EvangeLies: Do You Even Bible, Bro?!

Apparently, Joel does not...

(cf. Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:35)

SDG,
Shon

J.O. (An Open Letter)

"As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear."  - 1 Timothy 5:20 ESV

You've been lying a long time
Selling people the wrong kind
Of faith - it's unkind
Pumping poison into their minds
It's the blind leading the blind
A rocket ship to perdition
Dope lines and a nice smile
Without the slightest hint of contrition

I'm suspicious -
That's not in the Bible
Your rhetoric's become an idol
An opiate of false hope
For the masses who eagerly swallow -
Down the hatch, check the latch
Katie's barred the doors to heaven
Convinced them they're living in victory
But the sacrament you feed them is leaven

No need for flesh and blood
Just tell people what's good
Speaking promise into the lives
Of those who've never understood
The battle of attrition -
A will unwilling to submit
To the truth about the God who's there
And the final fate that awaits the sinner

So they don't want the Father
They want a vending machine
And Jesus suffered and died
So we could have nicer things
And the Holy Ghost is reduced
To being the author of confusion
Long gone is the Hound of Heaven...
He's just a U.N. interpreter trying to fool you

You're an evangelical pragmatist
Simon Magus meets the alchemist
Feeding egos may be your steelo
But your breadth of theology is ridiculousness
Short-sighted, misguided
Out of context and never striving
To find the truth within the text
You don't rightly divide; you just contrive it

And no, you're not the only one
There's plenty others just like you
Who deny the merit of the Cross
Through sensuality and false virtue
So I urge you - return to the path of old
And be healed of your pathological need to please
Abandon "discovering the champion in you"
For finding a life that's hidden in Jesus


(cf. Ezekiel 22:28; Matt. 7:15; Acts 20:28-30)


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Ain't No Pastor

“…For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”
(Jude 1:4 ESV)

Wake up, you sleepy heads!
And before you let “amen”
Leave your lips
You need to seriously reconsider
What’s being said because…

THOSE WORDS ARE DEAD.

And that ain’t no pastor
That’s an actor –
That’s why he's woofin’ and wailin’
It’s all just a performance
To keep you from paying attention
To what he’s really saying
He could’ve said, “I’m Sarah Palin!”
And everybody would still be swayin’
But if you listen with discernment
You’d know this dude is whack
‘Cause he says
If you want God to bless you
Then you gotta earn it, jack

That ain’t no pastor
Sure, he’s “preachin’”
But he’s reachin’
Way out of context
With the scripture that he’s readin’
Faith like a mustard seed
Has nothing to do
With how wide I’m willin’ to
Open up my checkbook
It’s believing that
The Lord is my trust fall
So I don’t even have to look

That ain’t no pastor
And what you’re hearing
Is not a sermon
That’s not Holy Ghost fire, Homey
He’s got a mouth like a furnace
A fire-breathing dragon
With no capacity to be honest
Ready to scatter the flock like ashes
And many will never see it comin’

No, these aren’t pastors
At best, they’re bastardized renditions
The agony of deceit –
Full of hypocrisy and omission
Please, take up and read
Don’t let your souls be led astray
‘Cause every dog will have its day
To tragically discover
Exactly how its own vomit tastes…

(cf. Isaiah 51:17; 1 Cor. 15:34; Revelation 3:2, 3; Lamentations 2:14; Ezekiel 13:9, 22:28; Matthew 7:15, 24:11-24; Luke 6:26; John 5:39-44; Acts 17:10-11, 20:29-30; 2 Peter 2:1, 18-22; 1 John 4:1)


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Ground Zero: Modern "Evangelism" v. The Gospel

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  - (Jude 1:3-4 ESV)




(cf. Judges 21:25; Luke 3:9; 2 Timothy 4:3; 1 John 2:19; Revelation 14:13)


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Precipice

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  - (Jude 1:3-4 ESV)

 

We are on the precipice of an exodus...

The stuff we’re hearing out of most modern-day pulpits

Amounts to an epic fail

Pastors pontificating on bar stools

Telling old wives’ tales

Not intoxicated by the Word

But drunk off of themselves

Proper prophesying

Appears to be a dying art form

While the power of positive thinking
And prosperity of wealth are the norm

We are on the precipice...

The pursuit of Truth has been relegated to the shelf
As these wolves in stealth mode are pointing the flock
In the direction of the self-help section
They've got new laws to cover your flaws
Telling me that my excellence is in my ability to excel at Lent
And that when I survey the wondrous cross
I can bet my last dollar that the Lord wants me to be rich

Rob Bell says to just say no to the notion of Hell
And Joel Osteen says I can have it all and have it right now
(Did I forget to mention that both of those are bestsellers?)
Oh well - Farewell to the deferred gratification
Of being face to face with the Savior
And since everybody wins
There's no need to repent
For our misguided thinking and behavior

We are on the precipice...

Of becoming obsolete

Watered down like a sandcastle edifice

And now the dry bones are starting to surface

As the evidence to our detriment

The axe has been laid at the root

John the Baptist said it first

And if he was alive today

They'd still be trying to put that dude

In a pine box and a hearse

"Off with his head!"

But blessed are the dead

Those who die in the Lord from now on

We are on the precipice of a resurrection...

But I thought you knew that all along?!

(cf. Judges 21:25; Luke 3:9; 2 Timothy 4:3; 1 John 2:19; Revelation 14:13)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon