Why Don't People Today Seem Worried About Hell? part two

[continued from yesterday's blog...an excerpt from Rodney Stark's book "For the Glory of God," pp. 80–81).

Fear of hell is directly proportional to consciousness of the seriousness of life and sin. Jesus spoke powerful images of hell to confront the self-righteous complacency of people who assumed they were secure as part of a “chosen” group and that religious play-acting was sufficient to shield them from spiritual danger. Awakening to the wickedness, hypocrisy, and corruption of the “principalities and powers” of their civilization was an essential part of becoming a disciple of Jesus (John 1:9-11; Romans 12:2; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 2:2-3; 6:12; Colossians 1:16; 2:15; James 4:4; 1 John 5:4,19; Revelation 12:9; 13:8). The wickedness and corruption of modern civilization is obvious to anyone who is willing to see it, just as the wickedness and corruption of Roman and Jewish civilization was obvious to Jesus, and became obvious to His followers when He was scourged and nailed to a cross.

Modern people lack a sense of the seriousness of sin in particular and life in general. The degree of complacency of us who claim to be the followers of Jesus Christ is often hard to distinguish from the complacency of self-professed atheists and unbelievers. Perhaps it is hard for us to be worried about hell in this post-modern age because, like a giant parasitic plant, hell is already gripping every aspect of our lives with its tendrils. Perhaps we need to awaken to the extent of anti-Christian power and realize just how evil our civilization is before we will again take sin seriously and realize that hell is truly something to be concerned about.

1. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. And our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat—the glorifier and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory).

2. The concept of indulgences is a classic instance of theological creativity, as opposed to the mere interpretation of revelations (or scriptures), and the same is true of the concept of purgatory on which indulgences were based. It all began with Saint Augustine, who deduced from passages in Maccabees (12:39-45) and 1 Corinthians (3:11-15) that upon death no one except the occasional saint goes directly to heaven. The condemned go directly to hell, but the remainder go to a slightly less painful form of hell to do penance until they are purged (hence “purgatory”) of those sins that had not been offset by good works during their lifetimes. That is, a sin must be offset by sincere contrition, by confession to a priest and receipt of his absolution, and then by a sufficiency of good works. The Church taught that for nearly all people, at death their sins will greatly outweigh their good works, hence the need to suffer the terrible pains of purgatory for hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of years before they are allowed to enter heaven.

Since time in purgatory was a substitute for good works, it followed that the more good works one accomplished, the shorter one’s stay in purgatory, and someone hit upon the idea that good works of benefit to the church counted more than other varieties. Indeed, the Church soon began to identify such works and assign them values as to time remitted from one’s sentence to purgatory. For example, participation in a Crusade was rated as bringing complete remission from purgatory. This was extended to include those who gave the Church an amount sufficient to hire a crusader. As the Crusades petered out, the Church’s desire for funds did not; hence it was promulgated that through donations or services to the Church everyone could “earn” an earlier release from the tortures of pur¬gatory. Soon, the Church began to sell signed and sealed certificates of specific indulgences, some specifying a period of remission, others provid¬ing dispensations to commit or for having committed various sins. For example, large numbers of people purchased indulgences permitting them to eat prohibited foods on fast days; others bought permissions to keep ill-gotten property.

As time passed, and as the Church’s financial ambitions continued to grow, an elaborate indulgence sales network of traveling monks developed. Then, in 1476, Pope Sixtus IV recognized how to greatly expand the mar¬ket. Seeking funds to pay his many debts and to continue work on the Sistine Chapel, the pope authorized the sale of indulgences to the living that would shorten the suffering of their dead loved ones already in purga¬tory. As a sales slogan of the day put it, “The moment the money tinkles in the collecting box, a soul flies out of purgatory.”

From the start, some members of the Church of Piety such as Peter Abelard had questioned the validity of indulgences, as did Wyclif, Hus, and Erasmus, and the practice of selling indulgences on behalf of the dead had offended Luther for several years before he wrote his famous protest. What prompted Luther to act was a massive sales campaign launched in 1517 to peddle indulgences in Germany to fund the rebuilding of Saint Peter’s basilica in Rome (it had also been secretly agreed that half of the funds were to go to the archbishop of Metz to repay the immense debts he had accrued to buy his office, as well as three other bishoprics). Johannes Tetzel (ca. 1465–1519), a prominent preacher of indulgences, took charge of the campaign in areas near Wittenberg. Drafts of some of his sermons have survived, and the following passage was typical: “[D]o you not hear the voices of your dead parents and other people, screaming and saying ‘Have pity on me, have pity on me . . . We are suffering severe punishments and pain, from which you could rescue us with a few alms, if you would.’ ” Luther was infuriated by this commercialized fear-mongering
(Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God, pp. 80–81).

