CONFUSED: Is it the Church House or the Dope House?

This article is not about characterizing all churches or ministries but it is about questioning the paradigm shift from preaching and defending the “common salvation” (Jude 1:3) to being “Relevant”. There are many good houses of prayer that are feeding the sheep. Sadly we have others who are getting all the focus as the become popular with their new relevant gospel message. When you listen closley they actually "put down" the more traditional, smaller faithful churches for their clinging to the old tried and true common salvation message.

Jud 1:3 ¶ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Today we have pastors like R.A. Vernon (the F-U) preacher who says “You can’t be a DVD ministry with an 8 track mentality”. Look at his statement, this well meaning pastor has crystallized the paradigm shift that I see happening. Pastor Vernon says DVD ministry, well we know inherently DVD’s are BOUGHT and SOLD and to be SOLD it MUST have some “entertainment value”, be catchy, have a hook, be RELEVANT. Is he suggesting the focus be on merchandising, monetizing and packaging the gospel as “product” in order to appeal to people (customers)? Did Jesus die for this “new Church”; is this something he would be pleased with?

Mat 21:12 ¶ And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

Mat 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Jesus was not “feeling” the new church house mentality of his day, the Business of the Gospel mentality, on the contrary he was so zealous that HE beat them and put them out and declared “this is a house of prayer”. Prayer is simple, you can’t SELL IT, and prayers don’t get upgraded or come out with new releases. Prayer is a pillar to the “common salvation” that was given to us.

Mat 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen [do]: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Mat 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Mat 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven.

See it is simple and common, anybody can do it, and anybody can have access to it. What this paradigm shift is about, the DVD Ministry Mentality, it is about trying to “help God out”, it is saying Jesus your message is obsolete, it will not work today, we mere mortal men need to help you reach people, we need to add FLESH to the Spiritual process of SALVATION. These men forget the Kingdom of Heaven is NOT something in the Natural it is SPIRITUAL . When a man tried to get Jesus to show him the Kingdom of Heaven in some relevant way Christ said:

Jhn 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Jhn 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Sadly we have men trying to make the Kingdom of God Flesh, they disregard the Spirit because they want to glorify flesh and YET still call it “Kingdom preaching”, when it is NOT. Therefore they have a popular message and have a popular ministry but Christ said those characteristics are not fruit of HIS Kingdom. Yet like blind guides they continue to be diametrically opposed to what Christ actually said.

1Cr 1:18 ¶For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

See from the onset preaching the CROSS is going to be FOOLISH to the world and those who are not saved YET the paradigm shift says let’s make it RELEVANT.

Definition of relevant - bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent

Christ already said the message of the cross was “foolishness” so how can it be pertinent, important to those who are not in the Spirit? Why are we going AGAINST Christ and the Kingdom and trying to make the gospel connect to the matter at hand? We know the things that matter to the world are not important to God; he does not consider the world’s wisdom.

1Cr 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1Cr 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

What we are seeing in this new dispensation of preaching whether it is R.A. Vernon or Pastor Jamaal Bryant or Creflo Dollar is an attempt to put the WORD in the form of FLESH that can be acceptable to the world that they may win some. We know the world receives its own and it DID NOT receive the WORD when it came as Christ.

Jhn 15:19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.

This new paradigm thinks their “success” is justified by their numbers because their DVD ministry is popular versus the small numbers of the 8 track ministries BUT that is NOT what Christ said, Christ said the VERY opposite, that the fact that you have LARGE numbers shows you could be on the WRONG path.

Mat 7:13 "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way.

Mat 7:14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

Mat 7:15 "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.

Mat 7:16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

If the message of the cross is foolish and it is as Christ said then how is it going to be relevant and attract large crowds unless it is not actually the gospel message, the common salvation, the message of repentance of the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus said few would find it yet we got pastors bragging about how many members they got? Did I miss something, it is not the efforts and clever marketing of man that wins men into the Kingdom, NO it has always been the simple message of the cross when preached correctly then GOD draws them in without “sound effects”, “theatrics” , “pyrotechnics” and celebrity endorsements. The DVD ministry, mega church mentality makes the message be subservient to the messenger; it makes the personality on the DVD cover more important than the power of God and charisma esteemed more than Christ. Sadly if we continue to adopt the ways of this new paradigm we will no longer be HIS CHURCH and HIS BRIDE but a HARLOT.

1Cr 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.

1Cr 3:7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

1Cr 3:8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

1Cr 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, [you are] God's building.

