One of my favorite topics.
Mega-Churches (or at least the ones I’m thinking of) are God’s judgment on this Nation. God is saying to this Nation, you don’t want to hear the unadulterated word of God, fine than here you go the; “The Word of the Flesh”.
The Mega-Church I’m thinking of has over 45,000 people every weekend. I’ve listened to hours and hours of this pastors sermons (if you can call them that) and none of it Biblical; (e.g. “You can have your best life now”, “God can help you with your checkbook”, “God can help you with that next big job promotion”, “God wants you to be rich beyond your wildest dreams”). This pastor actually teaches out of his books and not the Bible. It works for ME (pastor) and MY family and it can work for you too. I (pastor) live in a $10 million dollar mansion, you can have what I have.
This pastor uses a lot of reference to the self; (e.g. I, Me, We, You, Them, Us, They, etc.) because it’s all about “ME” and not God. Well yes God, but only in respect of what He can do for ME. Just for fun once I counted during a half-hour sermon all the references to the self; (e.g. I, Me, We, You, etc. ), and counted 340 times. The most shocking thing I found was the name of my Lord Jesus was only mentioned one time?
Comparison contrast to the greatest preacher that ever lived, Lord Jesus. When Lord Jesus taught the 5,000 men; (including women and children more like 15,000), He rebuked them, He preached His hard sayings, and they all went away grumbling, only the 12 remained.
Out of 15,000 people only the 12 remained…
Maybe if Jesus wore a fancy suit, or maybe had coffee houses, or maybe books to sell, or maybe rock music, or maybe focused more on what the people want and not the things of God, or maybe if Jesus lived in the equivalent of a $10 million dollar mansion for that time, Jesus may have been more successful as a preacher.
When I see all these Gimmicks at so called Churches or Mega-Churches my first inclination is to run, because God isn’t there and the things of God aren’t being taught there, it’s a judgment on this Nation and that is not where I want to be.