There has been a shift from preachers 100 & 200 years ago such as Charles Spurgeon, Arthur Pink, Matthew Henry, AW Tozer, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Lloyd Jones ect…. All these had an an emphasis on their preaching and teaching about who God is in Christ to man. Today, the emphasis has turned on who man is to be to God, if he is truly in Christ. The people of old were taught to leave their church services with their eyes gazed upon Christ. Today we leave our services with our eyes gazed upon ourselves.
Did the preachers preach the gospel of Jesus christ, Christ crucified and death burial and resurrection? If they did They are True followers of Christ Jesus!
@@deannalindsey7888 Unfortunately, many of them taught "Only a pre-selected/pre-chosen elect few will irresistibly turn to Christ & all others can't... if they weren't elect"... that is not biblical & has caused many to go through deconstructionism of their beliefs in God. Calvinism is very different from scripture.
@@mikelyons2831 Matthew 7:13 -14 Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.
@@mikelyons2831 I’m not a Calvinist, but I think you misunderstood thier doctrine. It’s not that they “can’t”. It’s that they “won’t” and therefore they can’t 😅. For a man cannot do willingly what he has no desire to do.
As a new believer in 1980 I was taught and trained to be complete self- absorbed and always failing. I was so abused by this I started having panic attacks and eventually quit attending church. I thank God for Spurgeon, Owen, Sinclair Ferguson Alistair Begg as well as other Puritan authors I’m reading daily that have brought me back to trusting Gods compassion, mercy and faithfulness to me throughout my wilderness journey. Thanks guys 😊
I struggled with addiction. Went to rehab. When I came home looking for help from my church. I got none. I was told to leave! They couldn’t believe a saved person could be an addict
This is heartbreaking to hear. I go to a church that actually started as a big Celebrate Recovery meeting and we just celebrated our 20 year anniversary. I would say about 20% of the congregation attends celebrate recovery including one of our lead pastors who was a horrible alcoholic for years. This fact brings so much humility to the preaching and teaching we receive. I am so grateful for my church and really wish there were more like it because it has made such a major impact on how we as a church view Christ and our relationship to Him. I pray that you find a church that welcomes you as a sinner in need of redemption and not as a bad person who deserves condemnation. 🙏
My wife and I felt this was becoming a big issue at our church back in North Carolina. The associate pastor, who was our small group leader, preached Matthew 7:22-23 almost every time we met! the worst example of this, was when he questioned our Christianity, if we could go into a Chick-Fil-A and care more about eating a chicken sandwich, then about preaching the gospel to the many people there who were dying and going to hell! BTW, this church was one of the largest churches in the state!
Yes exactly. This is a standard that not even Jesus Himself met. It's an attitude that's convinced that every nanosecond that isn't filled with " explicitly good Christian activity", like evangelism, is sinful. I used to think this way, for sure. It's unhelpful and a burden that not even God has placed on His people.
And yet Jesus says that He brings REST and His burden is LIGHT and His yoke is EASY. And thus is the problem with modern Christianity. It’s all guilt, shame and fear. We have lost the good news. What is being taught is nothing more than Islam or Judaism today. It’s practically indistinguishable.
1 Timothy 1:15 ESV The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
Hold up, not sure who specifically you are referencing in the CN debate but I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the arguments. They/we want Christian morality upheld in the public sphere not in place of being compassionate to the lost but as a means of being compassionate to the lost. See Calvin’s 3 uses of the law. I believe one use is also to keep sinners from doing further damage to themselves by searing their consciences. None of the political opinions of Christian Nationalists that I’ve seen has been a replacement for personal compassion to the lost. You have to be able to speak in categories. Furthermore, defending our freedom to assemble and preach the gospel is not just defending our own rights but it is also good for the sinner so that they can hear the gospel! The best place for a non Christian to live is in a robust Christian nation. Let me know if I’m understanding you correctly. Thank you brothers.