We are God’s building, YET the new relevant church makes the building on the campus of (blank) ministry the focus. Since we are talking about buildings it brings me to my analogy and comparison of the relevant Church House to the Dope House. If you look at the attached picture to this article you will sadly see a lot of the same words and themes that you can associate with a crack house, they also can be attributed to SOME church houses. This article is to get you to think and see if you are in one of these spiritual dope houses. See if it is about being RELEVANT then everybody on the streets will tell you the Dope Game is what matters, from the music to even wars that are fought i.e. Afghanistan, are fought to control the flow of dope. The music of society defines the society and Dope music is the mantra of today. So if the preachers and church houses are going to compete and be relevant sadly some have adopted that mentality and business ethic.

As an ex-church crack head I had to repent and realize I was being drawn in by the lusts of my flesh, I wanted to hear a message that would sell me the world in a Jesus package. I wanted Pastor to tell me how I could gain the whole world and KEEP my soul. The clever distortions, the half truths and the outright lies kept those like me who wanted to be sold a fantasy; it kept me coming back like a customer. Those type of churches are the Dope House, they give you a "hit" , some excitement, a gimmick, something that will get you high like "F-U" and you get hooked on the "rush" and the feeling and you keep needing more and more of a bigger dose of that "excitement" to get fulfilled. Yet I had to realize why I was NEVER getting fulfilled because the FLESH is never fulfilled and I was sowing to the flesh.

1Jo 2:16 For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

Pro 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

Gal 5:16 ¶ [This] I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

As we have pointed out the new paradigm is NOT focused on the SPIRIT it is focused on FLESH, they are NOT teaching the principles of The Kingdom of Heaven when they do this, they are totally opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jhn 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Jhn 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.

Is there a market for “N*GG@$” or is it a market for the Love of Money?

Watching this video made me go deeper into the psychology of why we like to support negativity. Why do we applaud and support with our hard earned dollars music and entertainment that is self genocide? Time is the most precious gift in the universe, and there are many in the grave who wishes they could get 24 more hours of time and we spend our time supporting death. Why do we do this? I believe it is because we love to celebrate people who can “get money” and we don’t care how they get it, as long as they get it. We assume “God gave them the money”, so it must be a "blessing". We forget the devil tempted Jesus and offered HIM all the riches in the world if he would “sell HIS soul” and worship him.

It matters not if it is a top rapper or a top preacher, we like to flock to and celebrate the individual who can amass wealth by any means, be it exploitation, manipulation, prostitution or extortion as long as they are “blessed”, we feel justified and they feel validated by the money. Now what does the bible say:

Proverbs 15:16 Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, Than great treasure with trouble.
Proverbs 16:8 Better is a little with righteousness, Than vast revenues without justice.

New Living Translation "It is better to be poor and godly than rich and dishonest
The problem is we want to “Get Rich or Die Trying”; therefore there exist this market for “N*GG@$” as the poet so eloquently pointed out. I will expound and suggest that the market is for those who “Love Money” more than righteousness, more than God.

1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

The evil that is perpetrated whether it be rapping about “selling drugs” , “spraying choppas (guns like AK 47, AR 15, SKS etc), “making it rain in the strip clubs” , “pimpin women” , “murder” etc is all done with the motivation as Biggie and Junior Mafia would say to “Get money”. As the Holy Writ says men covet after money and the things money buys thus they will do anything to get it. One of the reasons we cheer these gangsters on is because we are too scared to do the dirt they do but we would not mind having the money that the dirt produces. We also must understand the Holy Writ is saying preachers have erred from the faith in order to pursue money. See a “prosperity gospel” is NOT the FAITH! Yet many are drawn to these marketers of wealth because:

2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

It is our own lusts for the shiny things in life and wanting to “Live Your Best Life Now”, is why we indulge in this type of gospel. We equate godliness with gain and that is NOT the gospel:

1Ti 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into [this] world, [and it is] certain we can carry nothing out.

In verse 5 it says those who suggest “gain is godliness” withdraw thyself from them, yes YOUR PASTOR/BISHOP who teaches such things is wrong. We do not teach that TRUE godliness is with contentment, which is GREAT GAIN.

Mat 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
The trick the devil is playing on the minds of the masses is that you can serve God by serving money.

I am not saying that you cannot have money, no God forbid, what the WORD is saying that all money is NOT good money.

Let’s look at 1 Timothy 6:5 in the NLT
1Ti 6:5 These people always cause trouble. Their minds are corrupt, and they don't tell the truth. To them religion is just a way to get rich.

So as we sit comfortably in our pews looking down on those in the hood' as they try and “get it how they live it”, “keeping their mind on their money and the money on their mind”, indulging in all types of self debilitating behavior. We must look in the mirror and realize we are no better than them as we sit up in church with the same dream of “Getting Rich or Die Trying”