the invitation. I am almost positive and comfortable saying not everyone that attends a church service is saved do you agree? There could be guests, first time visitors amongst the church family members. So, what if that 1 person was reaching out and inquiring if Jesus is real or not and you do not give them the opportunity to get to know Jesus, sorry state some of our churches are in do you agree. Straighten up church and teach the word of God and not any of that fluff kind of stuff. Heaven and hell are real and you have your own free will to choose where you want to live for all eternity. Will it be heaven or hell, the choice really is yours. Choose wisely for this is the outcome you will choose for all eternity.
While seeing the church in Oberlin, the person showed me the room behind the sanctuary and I still recall the portrait you walked by of Charles Finney. He had powerful looking eyes that were captured in the portrait. I can see that when he looked into your eyes and saw sin he called it forth so you would repent of your ways and turn back to God's ways. Where are these type of preachers today? One more thought, he did not care who you were or your title per say he spoke the word of God and only the word of God. I do not understand when people that flow in the prophetic only seem to give prophetic words to people they are connected to or know at gatherings. What ever happened to prophetic words flowing to people you do not know and truly do need to hear a word of confirmation in their life? Is their lives not on the mind of God and only the well known receiving words on the mind of God. I do beleive I also signed the guest book when I went to the church in Oberlin. At one time I would attend a church that met I do beleive it was at The Oberlin Inn and flowed in the word of God and Holy Spirit moving in that church. One of the church teaching pastors at the main church I attended at the time started a church with his wife. I wonder if they still have that church today. Maybe I need to make a visit back home to revisit some of these places again?
Before I ever began to write today 4/14/2021 I was in the word of God. Something Judy Jacobs touched upon in regard to the plague of the frogs in Exodus 8. She wondered why Pharaoh said to pray for the plague to stop "tomorrow." Why didn't he want it to stop right then and there? I then sought out in Numbers 16 about Korah's Rebellion because I ask the Lord how easy it would be for Him to open up the earth like it happened then and swallow up the people that are not with God. He is a God of love and justice. He has compassion and wants all that will call upon the name of Jesus to be saved and not be condemned for all eternity to hell.
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