Place your banner ad here.          See all banner ads

...ConcernedMembers.com ...About ...Links Library ...Sunday School in Exile ...Help Warn Others

Where is my NewThisWeek Email subscription?......Click Here

Place your text ad here.           See all text ads

Respond to this messageReturn to Index
Original Message
  • RE: Don't Tell Stories
    • Dr. Bill Crump (no login)
      Posted Dec 26, 2005 12:52 PM

      Dr. Coffman: "I thought Dr. Crump's narrative helped me understand why churches should not use narratives to help me understand the gospel."

      Dr. Crump: Discerning readers should have gleaned the following points from the story:

      • While Jesus used parables to teach His message, Church drama is not authorized in the New Testament, neither is converting worship services into raucous spectacles that introduce worldly elements for purposes of attracting crowds and entertaining them. Why didn’t Jesus enlist the services of some local “pop” musicians and actors of the time to entertain the crowds in between His parables and miracles? Because the message He brought was too important to be cluttered and polluted with worldly entertainment. Were His miracles designed to entertain crowds, as today’s praise bands and church drama do? The miracles were the proof of His divine authority. The same cannot be said of raucous praise bands and drama that feature a repertoire of pop music and hype.

      • To make church drama more appealing and exciting, there is too much temptation to insert fictional elements which are not true to biblical accounts. Without the rock stars and bikers, Johnny initially regarded the simple biblical account of Christ’s birth as a “drag.” If people cannot accept the Word of God without it being made "relevant" to popular culture, then perhaps those people should re-examine their Scriptural priorities.

      • Church drama introduces the temptation for viewers to become so wrapped up in the showmanship, theatrics, special effects, and actors, that they lose track of what the real purpose of worship is: to give praise and glory to God and not to receive adrenaline highs and a false sense of “faith” which emotionally charged music and drama laced with fiction convey.

      Although some folks defend church drama and other man-contrived practices on the premise that the NT does not specifically forbid them as such, the other side of the coin is that the NT does not specifically authorize them. We second-guess the NT if we believe that whatever the NT does not specifically forbid by name is fair game. We then must be guided by general biblical principles. The New Testament forbids living by and catering to a worldly lifestyle, whether that be in private life or within the Church itself (Romans 12:2, James 4:4, 1 John 2:15-17 KJV).

      And the final point to be gleaned from the story:

      • The message of Christ is best conveyed, not by man-contrived drama and complex theatrics, but by pure, straightforward preaching and teaching to those who will hear. The hype and pizzazz of culture-driven church drama had blinded Johnny from understanding Christ's true purpose and mission; his eyes were opened when a Christian friend sat down with him and revealed the Truth as presented in the New Testament.

    Login Status
  • You are not logged in
    • Login
      Password
       

      Optional
      Provides additional benefits such as notifications, signatures, and user authentication.


      Create Account
    Your Name
    Your Email
    (Optional)
    Message Title
    Message Text
    Options Enable formatted text (Huh?)
    Also send responses to my email address
     
    Notice: This is a moderated forum. Your post will not show up until a moderator approves the message. If you regularly have full posting privileges, you may have to login first.
          


    Place your text ad here.           See all text ads

    This web site is not part of or approved by any Church!

    ...........................THE BOOK

    What Happened At the Madison Church of Christ?


    There are thousands of churches being taken over across America.

    This book is only about one of those churches. It's about the Madison Church Of Christ. By studying the methods used here along with the resource references you might be able to inoculate your church. At the very least you will recognize the signs early on.

    Many of the current members of the Madison Church of Christ still don't know what happened.
    Some never will know! This book is for them as well.

    Madison Church of Christ was a 60 year old church. At one time it was one of the largest churches in the US, and the largest Church of Christ.

    It thrived for many years on the vision of it's elders and those of it's ministers. Those visions undoubtably came from the the inspired word of Jesus Christ.

    At sometime in the last 10 years there was a deliberate plan by a majority of the elders to take the Madison Church of Christ into a more worldly realm.

    They used secrecy, covert planning, and outside sources to scheme and to change the format and direction of the Madison Church of Christ.

    The Elders knew that the membership would never approve such a plan. Using the tools of the "Community Church Movement"(consultants, books, seminars, meetings,planters,seeders) they slowly started initiating change so it was never noticed by the members until it was too late.....

    At the heart of the plan was the fact that old members were going to be driven off so new techniques could be used to go out and reach the unchurched through new "Contemporary Holy Entertainment" methods developed by the "Community Church Movement"

    Old members had to be kept on board long enough to get their plans ready, or the funds would not be there to pay for the new building. So by the plans very nature, it had to be secret.

    The church had no plan in effect to renew or approve elders. There was never any need. The elders had always been "as approved by God". 10 of the last 15 elders would begin to shed some doubt on that.

    The Elders did not even need a majority at first, because some of the elders went along unwittingly.

    This edition starts shortly after some of the members begin to smell something strange in January 2001. Later editions may go back and fill in some of the timeline.

    To even start to understand whats happening here, you must read the background materials in the first of the book.

    This is only the first edition, and not the end. New editions will be printed as needed. To keep abreast of current changes, please visit our web site; http://www.concernedmembers.com/madison

    Here is the list of players;

    5 Godly Elders
    10 Not so Godly Elders
    120 "Deacons" (allegiance unknown)
    2,800 - 4,000 church "members"
    2 "teners" (people who have publicly confessed to have broken all ten commandments)
    Unknown number of "sinners" (This is what the 10 elders call us.)
    Unknown number of "demons" (Flying everywhere, to many to count)
     

    Click Here......The Book is Available Now FREE