Many have corrupted the Gospel of salvation and do not know that we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. He paid our payment for our sin debt in full through His death, burial, and resurrection. We are to believe in faith that Christ died our death so that we could obtain a righteousness that we could not obtain on our own to be reconciled to a holy Father. Many churches are teaching a works-based Gospel or backloading it. The Gospel is Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection. 1Cor 15:1-4 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Eph 2:8-9
@@orangeandslinky He isn't. The Church cannot apostatize. Protestantism just isn't the Church, any more than Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons are. Only Eastern Orthodoxy is the Church.
@@EpistemicAnthony I never read that in the bible. Only the Eastern Orthodoxy is the church? Here is my question. What are somethings that God DOES NOT know about His creation?
@@orangeandslinky I am not Reformed and do not agree with the Calvinist definition of sovereignty. However, I love the brothers of Theocast and believe they are preaching sound truth of the Gospel and God's grace. To answer your question, in my humble opinion,I believe there are many reasons people are leaving churches and abandoning their faith, primarily due to the wreckless teachings of church leaders and members. I think the emotional abuse toward new believers who do not quickly conform to behavioral changes and who are subjected to harsh judgments from self- righteous church members can foster fear of failure, create disappointment, and cause abandonment. The expectations of what one must do to be saved and what one must do to maintain salvation has been abused to the fullest extent, neither position of which I agree. The spotlight has been taken off of Christ for a person's salvation and off the Holy Spirit for sanctification.
The reason this is happening is because Protestantism is at its core a reactionary movement, and so it is a constant chain of pendulum swings to extremes. Luther has anxiety, and feels great pressure from the errant focus Roman Catholicism puts on works and merit. Thus, Luther reacts by formulating "sola fide," a new interpretation of scripture. Newfound moral freedom for Protestants thanks to Sola Fide causes a lack of focus on holy living. This lack of moral rigor then inspires pietistic movements. The pressure of pietism causes more anxiety, which then results in movements that once again emphasize sola fide. The reactionary and compassion-oriented nature of these more recent movements leaves them unable to answer questions such as "are works optional for Christians?" The solution to this is to return to the strong root of the faith, which is Holy Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy strikes the balance perfectly, and avoids the accretions and errors of the later Roman Catholic Church and the unfortunate deletions that Protestants reasonably felt they had to make after witnessing the great errors of Rome.
Brothers, calling sin, sin, is not sin. I am so tired of this cowardice, fence sitting many in the church have engaged in the last 100+ years. And I'm tired of the apparent lazy critique of other Christians. Yes, the world is walking according to the prince of the air, the world is dead in sin, and by nature, children of wrath and enslaved to sin, but I'm sure you understand Romans 5. This condemns the world. Is it wrong to call out sin? Is it wrong for God to judge a people whose wills are enslaved to sin and can only sin? No, it is not, and it is not wrong to hold up the standard of righteousness, nor does this lack compassion. The Law of God is good, true and beautiful and while we are not justified nor sanctified by it, we do not dispose of it, for to be conformed to the image of Christ is to be conformed to His character, which is reflected in Gods Law. Christian Nationalism has no uniform definition, but some of those who fall into this camp absolutely have compassion, and show it in their actions. I will remind you that apart from the Law, the Gospel is nothing, because apart from the Law, the Gospel is a grandfather god, who just looks the other way. Compassion means rightly distinguishing between Law and Gospel, and preaching both, Law first, then Gospel. Be careful that in your contempt for CT, and likely Doug Wilson, you don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Except you have clearly forgotten you were once just like them. Labeling sin as sin does nothing on its own. The world needs Jesus. It's your job to preach Him. Unfortunately, this kind of elitist mentality is where Calvinism leads. It leads to people who look at others with contempt, believing themselves to be better, and no motivation to preach the gospel. People like you it sounds like. Unfortunately, the heart of Christ is absent in most of Christianity.
