Churchianity's deadness can be blamed upon, to a great degree, the loss of the life-giving power of the gospel Paul preached and the failure to walk in the identity and calling of the Body of Christ.
Here are some helpful, biblical reasons why churchianity seems so dead to many, especially through the portal of Paul's teaching in his epistles.
Churchianity Preaches a Mixed or Confused Gospel
Paul warned against adding law to grace because of such a mixture tending toward the killing of spiritual life. Some people experience warm feelings after attending one of those things that confuses many by blurring the lines of distinction between the gospels, thus failing to rightly divide the word of truth, but its a false warm fuzzy because of the failure of their false teaching pastors in establishing the distinctions between biblical truths, some of which apply to us and many that do not, all while helping them feel good about falsehoods that some propagate with gusto in conversations in person and in forums like this.
- “Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3)
- “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” (Gal. 5:9)
A church that erroneously preaches:
- Grace plus works,
- Faith plus performance,
- The Kingdom gospel mixed with Paul’s gospel,
…will always remain
lifeless, because
law and/or works of personal effort for salvation and an alleged retention of salvation produces bondage, not life. That is a ditch filled with the sewage of indifference and apathy for any desire to seek out the truth. The powers and principalities of the air are more than happy to assist professing believers remain in that ditch of sewage-based doctrines of men and tradition.
Institutionalized Churchianity, in General, Ignores and Even Denies Paul’s Distinct Apostleship
Paul said:
- “I magnify mine office.” (Rom. 11:13)
- “In me first… He might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern.” (1 Tim. 1:16)
Most of churchianity, on the other hand:
- Preach the red letters addressed to Israel while ignoring the revelations Christ gave from heaven to Paul for the identity and edifying of the body of Christ.
- Teach the Sermon on the Mount (kingdom law) instead of Romans–Philemon (Body truth).
- Mix Israel’s earthly promises with the Body’s heavenly calling and destination everlasting.
Spiritual confusion leads to spiritual death in the pews and chairs that fill so many alleged "sanctuaries." They're mostly sanctuaries against TRUE fellowship, with the people relegated to pretending they're experiencing true fellowship, but only with the backs of each other's heads. This arrangement fosters separation and isolation away from truly experiencing mutual edification that, in many institutions of churchianity, has been supplemented with the band-aid "home groups" programs, the vast majority of which still fail to immerse themselves into biblical fellowship because of the people not being trained up in what that level of fellowship really entails. Instead, they generally plunge downward into the lower regions of "Bible study" they can and should do at any time on their own and/or social clubs with each individual still being as distant from one another as if they were a million miles away from each other.
There's Therefore No Clear Gospel in the Midst of the Mixture
A church that cannot clearly answer the question:
“What must I do to be saved?”
…cannot produce spiritual life.
The only gospel that saves today is:
Christ died for our sins,
was buried,
and rose again.
(1 Cor. 15:1–4)
...not by including water baptism as was preached by Peter in Acts 2.
Most churches:
- Preach “give your life to Jesus,”
- “Make Him Lord,”
- “Turn from all your sins,”
…none of which is the gospel of grace and is somewhat doctrines of demons because nobody can MAKE Christ Lord given that He is Lord over all and always has been and will be, which includes ALL of humanity. The idea an individual can possess any measure of righteous virtue worthy of the Lord's attention and consideration as an addition to the sufficiency in the shed Blood of Christ, that's nothing but fleshly pride, which the Lord hates.
Nobody can retain their salvation by grace because they cannot earn their salvation by grace, which is defined as "unmerited favor." Why so many people completely miss the ramifications of those terms can only be rooted in the blinding by the enemy of our souls those who willingly give themselves over to that lie.
A foggy gospel, therefore, produces a foggy churchianity that preaches "another gospel," which is not a gospel; for the Law cannot give life today given we are saved ONLY by grace through faith alone.
Entertainment Has Replaced Edification
Much of Churchianity today often majors in:
- Light shows
- Emotional music
- Motivational speeches
- Social programs
…all the while minoring in:
- Doctrine
- Scripture
- Rightly dividing
- Sound preaching
Paul warned of this:
“They will not endure sound doctrine…
and shall be turned unto fables.”
(2 Tim. 4:3–4)
Churchianity Has Abandoned the Authority of Scripture
Much of churchianity is driven by:
- public opinion
- cultural pressures
- marketing
- psychology
…instead of biblical-based Scripture.
Without the Bible, there is
no life, because the Book is where Christ’s life flows.
Churchianity Suppresses the Power of the Cross
The cross cannot help but to:
- humble human pride,
- expose our inabilities,
- give all glory to Christ.
Churchianity preaches:
- self-help
- self-improvement
- self-esteem
Paul said:
“The preaching of the cross… is the power of God.”
(1 Cor. 1:18)
When the cross is silenced, which characterizes much of churchianity, the power is gone.
Holy Spirit Only Works Through Truth
Holy Spirit doesn't empower:
- false doctrine
- mixed doctrine
- watered-down doctrine
Holy Spirit empowers
truth rightly divided.
The Spirit’s sword is
the Word of truth (Eph. 6:17).
If the Word is neglected, the Spirit is quenched.
Churchianity is Focused on Programs, Not People
Activity ≠ spiritual life.
Many churches are busy while remaining barren. Emotional, warm fuzzies about being a part of something bigger than self, that fosters a false sense of well-being in relation to the One who alone is the Giver of all life and spiritual vitality. Spirituality is not a felling, it's a state of being.
Paul never built programs; he built saints through doctrine, teaching, correction, and edification...never through entertainment and inclusions of worldly humor and rudiments of culture and secular scholasticism.
Churchianity, being full of programs, is generally empty of edification and will therefore always remain mostly dead apart from the few spirit-filled souls within them who move about in dutiful, although misguided, loyalties to what they think is something the Lord built and endorsed.
Churchianity Has Abandoned Heavenly Identity
When the Body of Christ tries to live as Israel because of some false sense of even having replaced Israel, those who dabble in that end up trying to:
- keep a selective set of Israel’s laws,
- claim Israel’s promises for themselves,
- hire false teaching pastors who preach Israel’s gospel,
- pursue Israel’s kingdom that is not at all meant for the body of Christ,
…churchianity therefore loses its identity and purpose, thus failing to align with the Bible it claims to preach.
Churchianity without identity with the Truth is churchianity without vitality.
People Aren’t Being Trained for Ministry Within Churchianity by Their Hirelings
Paul taught that
every believer is a minister:
“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry.” (Eph. 4:12)
Instead, churchianity trains people to be:
- spectators,
- dependents,
- supporters of the career staff, their real estate with office space, lawn care, token outreaches and missionary support,
- customers who pay their dues as they would the Lion's Club or Moose Lodge.
Because the saints aren't growing as they should, churchianity becomes characteristically stale.
In Short, Churchianity is Dead Because it Has Abandoned Paul’s Pattern
When the body of Christ ignores:
- Paul’s gospel,
- Paul’s doctrine,
- Paul’s pattern,
- Paul’s revelation,
…it disconnects itself from the very source of spiritual life for this dispensation...a word that many Evangelicals and religionists alike hate with a passion, even though it's used in the Bible FOUR times contextually consistent with differing gospels.
MM
