Comments on: Wanted: An Old Fashioned Church.

By: howard

howard — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:09:06 +0000

zhara, i gess you don,t read your bible, what ingrid is saying is we go to church to worship the kings of kings, we don,t go to here drums so loud we have to plug our ears, to see young people with jeans on with holes in them caps on playing noise called music. or women dress like someone on street corner, minnie skirts, so much makeup on thay look like a christmas tree. men whereing old boots and looking like a hermet, young people with the center of there jeans almost touching the floor.. anyone comeing to the temple of lord can do better than that. and you and everyone else should know that.. we are bring the world into the church. that is not what GOD wants..

By: Zhara

Zhara — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:57:03 +0000

I don’t overly agree with this…some points yes. But I think we all have to remember that God doesn’t need us to stand up and sing, sit down, stand up… He just desires us to willing meet with his people to learn, to build each other up, to reach out to the people around us. I think God wants us to let go of all the earthly things we cling to, like our belief that “church has to be THIS way, or else its not honouring God” and embrace worshiping God how HE wants. Not how we want.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:26:07 +0000

I do not write this with the intention to cause division or strife, but when my Lord places a message on my heart I cannot keep quiet.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
James 1:27

It breaks my heart to see that in a world where majority of the global population lives in poverty and war, where orphans are ignored and widows are left vulnerable, where most children don’t even have the luxury of clean drinking water, where women are raped and husbands are killed… Those who claim to be FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST actually waste their precious time, a limited commodity given to them by God, complaining about having to “sing songs off a wall, the same five notes, over and over and over and over again.” Really? I don’t think this is the great tragedy that our Lord is mourning over. What did Jesus spend His time on Earth doing? Did it have anything to do with correcting music or clothing choices among His followers? I just don’t understand the church’s preoccupation with petty matters that aren’t given ANY attention by the Savior they claim to worship or the scriptures they claim to follow. Is this really the message you want the pastors to preach “till their voice is gone?”

What message did Jesus preach until HIS voice was gone? Can’t you hear His holy voice, while He knocks so persistently on your door? Read your Bible. Align your heart with the true and scriptural passions and sorrows of God. Make a real difference in this world, and eternity, for Christ!

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
John 4:23

By: howard

howard — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:21:57 +0000

i wish every church in canada and the usa. would get this sent to there pastors, and then have the pastors preach it till there voice is gone, then mabay people will get the mesg.

By: laurie

laurie — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:13:33 +0000

Ingrid is right on the mark with this, so many professing believers have forgotten what ‘reverence’ means. We take lightly the holiness of our Great and Awesome God. To fall down prostrate before Him is unheard of in this self-centered society. To cover one’s self in dust and ashes would be too demeaning to the ego. When a truly godly man or woman, such as Ingrid, brings to light our Christianity ‘lite’, the first accusation that flies out of many mouths is, ‘this person is causing division’. NONSENSE! It is not about us, it is about worshiping a HOLY GOD!!! Where is the fear, where is the reverence due? How many truly understand the character of God, His mercy, His holiness, His grace, His power, His patience?
Re-read Ingrid’s post, she does NOT say putting an arm around a loved one is taboo. She says,” I also don’t want to see all the variations on lovers’ back rubs where Chuck and Sue take turns massaging each other’s neck and shoulders during the sermon so everyone behind them is completely distracted.” Let’s refrain from adding to or taking away from the original post!
When we ‘read’ more into something that what’s actually there, that may be where the accusation of ‘division’ comes from.
We would all be blessed by studying each character of God; Paul Washer has a study entitled ‘the One True God’ which will bless all who partake of it. His sermon, ‘the ten indictments’ will also bless all who hear.

