Guest Blogger Woody Crosthwaite: Praise Doesn’t Cover for Sin in the Camp
This is a message that should be heard more often, especially in our day when the New Calvinist tsunami makes praise and contemplation the summation of all Christian duty, with whatever the Lord decides to do following. Doing anything more than observing what “Jesus has done, not anything we would do,” is supposedly “making a list of do’s and don’ts the ground of our justification.” Sin is really no big deal, Jesus is going to do what He is going to do anyways—our job is to “lift up his name” and experience any obedience He throws our way as a “mere natural flow.” These kinds of passive doctrines are wreaking havoc on the church.
Churches suppose God will use them despite sin in the secret chambers. Hardly, and most leaders are experts at praise, and flunkies in regard to showing the saints how to control their bodies/passions and put on Christ with the word of God. Music about sanctification is hardly anywhere to be found while 7/11 music flourishes. That is, gospel music that is seven verses about Jesus repeated eleven times. Without further ado, Woody’s thoughts:
Sex in the church; and what happens when we harbor ‘secret sin!’ (Ezek. 8)
Let me just jump into this topic with a broad, very broad statement. There are a few, perhaps even many (?) men in YOUR church who view internet pornography somewhat regularly and end their session with self-gratification. Does that shock you? It should. This ‘secret sin’ affects men of all ages and from every walk of life. AND, your pastor, or someone on your pastoral staff may even be involved. Certainly, statistics show that leaders, Sunday school teachers, “worship” leaders, choir members, and especially young men are all involved in and many trapped in and by pornography and all that follows a session of viewing overt sexual material.
Few, very few churches are talking about this plague that is rampant in the church, and even fewer who are actually doing something about it. I want to share some other things with you, but before I do, let me lay the foundation of what I want to say.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul is talking about the parts of the body and what our attitude should be when we take our turn at being an arm or leg. But right in the middle of the discourse he makes a curious statement – he says that “…when one member suffers, all the members suffer with it…” (NKJV). He says right before that, that there should be no division in the body. I have always thought that he is referring to that part of the body that is persecuted; the persecuted church. (The church in Saudi Arabia, China, etc.,). I believe however, after careful consideration that anything that causes division, anything that breaks the family apart causes the WHOLE body to suffer. When the body suffers, true LOVE which is the “better way” Paul speaks of as he moves into chapter 13 is either inhibited or PROHIBITED in the church. If love, the love of Christ that John says is PERFECTED IN US (1 John 2:5) is in anyway sacrificed, then we CEASE being salt and light. Should this cause GREAT concern? Should we be SO concerned and care enough to fast, pray and cry out to God for the body to be cleansed of secret sin and be united in faith and love???? The body IS suffering, but few seem to notice or care. If the secret sin wasn’t bad enough, the lack of concern IN the Body, FOR the Body is EXTREMELY frightening.
I believe that the lust that tears at the heart and soul of men IN THE CHURCH is at such a level that we should stop, fast and pray for God’s deliverance for the men and boys whom satan has trapped and is destroying. We should take immediate, and drastic action because the “good things” that we think are happening on Sunday morning, (you know, the “vibrant, excited, and seemingly passionate worship”) is really nothing more than a facade. If a significant number of men are involved in sexual sin, and thoughts are clouded by sexual temptation then what goes on – on any given Sunday is nothing more than a continuation of a feeding of the flesh. Let me tell you why I believe this:
Read slowly and carefully, Ezekiel, chapter 8. In this vision, God takes Ezekiel in a vision to the temple. As God moves Ezekiel in closer and closer Ezekiel discovers a secret room INSIDE the sanctuary where the elders of Israel are worshipping idols. Does this story speak volumes, and LOUDLY to the integrity of the heart??? I believe it does. Men who think that they can live for the moment; live for the flesh and it’s lusts; and then just waltz in to church on Sunday morning and move to the beat of the music; clap, maybe even dance and “feel” so good…are delusional. The scene that Ezekiel saw in a vision is why God LEFT the temple. God will not share His throne with anyone or anything. Now, that speaks to personal integrity but it’s not just US that we should be concerned with! IF we suffer because God has left the throne room of our hearts, which should cause us to be VERY concerned with “secret sin,” and if that suffering spreads to the whole Body and causes the church to suffer…why are we not calling those in attendance to repentance so that the Body can be pure, whole and God honoring? Because of this “secret sin” that is without question harbored in the hearts of A LOT of men of every age, what we THINK is “worship” on Sunday morning is absolutely the product of self – centeredness and prideful, arrogant misunderstanding.
