American Christian Leadership In Question
By Phil Scovell
What you are about to read is something that came to me on
the morning of Sunday, September 23, as I sat and considered all
the things I had been hearing during the week. Some things are
my own personal opinions while others are things the Lord has
shown me about the church in America over the last year.
I have been greatly concerned in recent days that some of
our national Christian leaders have been speaking out about the
terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. My concern is
specifically about their negativity, as it relates to the nation,
and because of whom they blame for this tragedy. Their messages
have been largely inflammatory, specifically degrading, and
purposely accusatory. The tone of their messages have been one
which clearly outlines this nation is being judged for its
sinfulness by sinners whom they painstakingly name as
prostitutes, pimps, homosexuals, abortionists, criminals, drug
dealers, addicts, and immoral people in general. I am not
referring to a single person's remarks but several of whom I have
read or personally heard on radio and television. They all
attempt to use Scripture as the bases for their claims as well.
I have spoken with Christians who find these public
statements by Christians not only confusing and disturbing but
Biblically conflicting. If in case you, too, are confused let me
state it in terms we all can understand. They believe the
reasons behind the loss of perhaps 6,000 lives and the
destruction of the World Trade towers, not to mention the
disruption of the stock market, is a direct result of this
nation, as a whole, not repenting and turning to God.
Furthermore, they believe it is a sign of God's judgement upon us
as a nation for all of our wickedness. Many of them strongly
recommend you, at this most critical of financial times, pull all
of your money out of the stock market. In short, they believe
sinners are to blame and specifically sinners who are not born
again Christians as they define it.
Now, I am going to tell you what I personally think. Keep
in mind, I have no large church to promote. I have no Christian
magazine for which I will solicit your monthly subscription.
Furthermore, I have no ministry to support and I have no
television program for which I must pay. Nor am I going to hold
an offering plate under your nose before I finish my sermon. So
you can take my words for what they are worth because I have no
hidden agenda.
First, I submit these national Christian leaders are self
appointed. Are They operating large ministries with worldwide
ministries due to their mighty power with God or is their power
mostly electronic in nature? Ask yourself the question, would
their comments be spread throughout the known world if they
didn't have radio and television and internet website networks
upon which to broadcast their opinions? How many of their
authored books would be best sellers if they didn't have their
radio and TV ministries to promote their own works? How many
miracles, signs and wonders, have you seen being manifest in
their ministries in recent years? Any? Some? A few? How many
of their prophecies have been fulfilled to the letter? All?
Some? None? If the answer isn't all, then why are we listening
to them? There are, at least in my mind, some questions which
demand answers before we consider the validity of their message.
First, who appointed them to lead us? God? Their huge
multi million dollar ministries? Their large radio or television
ministries? Their well oiled fund raising and marketing
techniques employed to advance their ministries? The size of
their mailing list? The bottom line of their monthly and annual
financial records? The books they have authored? Who, for that
matter, has appointed them as the spokesman for the Body of
Christ in the United States? Their denomination, their Bible
colleges, or their television broadcast network? Are they well
known because of the precise fulfilling nature of their
prophecies God has given them about our nation? Have we
witnessed the power of their prayers in behalf of our nation?
Are they seen as national Christian leaders because of the
compassion and love for the those outside of Christ?
Furthermore, what about all these homosexuals, criminals, drug
dealers, pimps, prostitutes, abortionists, and immoral people who
have caused this horrible loss of life and brought the judgement
of God upon us as a nation? Why haven't these ministers been
able to reach these poor depraved people with the Gospel? Has
God's arm waxed weak that it can no longer save through their
ministries? Aren't they spending enough money to reach the lost
for Christ? Aren't they broadcasting enough? While we are
talking about money, how much of their ministry offerings has
gone to New York in recent days? How many teams of people have
been sent from their churches to help our fellow citizens in and
around Ground Zero? Have they sacrificed, selling off much of
their properties, and delivered the money to those hurting
families in New York? I ask again: Why hasn't their national
and international radio and television broadcast been able to
reach those they claim are the cause for God's judgement upon
America? For that matter, how many hours can they say their
entire church has logged in praying for our nation over the last
year? How much protection have they prayed upon America? How
much intercession has been conducted for those who they claim are
the cause of God's judgement? By the way, if your message is so
powerful and your prophets so precise and accurate, and you have
such intimacy with God through prayer, why weren't you able to
predict and warn the people of New York in advance as the
prophets of old did to the nation of Israel? Did you walk naked
and barefoot for three years as Isaiah did before the people,
calling upon them to repent, prior to the falling of God's
judgement upon his country or were you too preoccupied putting on
your makeup to look your best before the television cameras on
your TV show?
I think they are right about one thing. What happened in
New York September 11, 2001 was a wake up call but not to
America. It was a wake up call to the church. We have sinned.