By: Brother Aaron

Brother Aaron — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:26:44 +0000

When I go to church, am I worshiping God to “get something” out of it? Is that my motive? Or am I going there to WORSHIP HIM? To offer my best to HIM? Too many me-centered churches with little or no expository PREACHING from the Bible creates weak, flaccid and numb “Christians” who offer polluted and confused sacrifices to the LORD. And there will be tares among the wheat! There will be a great falling away. Jesus asks, “will I find faith in the world?” A revival, if we are to see revival, has to bring proper worship back to GOD. How do we know what God expects of us in our worship, and in His church? Read what He says in Malachi:

Malachi 1:7-14 – “Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand. For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name [shall be] great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible. Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD. But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen. “

By: Tanya

Tanya — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:57:50 +0000

I can’t speak for Ingrid but personally I believe that she was not talking about a homeless man coming in or someone wearing jeans because thats all they had to wear. The majority of youth today just want to look cool and are more concerned about popularity than doing what God would have them to do. Most people can afford a simple modest dress, skirt, or pair of khakis. You don’t have to be rich to dress appropriately. My husband gets his church clothes from the Salvation army thrift store! The point is if we are there to worship the Lord its not about a fashion show or being cool its about God and being obedient to Him. Our culture has completely forgotten a little word called modesty. We should be more concerned about causing our brothers to stumble than worrying about whether or not we look “hot”. Simple modest attire should be the norm for worship.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:16:42 +0000

Apologize for spelling Ingrid Shuleters name incorrectly! Sorry!

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:09:56 +0000

i agree with Sarah, I think there are some truths in Ms. Schulers letter, I disagree with many other points in the letter as well. I think most of it is petty criticism, that continues to divide the church. I think it echoes a poetic longing for the heart of every believer to consider there worship experience under the word and spiritual song. We must remember that we are the church when we gather, not in a building that houses us. Plow and plow with the Word of God and then you will have hearts turn to a reverence of the Lord. God looks at the heart, not what we wear! Tell that to the homeless man that walks into Jim Cymbala’s church..Jim writes in his book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, pg142-143.

“David sensed the change in me. He moved toward me and fell on my chest, burying his grimy head against my white shirt and tie. Holding him close, I talked to him about Jesus’ loves. These weren’t just words; I felt them. I felt love for this pitiful man. And the smell…I don’t know how to explain it. It had almost made me sick, but now it became the most beautiful fragrance to me. I revealed in what had been repulsive just moments ago. “The Lord seemed to say to me in that instant, Jim, if you and your wife have any value to me, if you have any purpose in my work-it has to do with this odor. This is the smell of the world I died for.”

Does the Lord care what we wear? Yes I believe He does; I believe we must wear our best of what we have and what we can afford. If I lean over and hold my wife’s hand or put my arm around her during a message that speaks to us! maybe we should consider that there could be a man and a wife feuding, and it could be a reminder for him to forgive, to love and lead his own wife!

My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the find clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place”, while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there”, or “sit down at my feet”, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? James 2:1-4

I think Eph 5:23-33 sums it up.

We must remember to offer God our obedience rather than our sacrifices. Ms Shulters letter sounds like more of a sacrifice than heartfelt obedience.

Plus watch out for those old fashion church’s, you may sit in someones “seat” like I did couple of weeks ago…I got daggers thrown at me from a elderly woman! LOL! I didn’t know! Boy she was upset with me…I could tell.:) But no harm no foul!

Blessings
Mike

By: sarah

sarah — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:24:00 +0000

although i agree with some of the points, it sounds like the worship service ms. schuler is looking for an experience that will edify HER rather than hundreds of other young people or new Christians. let it never become about self for the Church will continue to die.

also, those worship team kids who looks like they fell out of bed like that- they spend twice the time you or i do in the bathroom to get to looking like that!!

By: Ann-Elise

Ann-Elise — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:06:08 +0000

Wonderfully written. So refreshingly honest and so sound.

Exactly what many of us are crying out to God for.

Thank you.

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:59:04 +0000

This person is looking for exactly what I was looking for until just last year. And I found it! Not in the apostate Roman Catholic Church and not in one of the thousands of faiths that have sprung up in response to the apostate Roman church.

I found it in the Holy Orthodox Christian Church, which has preserved unchanged the faith of the Apostles since Pentecost. It is the most holy, reverent, exciting, dynamic, Christ-centered faith I have found.

Come and see!