Most churches just jump right in on Sunday morning with a rousing round of peppy, even rocked out music that does little more than cover up the sexual impurity raging in the hearts and minds of more than a few men in the “service.” If we have NOT learned to take every thought into captivity, (2 Cor. 10:3-5) then the sexual appetite that has been fed all week will NOT, I repeat, WILL NOT be turned off by a few minutes of contemporary music. Guys…are you listening? You will glance at the women around you and your thoughts will be impure because you have fed your lusts all week! How then, will God be honored just because you sang a few songs??? You have been deceived, your “praise” is a stench to God and the Spirit is grieved. Again, if when one member of the body suffers we ALL suffer – what does that say about the real health of the body? I think we’re living in some sort of euphemistic world far from reality…
A NOTE TO THE WOMEN AND GIRLS OF OUR CHURCHES!
Women, you may fail to understand how a man’s mind works. Is holiness in dress just an old fashioned idea that pinned the church to some archaic and legalistic list of do’s and don’ts? Am I suggesting that you come to church looking like an 18th century puritan? No, but I am suggesting that men who struggle with impure, lustful thoughts will look at you, dressed in something short and tight and revealing and will NOT be able to worship God as God intends, because they can’t get images out of their heads. Do you WANT to be ‘sexy’ in your dress?? Then why would you NOT dress modestly, so that men could come closer to filling their minds with all that is good, rather than risk evil? There’s something really wrong with a picture that suggests that women dress for church as though they were headed for a style show as a model…I suggest you read Steven Arterburn’s book, “Every Man’s Battle.” If women don’t do their part in helping guys avoid (at ALL costs) lustful thoughts which prohibits praise, grieves the Spirit, and hinders the work of the church, then women should be as ashamed in promoting sex as men should be ashamed in exploiting sex. Girls who get up on “church day” and try to be “sexy” are disgusting to the heart of God. Girls, women; if that’s your desire – to look ‘sexy’ for your man, YOUR “praise” is also a stench in the nostrils of God).
This is serious…something must be done if we want God’s glory and His blessing to return to the church. He is NOT blessing His people in MANY places because we are not just ignoring and/or excusing sin, we are feeding and enabling it. I conclude this because too often there is fear of being too bold in the public forum and sin, therefore is not confronted. The whole counsel of God is not proclaimed. The other issue is, more importantly, one of true faith in God’s Word. We “say” we believe, but what we say, doesn’t seem to be mean anything. I have already asked you to consider the “suffering body” that suffers due to sin. But what of a more clear and non-negotiable image of what sin in the body will do? What of the story of Aiken? Will God, can God bless the church when there is “sin in the camp?”
We have settled for assimilation into a church program rather than following the Scriptural mandate to be born again as the ONLY way into the kingdom. People are coming to church and engaging in all kinds church ‘stuff’ but there is NO true life in the church because we are not sharing truth. One can ONLY be part of the church when a new life experience is gained in, by and through Jesus Christ and Him alone. There are few if any baptisms. There is no effort to help “believers” understand the imperative of seeking the Holy Spirit’s help to reveal a Christ like LIFE in, through and by His Spirit. The church discourages talk of integrity, openness, and honesty. We live individual lives, with no regard for community. Our propensity to lust after the flesh and do what seems right to us is a poison that has left the church impotent and ineffective. We are most deceived if we think that the church is having REAL and lasting change in our culture. We are impotent and it’s because we have created something we think is right, but in reality, our plans and programs are devices of our own idolatrous desire to please ourselves instead of God.