We have forgotten God and replaced him with a marketing plan. We
have commercialized Christ and substituted the Gospel with
televised interviews, mass choirs, transparent pulpits, padded
pews, and preachers with 300 dollar shoes, 1,000 dollar suits,
20,000 dollar Rolex watches, and 150,000 dollar limousines to
take them to their 1.3 million dollar homes in the suburbs
following their record breaking church service or television
shows. Furthermore, we have elevated coaches to national
Christian leadership positions, complete with their own multi
million dollar parachurch ministries, simply because they have
won football championships. We have allowed professional
athletes to become the crowns of spirituality, inviting them to
speak in our pulpits and on Christian television programs, all
because they pull down millions of dollars each year and say a
short prayer just before trotting out on to the baseball or
football field or the basketball court. Of course, we have to
ask them to speak during off season times because they are busy
playing professional sports on Sundays during regulation season
times and aren't available. We have taken the words of Hollywood
stars, claiming to be Christian, and found them to be more
fascinating than the preaching of God's Word. We have succumb to
promotion over doctrine, marketing over theology, and sales of
Christian products over the cross of Jesus Christ. We have
flaunted converted criminals in front of the world, claiming they
are now born again Christians, instead of focusing on the bodily
resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have taken are Christian
cameras into the prisons and video taped violent murderers and
asked for their opinions of how we should live the Christian life
and then turned around and sold copies of the tapes on our daily
broadcasts to eager Christians willing and ready to use their
credit cards to call toll free ministry numbers to purchase that
tape. Of course, anything you give above the cost of the tape
goes to support our ministry. We spend hundreds of hours
preparing for guest speakers and Christian entertainers and five
minutes before the green light flashes the show is to go on the
air, we pray and ask God's blessing. Furthermore, we even pay
these amazing and incredible guests to be on our shows and to be
interviewed. This is supposed to challenge us to live Godly
lives? moreover, we have shifted the Gospel to radio and
television ministries rather than local New Testament churches
meeting in storefronts and canvassing the neighborhoods to reach
the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ on a one-on-one bases.
We have depersonalized the Gospel by Christian entertainers who
couldn't make it on the public circuit but found their niche in
the Christian world. We have weakened the church by creating
thousands of parachurch ministries which siphon local monies away
from legitimate New Testament churches by the millions every
week. then, if one of those parachurch ministries experiences
financial difficulty, they have a wonderful mailing list of
churches all over America to whom they can mass mail in order to
raise millions of dollars to keep their parachurch ministries
alive and productive. Additionally, we have ignorantly reversed
church leadership roles so we are now spiritually weak, anemic,
deaf and blind to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Worst of all,
we have turned and blamed it on others rather than taking upon
ourselves the responsibilities God has given us for our
communities in and through our churches.
It is time for our church leaders to repent and turn to God
and to stop blaming everyone else for their failures. Then, and
only then, will they be able to lead. They may also discover,
they were never called to be leaders in the first place. In
which case, I expect them to resign and step down and let more
spiritually responsible men and women of God take their places.
If anyone has failed and brought about the national tragedy
upon our country, it is the church. We have not prayed; we have
not fasted; we have not given; we have not sought God and His
mercy. We have let our own people down and now we try and blame
others. Repentance begins at the house of the Lord. When will
it begin? Now? Later? When I see our national Christian
leaders, so-called, calling the churches to repentance and
confessing their sins to the Lord publicly, perhaps revival will
come to America.
What happened in New York at the World Trade Center was
nothing short of evil attempting to destroy what God has given
this country. I will remind you, the devil did not give us
America and her freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and
freedom of religion. The devil did not bless this country to
send out and financially support more missionaries to evangelize
the world than any other nation on the planet. The devil did not
provide us with the ability to work and to make a living and to
provide for our families. The devil did not give us the freedom
to vote and to elect our national leaders. What happened on
September 11, 2001 was nothing less than a demonic attack on the
United States of America and we have no one to blame, as
Christians, but ourselves.
One month before the attack on America, my youngest son was
married. A few days following the attack on America, this 19
year old son of mine went right down to the U S Post Office and
filled out the selective service forms. Why, you ask, when there
is no draft and isn't likely ever going to be? The answer is
simple. He wanted to show his love and loyalty for his country
just in case the draft was reinstated. In short, he wanted to be
ready to serve if called upon.
If you are a born again Christian, you are called to serve
as well. Part of our service is to stand against evil. Have we
done that or did we in fact, as Christians, let the people of New
York down? Are you ready now? Go sign up with God and start
praying for your country, its leaders, and for its protection.
Learn how to pray and keep praying till you learn. Become an
intercessor. Before everything else, repent; for yourself, your
family, and your church and its leadership because we are not
right with God as a church nationwide. Don't blame others but
seek God. Stop evil before it strikes again. this is something
all Christians can do who know God and know how to pray.
Pastors, start leading. Shepherds led their flocks and
protected them from harm. Are you doing that as a pastor or are
you spending your time with church duties? If you aren't praying
more than your church members, you aren't a shepherd, you aren't
leading, and you are not protecting your flock from harm. No one
can do it for you. It is time to stop acting the part and,
instead, becoming a part of the Body of Christ once again. After
all, pastors are sheep, too. Stop being pastoral and be Christ-
like. Lead by example. Don't tell us how to do it; do it
yourself and we will follow. Open your ears and heart to other
called anointed ministers of the church and stop trying to do it
all yourself. Stop being afraid of the gifts of the Holy Spirit
in others. Minister to those whom God has given you in your
church. If you do not, God's power will not come nor will He
increase your flock. Stop attempting to build another church on
top of the Lord's. The power of God will come when we are ready
to receive it. If we don't have His power, we will be devoured
by the enemy.
Go To HOME: The Zeneith Tube Website: RedWhiteAndBlue.org