@@medic4christ777 You proved the point I was making. You gave me the Label of Calvinist and developed a straw man and silenced me as un loving , you say, the heart of Christianity is absent. So my question, would you say, No Calvinist in heaven? They don’t preach Christ and don’t have a high view of Jesus and His word? If the heart of Christ is absent in most Christianity are you questioning their faith? Sounds like something a Calvinist would say. Just saying.
@@davidelgeti517 I wasn’t speaking to you. I was speaking to the obvious Calvinist original commenter. I know he is a Calvinist, not because I assumed, but because he stated their clear theology. Why are you making this about you? I wasn’t speaking to you…. I do not agree with Calvinist theology. But I do agree with the Calvinist brothers making this very video. And they do seem to have a good grasp on the gospel. Do I think some Calvinists preach and promote a false gospel? Yes. But these brothers seem to have it down. And I agree with what they have said here. Let me also add that I am guilty and convicted by what they have said here.
@@medic4christ777 because it appears on my phone as a reply to my post. Sorry for my mistake. I not sure why it appears like that, I am a little challenged when it comes to technology.
Something is seriously wrong with this Now I am assuming you are pointing to Christian nationalist because that is what you are so tired of. Reading between the lines it seems that you believe what is wrong can be summarized by Christian nationalism. You never define Christ nationalism other than it is wrong by calling out sin in away that is less than Christ like. There are many definitions of Christian nationalism, it is a label largely used by its critics to straw man conservative Christians. You lump a lot Christians in a category that at best is used as a way to silence those that are not in line with your way of thinking and practice. I see labels like Christian nationalism being used in a way to divide the Church politically and theologically. Christianity needs to careful treading in these waters. May Christian wisdom bring unity in these days.
There has been a shift from preachers 100 & 200 years ago such as Charles Spurgeon, Arthur Pink, Matthew Henry, AW Tozer, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Lloyd Jones ect…. All these had an an emphasis on their preaching and teaching about who God is in Christ to man. Today, the emphasis has turned on who man is to be to God, if he is truly in Christ. The people of old were taught to leave their church services with their eyes gazed upon Christ. Today we leave our services with our eyes gazed upon ourselves.
All of those except for Tozer, were Calvinists you know?
Did the preachers preach the gospel of Jesus christ, Christ crucified and death burial and resurrection? If they did They are True followers of Christ Jesus!
@@deannalindsey7888 Unfortunately, many of them taught "Only a pre-selected/pre-chosen elect few will irresistibly turn to Christ & all others can't... if they weren't elect"... that is not biblical & has caused many to go through deconstructionism of their beliefs in God. Calvinism is very different from scripture.
@@mikelyons2831 Matthew 7:13 -14 Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.
@@mikelyons2831 I’m not a Calvinist, but I think you misunderstood thier doctrine. It’s not that they “can’t”. It’s that they “won’t” and therefore they can’t 😅. For a man cannot do willingly what he has no desire to do.
As a new believer in 1980 I was taught and trained to be complete self- absorbed and always failing. I was so abused by this I started having panic attacks and eventually quit attending church. I thank God for Spurgeon, Owen, Sinclair Ferguson Alistair Begg as well as other Puritan authors I’m reading daily that have brought me back to trusting Gods compassion, mercy and faithfulness to me throughout my wilderness journey. Thanks guys 😊
I struggled with addiction. Went to rehab. When I came home looking for help from my church. I got none. I was told to leave! They couldn’t believe a saved person could be an addict
Wow!
That's why Christ reigns supreme in all aspects of my life, especially concerning the uncompasionat!
God bless!