Because men hide the secret sin of sexual thought and action, our young men are even more so riddled and shredded by the same. Youth “pastors” are afraid to speak boldly and plainly about the lusts of the flesh, eyes, and pride of life for fear of alienating the students in their group. If the problem of dress is an issue between adult men and women; and women inadvertently choose attire that causes men to lust; the issue is compounded exponentially in adolescents and teens. Youth programs are often gutless as they feed the lusts of their young men by allowing the young women of the group to appear in ways that absolutely keep young men from actually worshipping God. The problem and issue of lust is as much a young women’s “problem” as a young man’s Why wouldn’t we want to share the truth about how young men think so that young women could dress more appropriately? Is it old fashioned? Then why are our young men agonizing over the trap satan has set. What’s wrong with young women who want to look like a cover girl when they know that they are driving the guys crazy?? (Sorry girls! I’m not angry or judgmental, but the cancer has to be healed!!!) We serve them up a diet of contemporary to rock to metal music and deceive them into thinking that because they spent a few minutes “rocking out,” that they have somehow closed the door on the secret sins of lust. More than likely, a short time before coming to “worship” and certainly within a short time afterwards they will have succumbed to temptation by viewing pornography on the internet and more than likely, in agony ended their session of lust with self gratification as their adult counterparts do. It is also likely that some youth ministers suffer themselves so are ill equipped to provide STRONG counsel and assistance to help youth resist temptation and live holy lives. Oh, we can’t talk to kids about holiness of mind, spirit and life however; we may cause them too much discomfort and alienate them from being part of our mind – numbing, dumb – downing multi-media extravaganzas that leave their temples as unholy as was the temple Ezekiel saw.
That’s why we have precious few youth in love with Jesus, His Word; His church and able to rightly divide Scripture, anoint the sick, preach sermons, write and teach Bible studies; bleed for the lost and grieve with the persecuted church. They are yet in kindergarten and need weekly supplies of crayons, play-doh, and construction paper to even sit for a few minutes in a gathering that is nothing more than mindless rhetoric. Time is short. God is about to do something so radical that “adults” will be in shock, much less our youth.
Shame on youth leaders, ministers and pastors that want to merely entertain rather than grow a church ready to fulfill Matthew 16. We had better get ready! We had better prepare our people for the days ahead instead of figuring out every way we can to feed our flesh. God help us!!!
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
Several good thoughts in the post above. A few more thoughts to add . Although pornography is no doubt a concern when considering secret sin it is not the only secret sin present in the church today. There are many more that are no less debilitating. Also pornography is not exclusively a young man’s problem, men and women of all ages are becoming addicted to pornography these days. An older pastor or a young teenage girl are just as likely to be addicted to pornography and harboring it as a secret sin as a young man is. With books and movies, like 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight, and the conversations that the ladies engage in concerning such entertainment, the hold that pornography has in their lives is demonstrated as well. It is naive of us to believe that pornography is a young man’s problem and if we fail to see that then we will fail to minister to all people who are effected by this pervasive secret sin.
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This is REALLY REALLY good stuff. Can I add a couple of comments? “Women, you may fail to understand how a man’s mind works.” I’ve heard this phrase a lot, and I don’t understand it. Sometimes I think it is a cop out–men really can’t help themselves when they see certain kinds of dress or undress,…and so the inevitable happens. Is it truly the way men are wired by their Creator, or is it an excuse? I’m just asking because I feel ignorant. Second, I don’t think men are the only ones involved in porn. Somewhere I’ve read (more than once) that women are into it in significant percentages. True? Additionally, there are men who pull their spouses into the porn and X-rated stuff, and it’s such a terrible trap. One woman said to me, “I feel like I must watch it with him (i.e., obey him).” They’re no longer married–not surprised. Next, I appreciated your comment about church music. I could go on and on, but I’ll just say that we left one church because I couldn’t stand watching the women from behind as they did their rockin’ and rollin’ to the music. I called it simply butt wiggling. I saw one woman “praising” with her arms up, obviously no bra, and drawing attention to herself. We left. Thank you bunches for writing about this extraordinarly important issue. It’s frightening.