Why Don't People Today Seem Worried About Hell?

(an excerpt from a book written by Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God, pp. 80–81).


This is good. Please take time to read.

While we are on this side of the veil, we may not know exactly what hell will be like. However, Christians have good reason to believe it is a horrible state of existence, a place that anyone in their right mind should fear.

Jesus’ description of hell in the Gospels is shocking (see, for example, Luke 13:24-30; 16:20-31), and it doesn’t seem that the Good Shepherd would use such horrific language if hell were a place of mild punishment that most people shouldn’t worry about. It is more likely that He used such awesome and horrifying symbols to communicate an awesome and a horrifying reality, a reality in which (to paraphrase C. S. Lewis) some are on their way to becoming creatures of unimaginable beauty and joy and others to creatures that will embody all that is evil and hideous in the universe.

Belief in a place of terrible punishment for the wicked isn’t limited to the Christian tradition. People of all religious traditions—ancient and recent, major and minor, pantheistic or theistic—have believed in a terrible state of suffering for the wicked in the afterlife. There seems to be a universal sense of the reality of character formation and the fact that a spiritual abyss lurks below willful evil deeds. But while the Bible clearly teaches the reality of hell as well as nearly all other religious traditions, modern Americans—although generally expressing belief in some kind of hell—aren’t very worried about it.

While there is no dominant view of Hell, two particular perspectives are popular. Four out of ten adults believe that Hell is “a state of eternal separation from God’s presence” (39%) and one-third (32%) says it is “an actual place of torment and suffering where people’s souls go after death.” A third perspective that one in eight adults believe is that “Hell is just a symbol of an unknown bad outcome after death” (13%). Other respondents were “not sure” or said they that they do not believe in an afterlife (16%). . . .

Most Americans do not expect to experience Hell first-hand: just one-half of 1% expect to go to Hell upon their death. Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) believe they will go to Heaven. One in 20 adults (5%) claim they will come back as another life form, while the same proportion (5%) contend they will simply cease to exist.” (Taken from the article by the Barna Research Group, “Americans Describe Their Views About Life After Death,” October 21, 2003.)

It’s interesting that while most people believe in some kind of hell, only a tiny percentage (one half of 1% in the Barna survey) think they are likely to go there when they die. It’s probably true that throughout history more people have generally professed belief in hell than thought it would be their destination, but it’s clear that the fear of hell had considerably more impact in the past than it does now.

Preachers throughout the centuries preached sermons centering on the reality of hell that called for repentance and faith, and periods of great spiritual revival resulted from their preaching. Today’s general lack of concern about hell is reflected by the fact that contemporary preachers seldom make hell the subject of their sermons. In fact, there is such avoidance of the topic that one gets the impression that it is viewed as too controversial and offensive to bring up.

At the same time, much of the current popular distaste for hell is based on the Western cultural reaction to the past exploitation of the fear of hell by religious and political rulers. For example, one of the issues that triggered the Reformation was the sale of indulgences to fearful masses by a Catholic hierarchy that was corrupt almost beyond imagination.

The misuse of the doctrine of hell was widespread within the authoritarian culture of the Middle Ages. Torture and sadistic forms of punishment were in common use and depictions of hell and torment were a constant artistic theme. The very people who terrorized the masses through the fear of hell, were those who most violated the gospel’s standards. There was an extreme cultural reaction against these abuses during the enlightenment when cultural leaders like Voltaire, Rousseau, Gibbon, Hume, and Paine caustically exposed this kind of hypocrisy. In fact, the abuse of the truth about hell by past ruling classes has helped create the “Elmer Gantry” stereotype of the hypocritical, exploitive preacher, providing a dramatic illustration for Jesus’ warning in Matthew 18:5-7.

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:5-7 NIV).
One of the results of the abuse and exploitation of Christian faith has been a turning away from faith in God and a fear of hell to devotion to the state and fear of social disapproval. Just as the Roman masses were once pacified with “bread and circuses,” most Christians are ready to progressively surrender more and more of their dignity and freedom to a godlike state that promises them cradle-to-grave security. Despite the fact that their rulers fostered the greatest wars of world history during the past 200 years with lies and propaganda, most people worship at the altar of state religion and blindly identify the decisions and demands of the state with the will of God.