This is heartbreaking to hear. I go to a church that actually started as a big Celebrate Recovery meeting and we just celebrated our 20 year anniversary. I would say about 20% of the congregation attends celebrate recovery including one of our lead pastors who was a horrible alcoholic for years. This fact brings so much humility to the preaching and teaching we receive. I am so grateful for my church and really wish there were more like it because it has made such a major impact on how we as a church view Christ and our relationship to Him. I pray that you find a church that welcomes you as a sinner in need of redemption and not as a bad person who deserves condemnation. 🙏
My wife and I felt this was becoming a big issue at our church back in North Carolina. The associate pastor, who was our small group leader, preached Matthew 7:22-23 almost every time we met! the worst example of this, was when he questioned our Christianity, if we could go into a Chick-Fil-A and care more about eating a chicken sandwich, then about preaching the gospel to the many people there who were dying and going to hell! BTW, this church was one of the largest churches in the state!
Yes exactly. This is a standard that not even Jesus Himself met. It's an attitude that's convinced that every nanosecond that isn't filled with " explicitly good Christian activity", like evangelism, is sinful. I used to think this way, for sure. It's unhelpful and a burden that not even God has placed on His people.
And yet Jesus says that He brings REST and His burden is LIGHT and His yoke is EASY. And thus is the problem with modern Christianity. It’s all guilt, shame and fear. We have lost the good news. What is being taught is nothing more than Islam or Judaism today. It’s practically indistinguishable.
1 Timothy 1:15 ESV
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.
As I’m listening to this, I’m thinking about Doug Wilson and you guys needing to have a conversation with him.
Hold up, not sure who specifically you are referencing in the CN debate but I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the arguments. They/we want Christian morality upheld in the public sphere not in place of being compassionate to the lost but as a means of being compassionate to the lost. See Calvin’s 3 uses of the law. I believe one use is also to keep sinners from doing further damage to themselves by searing their consciences. None of the political opinions of Christian Nationalists that I’ve seen has been a replacement for personal compassion to the lost. You have to be able to speak in categories. Furthermore, defending our freedom to assemble and preach the gospel is not just defending our own rights but it is also good for the sinner so that they can hear the gospel! The best place for a non Christian to live is in a robust Christian nation. Let me know if I’m understanding you correctly. Thank you brothers.
Why do you think Jesus said only a few will be saved and most people will go the way of destruction?
Many have corrupted the Gospel of salvation and do not know that we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. He paid our payment for our sin debt in full through His death, burial, and resurrection. We are to believe in faith that Christ died our death so that we could obtain a righteousness that we could not obtain on our own to be reconciled to a holy Father. Many churches are teaching a works-based Gospel or backloading it. The Gospel is Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection. 1Cor 15:1-4
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Eph 2:8-9
@@lai7527 I agree. Why do you think God is letting the Apostasy of the church happen?
@@orangeandslinky He isn't. The Church cannot apostatize. Protestantism just isn't the Church, any more than Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons are. Only Eastern Orthodoxy is the Church.
@@EpistemicAnthony I never read that in the bible. Only the Eastern Orthodoxy is the church? Here is my question. What are somethings that God DOES NOT know about His creation?
@@orangeandslinky
I am not Reformed and do not agree with the Calvinist definition of sovereignty. However, I love the brothers of Theocast and believe they are preaching sound truth of the Gospel and God's grace.
To answer your question, in my humble opinion,I believe there are many reasons people are leaving churches and abandoning their faith, primarily due to the wreckless teachings of church leaders and members. I think the emotional abuse toward new believers who do not quickly conform to behavioral changes and who are subjected to harsh judgments from self- righteous church members can foster fear of failure, create disappointment, and cause abandonment. The expectations of what one must do to be saved and what one must do to maintain salvation has been abused to the fullest extent, neither position of which I agree. The spotlight has been taken off of Christ for a person's salvation and off the Holy Spirit for sanctification.
The reason this is happening is because Protestantism is at its core a reactionary movement, and so it is a constant chain of pendulum swings to extremes.
Luther has anxiety, and feels great pressure from the errant focus Roman Catholicism puts on works and merit.
Thus, Luther reacts by formulating "sola fide," a new interpretation of scripture.