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I have a huge problem with this post. First of all, women in the ME wear burqua’s and that has not changed the focus on or being consumed with sex at all. They are consumed by it. In fact, women are beaten in places like Afghanistan if they show an ankle in public because it excites men. My cousin watched this happen all the time while there. So, the Islamic way is for the men to blame women for exciting them by showing an ankle or wrist. Showing your hair is definite sin for exciting men there..
My question is why isn’t your heart so tuned to God that a women could walk naked in front of you and not excite you? If this is how men’s “minds work”— you make it sound like that cannot change.
Secondly, many churches talk about little else than sex. of course sex within marriage but it seems to be the main topic for many now. If you think about it, talking about sex all the time only makes people think about it all the time. Even the youth who are NOT married. Many say they talk about it to get the youth to marry so they won’t have sex outside marriage. Driscoll, very popular in YRR circles, even says that a wife should want sodomy when she cannot do the other. The modern church is obsessed with sex. And we wonder why there is so much porn addiction in the pews and on stages.
So my question is why are so many Christians and pastors talking about sex all the time? Tons of books are written about it. After all, people have figured it out for thousands of years. I think It is a symptom of something much worse.
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Lindon,
I know Woody and I think he would agree with your points. There is definitely the side of this that you are stating. Where Woody’s post strikes a cord with me is in this whole idea that God will use a church where 50-80% of the men in the church view porn. BTW, I wouldn’t take that statistic to the bank, but that’s what the “experts” are saying. I think Woody is saying that these guys think it is “secret” sin, but it is really effecting the whole body like, as the apostle Paul put it, “gangrene.” I will never forget the education Susan gave me on gangrene as she had it once. Basically, you don’t know you have it till it becomes necessary to start chopping off limbs. They found hers in time to save her leg, but she still has pictures of the big hole in her knee–kinda gross.
The second part of his post that strikes a cord with me is the aping of secular dress by Christian youth. In particular, low cut jeans that reveal backside cleavage when one stands up for the next song in the pew in front of you. The one that gets me is when we stand for prayer, and the young girl in the pew in front of you has to pull her pants back up after she stands; for prayer, no less. I’m sorry, but I really don’t care for that kind of nonsense going on at church. it’s just stupid. Furthermore, low cut tops are fraught with a gambit of heart issues. Primarily, it’s like a well-built man going to church in a muscle shirt. It’s showing off. It’s bring attention to yourself in a place and time when the focus should be on the Lord. To some it’s not tempting, it’s just plain rude and annoying.
Some years ago (so this won’t be an exact quote) I heard a porn star interviewed and she was asked if anything bothered her about her profession. She stated the following: “No, not really, except the idea that guys watch me and then gratify themselves afterward–that’s kinda creepy.” Sooooo, ok, if the experts are right about the statistics, can a point be made from that comment as well? Forget “blame.” I agree with you that because of the idiotic patriarchy movement that is plaguing the church, anything smacking of blame should be handled with much caution.
Balance is the key here. The Holy Spirit even commented on Rachael’s beauty. In fact, if I’m not mistaken, I think it is where the “easy on the eyes” descriptor came from. Personally, I think I can appreciate the beauty of a woman without my mind going places it shouldn’t, but on the other hand, I won’t be buying any nude art anytime soon. I think it’s a bad idea.
paul
> —–Original Message—– >
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Paul, trust me when I tell you that I am well aware of the porn/sex issue in churches. I know of several “stage guys” in mega’s who have that problem. One of them was viewing on church computers for many years until his wife went to the leadership and said if they don’t do something she is going public. So they fired him and swept the whole thing under the rug. That is how it is handled because the public “image” of the institution is most important. Yet they see no problem giving sermon after sermon on sex so that people are thinking about sex within the body during worship. I think it is bizarre. Does anyone over middle age remember hearing sermons on sex growing up? Yet now it is common! Christians just did not see the need to focus on it publicly. So why so much of it now? Look at all the books on it going back to the LaHaye’s book from, I think, the late 70’s. The church is once again mirroring the culture. Few have any finesse or decorum anymore. It is like preaching: Don’t think pink. And everyone is sitting there thinking pink.
