The Show

There are so many different preachers, denominations, and ministries out there! How does one know what is biblically sound? The devil's objective is to decieve and confuse us - anything to keep people from finding God's love. I have several ministers that I listen to on a regular basis. I have prayed for God to give me a spirit of discernment before allowing myself to be fed by anyone spiritually. If there message is not biblically sound, does not edify you, does not help you grow, or is not giving you a peace - DON'T ALLOW IT INTO YOUR HEART. It is so important to guard your gates.

I recently had a dream about one minister I had been praying about. I am not going to disclose who he is - but I will say that he ministers to a megachurch in the USA. Several things I have seen on his programs were questionable, or so I thought. My dream is as follows:
I was attending a conference or orientation session of some sort and being that I have such a heart for worship - I asked the hotel clerk (which was connected to the church) to please let me know when it was time for worship again. The lady came to get me and said "it's ok to come now - worship is begining in a few minutes". I went into this huge auditorium. The sanctuary did not look the same as it did on tv. It was a bit larger and the color scheme was a different, like a mustard-yellow color. The stage/platform was the same. Immediately I noticed that there was trash everywhere - it looked as if a stadium would after a football game. I found a seat in one of the movie-theatre style seating against a wall on an upper balcony. Worship started - the music was captivating and phenominal. All of a sudden, these roller derby chicks came into the isles and started skating all around the sanctuary. They were typical roller derby style chicks - pushing and shoving each other. They did not appear to be racing, but just skating around at a very aggressive speed. Then it dawned on me that they were participating in this worship while they were skating. Just at that time - one of the girls smacked into the wall beside me. She fell on her back but worship never stopped. It was a surreal experience to see this girl singing as she layed on the ground recovering from the fall. After worship, the pastor came on stage - he was preaching his very passion out. It was as if he was pleading with the crowd to get his message. He was so passionate and desparate for it to be grabbed. My attention turned from his anointed message to the congregation. No one was paying attention or watching. They were all captivated by the roller derby activities. My heart ached for the pastor trying to reach his congregation with the message from the Lord.

When I woke up - I asked God what the signifigance of the dream was - He told me that the pastor has a message that He gave to him but the church was too caught up in "the show" to hear the message. Many people were there but their motives were wrong. They wanted to see the lights and hear about the blessings but few if any were truley interested in the holiness that our Saviour is pleading with us for.

Many churches today have dimmed lights, light displays, and cool media shows to accompany our worship today. I personally prefer it that way and do not have a problem with it - however - this left me with the question "How many people are in church today because of this?". Would the same people still be there if we kept the lights on during worship and did not put the words on the screen? Do these same people worship at home? In heaven, we will have colors unimaginable to us as humans; but, there is no darkness! There is no dimming of lights - it is worship in it's purest form! In heaven, our focus is JESUS and nothing else! I feel as if the media shows and modern attempts at church are a great idea because they have a cultural aspect that brings people in and keeps them coming back - I agree with whatever it takes to get the message to people - but for those who attend, keep JESUS your focus! Don't lose sight of why we are here and become distracted by the show. Keep things in perspective - appreciate that we have cool churches now - but don't forget the person we are worshiping. Guard your hearts and pray for a the Holy Spirit to lead you when being fed spiritually. Most importantly, stay in love.