Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Refreshing, encouraging

My wife and I took a little jaunt to Houston from our more northerly residence this past weekend to take care of some business and hang out w/ a couple of friends.
They were nice enough to regale us w/ a trip to Galveston, during which we attended an Imax screening of "Ocean Wonderland" in 3-D. By the way, do NOT see that film. The 3-D was all out of whack (and I tried literally 8 pairs of glasses), it was boring, and it turned out to be some ridiculous propaganda piece for the UN and the World Wildlife Fund. Gag.

At any rate, this is a positive blog post. (Or half-positive, now - I guess I already screwed that up).
They took us to their church, a non-denom on-the-charismatic-side church. Now, for those of you who are unaware, my first 5-6 years as a Christian were spent as a charismatic, and I was glad to be one. Over the course of time, I became increasingly distressed by the growth of the heretical Word of Faith theology of Copeland, Hagin, Hinn, and ORU within the body of the true believers in these charismatic churches. They just let them in w/o asking for ID, as it were. As long as they said "Jesus" and "Holy Spirit," spoke in tongues, and preached loudly, they were OK. Never mind their New Age beliefs that subjugate God to the equivalent of a powerful Jedi who has learned to use the Almighty Force of Faith thru speaking stuff into existence. Which you and I can do too.
Anyway, the church that I attended was becoming increasingly allied w/ this junk and its corrolaries - the Health-and-Wealth Gospel. The pastor even endorsed a book called God Wants You To Be Rich from the pulpit. At the same time as that was increasing in my church, I was becoming un-convinced of the truth of the signature charismatic doctrines (speaking in tongues, etc). So I joined a Southern Baptist church, where I remain today.
But let me say that this church was refreshing - they actually spoke out against the Health-and-Wealth gospel from the pulpit. Ahhh... a breath of fresh air. That plus Spirit-led prayer (ie, the pastor had a real burden to pray for some members of the congregation, and that turned out to be a touch from the Lord to many, including my own wife, a guest at the church) and some lively and soulful praise-and-worship... made for a blessing for me.

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