But I think the bigger problem lies in sex being a focus at all within the church. I have read around many pastor blogs and the excuses to preach sermons on sex are ridiculous. They really do not think believers know how to have great sex in marriage. So they keep the issue front and center. I often wonder what they think poor Richard Wurmbrand did all those years in prison while being persecuted for Christ. It is self gratification Christianity. It is making an issue of a non issue. Believe it or not, The unbeliever knows sex outside of marriage is wrong. They have simply rationalized it in many ways.
As to dressing, exactly how is that to be policed? Of course it is crude and low class to wear certain tight low cut styles anywhere. Not just to a church building. It shows a bigger problem than just exciting men. The man should be worried about his own response to it and why he cannot simply avert his eyes. Some men think prairie dresses are too sexy. And, does this mean the church cannot go swimming? A one piece bathing suit is just as provacative. So where does it stop? Unless churches are willing to institute a dress code that will protect all men’s sensibilities to whatever turns him on, not sure where this is going. It seems to always end up blaming the woman and I want us to be careful there. That is what Islam and patriarchy do. I think men should work on their response to it because this problem is everywhere.
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Lin, Good points. And, in the church, policing anything is a bad idea. And here you have brought in another important point: helping the young man with what he did; ie, loving him, was not important–protecting the image of the church was. I have to be believe the guy’s wife did not have that in mind in regard to “dealing” with the situation. God help us! This brings to bear, once again, the clarion call of Jay Adams that the church needs to be able to take the all-sufficient word of God for life and godliness and help people with it. We either “live by every word that comes from the mouth of God” or not. We are either sanctified by it (Jn. 17:17) or not. It either renews our mind, or it doesn’t.
So, your right; Lording it over the flock is not the answer, and RESPONSE, is of course, critical. I am sure you would agree that godly behavior should be instructed via the Scriptures as well as the all-critical response issue.
But here is the question that is now begged: can’t this also be considered a Christian liberty issue of which Paul used the “food sacrificed for idols” example? To your point: where do we draw the line? But certainly, we can preach that the line can be drawn at wearing pants that reveal half of one’s behind, no? Enforce it with Matthew 18? I’d say, “no.” But at least instruct on the issue? I would say yes.
paul
> —–Original Message—– >
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Paul, and anybody else who wants to reply…..I need advice. I just learned that Dr. Michael Loftis is now on the Board of Trustees of Cedarville University. I emailed the President who promptly replied and said I should direct my concerns to Dr. Loftis, even offering to provide the contact information for me. I thought Trustees reported to the college president; or does the president answer to the Trustees; or is there some kind of equal working relationship? Question: Should I email Dr. Loftis? If I do, I will tell him of my hours and hours of reading blogs and posts from MKs and missionaries, etc., and how it has nauseated me–and do I really think he and the administration of ABWE have not known for YEARS what was going on in Bangladesh–and now how can he expect to provide leadership, integrity, and spiritual guidance as a member of the Trustee Board. HELP! My nausea may be influencing my better judgment–and do I think he will even reply to me. Many thanks.
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Jo,
I am so outraged at this report that I am not able to respond at this time. But for now, I will respond to this statement by you: “HELP! My nausea may be influencing my better judgment–and do I think he will even reply to me.” First, you’re right, he isn’t going to respond to you because you don’t have enough weight to effect the ledger. Second, we are waaaaay past your first concern my friend. Third, I live within 15 minutes of Cedarville. It is time for a PPT interview with Dr. Brown. Never been much for standing outside offices with a protest sign, but this may be the time. paul
> —–Original Message—– >
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Thank you, Paul. I really appreciate your good counsel. Just so you can say you saw it with your own eyes, go to the Cedarville website and you should easily find the long list of Trustees, including Loftis with his new employment position.
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I have read Ezekiel 8 (as referenced by your guest blogger Mr. Crosthwaite) and a couple of surrounding chapters several times in both the NIV and NAS. It scares me.
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hey where did my comment from before go
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