Newfound moral freedom for Protestants thanks to Sola Fide causes a lack of focus on holy living.
This lack of moral rigor then inspires pietistic movements.
The pressure of pietism causes more anxiety, which then results in movements that once again emphasize sola fide.
The reactionary and compassion-oriented nature of these more recent movements leaves them unable to answer questions such as "are works optional for Christians?"
The solution to this is to return to the strong root of the faith, which is Holy Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy strikes the balance perfectly, and avoids the accretions and errors of the later Roman Catholic Church and the unfortunate deletions that Protestants reasonably felt they had to make after witnessing the great errors of Rome.
Brothers, calling sin, sin, is not sin. I am so tired of this cowardice, fence sitting many in the church have engaged in the last 100+ years. And I'm tired of the apparent lazy critique of other Christians. Yes, the world is walking according to the prince of the air, the world is dead in sin, and by nature, children of wrath and enslaved to sin, but I'm sure you understand Romans 5. This condemns the world. Is it wrong to call out sin? Is it wrong for God to judge a people whose wills are enslaved to sin and can only sin? No, it is not, and it is not wrong to hold up the standard of righteousness, nor does this lack compassion. The Law of God is good, true and beautiful and while we are not justified nor sanctified by it, we do not dispose of it, for to be conformed to the image of Christ is to be conformed to His character, which is reflected in Gods Law. Christian Nationalism has no uniform definition, but some of those who fall into this camp absolutely have compassion, and show it in their actions. I will remind you that apart from the Law, the Gospel is nothing, because apart from the Law, the Gospel is a grandfather god, who just looks the other way. Compassion means rightly distinguishing between Law and Gospel, and preaching both, Law first, then Gospel. Be careful that in your contempt for CT, and likely Doug Wilson, you don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
@@AslanRising Amen
Except you have clearly forgotten you were once just like them. Labeling sin as sin does nothing on its own. The world needs Jesus. It's your job to preach Him. Unfortunately, this kind of elitist mentality is where Calvinism leads. It leads to people who look at others with contempt, believing themselves to be better, and no motivation to preach the gospel. People like you it sounds like. Unfortunately, the heart of Christ is absent in most of Christianity.
@@medic4christ777 You proved the point I was making. You gave me the Label of Calvinist and developed a straw man and silenced me as un loving , you say, the heart of Christianity is absent.
So my question, would you say, No Calvinist in heaven? They don’t preach Christ and don’t have a high view of Jesus and His word?
If the heart of Christ is absent in most Christianity are you questioning their faith? Sounds like something a Calvinist would say. Just saying.
@@davidelgeti517 I wasn’t speaking to you. I was speaking to the obvious Calvinist original commenter. I know he is a Calvinist, not because I assumed, but because he stated their clear theology. Why are you making this about you? I wasn’t speaking to you….
I do not agree with Calvinist theology. But I do agree with the Calvinist brothers making this very video. And they do seem to have a good grasp on the gospel. Do I think some Calvinists preach and promote a false gospel? Yes. But these brothers seem to have it down. And I agree with what they have said here.
Let me also add that I am guilty and convicted by what they have said here.
@@medic4christ777 because it appears on my phone as a reply to my post. Sorry for my mistake. I not sure why it appears like that, I am a little challenged when it comes to technology.
Something is seriously wrong with this Now I am assuming you are pointing to Christian nationalist because that is what you are so tired of. Reading between the lines it seems that you believe what is wrong can be summarized by Christian nationalism. You never define Christ nationalism other than it is wrong by calling out sin in away that is less than Christ like. There are many definitions of Christian nationalism, it is a label largely used by its critics to straw man conservative Christians. You lump a lot Christians in a category that at best is used as a way to silence those that are not in line with your way of thinking and practice. I see labels like Christian nationalism being used in a way to divide the Church politically and theologically.
Christianity needs to careful treading in these waters. May Christian wisdom bring unity in these days.