Modern technology and communication make the modern “secular city” more all-encompassing and invasive than any prior civilization. Modern people are insulated from reality by a quasi-divine social-economic system that shields them from many of the consequences of their actions. Instead of forging their own tools, weaving their own cloth, growing their own crops, or treating their own injuries as did most generations before them, we are provided with previously unknown material luxuries—as long as we are willing to trust the ruling social/economic system. Although today’s economic system may collapse like a stack of cards some day, just as it did during the Great Depression, we are more than willing to trust in its illusion of a seemingly indestructible prosperity. Caught up in its illusory peace and security (Ezekiel 13:8-12), our consumer society is focused on creating and satisfying immediate desires, and tends to view serious concern with future consequences or nonmaterial values as neurotic or mentally unbalanced.

People are naturally drawn to the bait of immediate gratification. It’s our natural inclination to be focused on present needs and desires, and not to feel as urgent about things in the future—however important. Because heaven and hell aren’t on the immediate horizons of most people, they tend to focus on more immediate anxieties and pleasures. Especially when everyone around them is doing the same thing.

The foolishness and shortsightedness of modern mass society penetrates to the hearts and minds of all of us. We have absorbed the values of this city that has forgotten the fear of God. We adore and fear the city rather than the Creator. God seems distant, secondary in importance at best, unreal at worst.

The church itself has been infected by the relativism of modern culture, a relativism that makes it difficult to say—or believe—that any perspective is truly “wrong.” In a relativistic cultural context, about the most shocking thing one could say is that some people are not only “wrong” but on their way to hell.

As children of this age, we expect the joys of heaven in the constricted space of here-and-now. But the behavior that accompanies our demand for heaven on earth nurtures anti-Christian evil, an evil that may soon be strong enough to stage an overt assault against the Christian values we claim to revere, transforming our counterfeit “heaven” into the vestibule of hell.

[to be continued in tomorrow's blog]

Sunday Wrap Up

Great services yesterday. The presence of God was awesome in both services. I could have very well not preached again last night.

Sunday morning was an example of the kind of services we want to start doing on Saturday evenings starting out once-a-month in September. Services where we just "soak in the spirit" and practice "prophetic worship." The body of Christ needs these types of services where "those that are hungry" can tarry in the presence of God and not feel rushed. I sense especially from the younger generation a genuine hunger for the presence of God where the extraordinary things and moves of God become ordinary. And this really is the essence of Pentecostal and Charismatic worship when you look at the New Testament church...signs, wonders, miracles, fillings of the Holy Spirit, deliverances, etc. People back then were tired of the liturgical, tradition-laden formal worship services. They wanted more than that. They wanted to experiences the presence and power of God in spirit and in truth. They wanted a God that they could see and feel.

Yesterday, we had people praying in the altars who came back to God, people who were restored, healed, and blessed. Last night we had a prayer line down the aisles of the sanctuary for people facing surgeries and for people who were out of work and needed provision. There is no doubt in my mind that God answered our prayers and we will see the fruit of that in the weeks to come. I sincerely believe this is why we have "to assemble ourselves" even more in the days ahead. God's people today are facing major crisis in their lives...many of which I believe are attacks of the enemy. We need more than anything else to get into the presence of God (the sanctuary) where Ezekiel 46 says "healing waters flow that bring forth fruit."

My prayer is that you go forth in the power of the Spirit this week. Let the light of Christ shine in the midst of this dark world!

-Pastor

Friday Countdown...How to Determine the Will of God?

I found this to be very helpful to me when I read it. I hope it is to you as well. Have a great weekend.

-Pastor


THE LORD BLESS and KEEP YOU in ALL YOUR WAYS
-by David Wilkerson (16 June 09).

Recently I reread the life story of George Muller who, in the mid-
1830s, cared for over 2,000 orphans in England – all by faith in God.
Muller was a known as the man who got answers to his prayers.
Before he died, he had listed in his journals over 50,000 answers
to prayer.

When asked how he determined the will of God on any matter,
Muller listed the following steps he believed were necessary:

1. “I get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own
in regard to any particular matter.”

2. “I do not leave the result to feelings or simple impressions.
That can make one open to great delusions.”

3. “I seek God’s will through, or in connection with, his Word.
If you look to the Spirit without the Word, you open yourself to
delusion.”

4. “I consider providential [God-controlled] circumstances.”

5. “I ask God in prayer to reveal his will to me.”

6. “I make sure I have a clear conscience before God and man.”

7. “Every time I listened to men instead of God, I made serious
mistakes.”

8. “I act only when I am at peace, after much prayer, waiting on
God with faith.”

Those who walk by faith, seeking only God’s perfect will, are often
sorely tested and tried. More and more in my own life, I am finding
out how important diligent prayer and Bible reading are. Sadly, not
many of God’s people pray diligently nowadays. Instead, there is
much TV viewing and very little of waiting on God.

When I give myself to prayer, my faith rises. And when I feed on
God’s Word, my confidence in his power to lead and help me
increases. The Lord becomes my banker, my advisor, my
attorney.

May you find him doing the same for you.

-David Wilkerson.

Are you Looking for the Lost?

I've been so busy lately, I have totally forgot about the blog. Sorry about that. This is the first evening I have been at home for awhile. We've attended the TZM services at Central and last night I had some late meetings at the church. But some exciting stuff going on that will be manifested later.

Tommie Zito told me today that over 180 people were saved Tuesday afternoon on the streets including some Mulsins and prostitutes. Even though it rained all day and most of the cards came back soaked, God gave those that went out a harvest. After two days now, nearly 500 people have come to Christ. Praise the Lord! Brother Tommie told me that due to a cancellation in Houston next week, they will be at Central Parkway Wednesday thru Friday evening of next week as well. So try to go, I am sure you will be blessed.

You know this is New Testament(book of Acts) evangelism. If you read the book of Acts, the early church didn't wait for worship services to be conducted so that people were saved, healed, and delivered. But people were saved, healed, and delivered, as the church (the Christians) went forth in the power of the Holy Spirit giving witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church had compassion for the lost. They truly saw people as lost sheep who could not find their way to the Savior. Lost people need people to come looking for them. Jesus said He came to seek and to save the lost. He went seeking after them. So did his disciples. So did the Apostle Paul and those he trained. God has called us as well to go find the lost and bring them to Christ. What about you? Are you lost? If not, are you looking for those that are?

-Pastor

Sunday Wrap Up

It was great to be in God's house today. This morning's services were awesome. Tonight at Central Parkway was packed with people there from about eight different congregations. Tommie Zito called everyone up from Kings Point and laid hands on us all. If you needed healing or a touch from God, you should have been there tonight. Brother Tommie spoke a lot tonight about being desperate for God. I really do believe the American church knows nothing about being desperate for a touch of God. God's touch is still just another option to many in the church today. But I got a feeling a lot of that is about to change. I really see a time coming in America soon where people will be forced to be desperate after God or will be overcome with doubt and forsake God. The government and the media is trying to convince us that the recession is over, but I personally believe the worst is still yet to come. From my point of view, more and more people are losing their jobs as main street continues to feel the effect of what happen on Wall street last fall.

In 2009 through 2010, we will not be having less worship and fellowship times, but more. You may have noticed that since the spring, we have had more church services, more revivals and special services. Why? Because I really do believe people need to be in the presence of God more right now. Even God's Word says as you see the day approaching assemble yourselves even more.

Well, I'm tired. Its been a long day. I hope you will sacrifice some of your time and energy this week and join us at Central Parkway. I know with your work schedules and etc., it will be a sacrifice. But thats what God has called us to do...to be a living sacrifice. We are to be about building the kingdom, not Kings Point. I hope to see you!

-Pastor

Some Saturday Thoughts...

~ Today our Men's Cell Leaders time together was wonderful. We shared one testimony after another of men that have been saved this summer...a lot of them at cell meetings. It's amazing right now the hunger for God that we are seeing from men. God is definitely up to something...right here in the dead of summer. We have one men's cell that is full of nothing but new believers. How exciting!

~ Please remember Karen Brumfield and Teresa Johnson in your prayers. They will both be facing surgeries in the next few weeks. Also, continue to remember Peggy Schuler. We are believing God for a miraculous healing! Remember too in prayer Verneda Maloney, and our beautiful new little babies: little Faith, and little Jireh (well, he's not that little...nine plus pounds...linebacker size, like ole dad).

~ The courtyard is shaping up. The brick circle with the benches really looks nice. The fountain will be delivered in the next week and a half. The fountain will be lit along with possibly lamps on the corner of the benches. Then, the landscaping work will begin. Afterwards, we plan on erecting a memorial stone and resurfacing the sidewalks. Hopefully, we can have most of it done by homecoming weekend in September.

~ Please try to attend the Tommie Zito revival at Central Parkway beginning tomorrow night and running through Friday evening. Services begin at 7 pm except for Sunday PM's which is at 6:00. We are concluding the greatest summer I have ever experienced at Kings Point. We have seen record salvations, finances, and new people every week. THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT ITS BECAUSE OF THE THOUSANDS OF SEEDS THAT WERE SOWN DURING THE TZM WEEK IN JUNE AND THE OFFERINGS THAT WE INVESTED IN THE TZM MINISTRY. When you sow the seed, God brings in the harvest. Its not always from the field you sown in, but the reaping comes nevertheless. Please try to go out with the TZM teams during the week at 10 am at Central Parkway. Go sow the gospel message with Central Parkway and watch God bring in the harvest here at Kings Point.

See you at worship Sunday!

-Pastor