STAINED GLASS MASQUERADE!

Is YOUR church partying with this crowd?

By Bernie Lutchman

Many so-called Christians or even the real Children of God – the “ekklesia” (or the Body of Christ) miss
out on SO MUCH! In fact WE JUST DON’T KNOW!!

We don’t know the Power of His Might.

We don’t know the Power of His Creation.

We don’t know the Presence of His Power (think about that for a second!)

We don’t know the Possibility of His Promise!

And why don’t we?

Why are we PEW-OCCUPIED but not wholly SANCTIFIED?

Why is a fat lazy nation BUT NOT a HOLY NATION?

Why do we have the most immaculate neighborhood but don’t act like a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD?

I’ll tell you why – we’ve been seduced by the god of this world and do not even know it! “What?? How
dare you, an untrained and uneducated (I’m a seminary dropout – PRAISE GOD!!) street evangelist says
that about our beautiful church buildings and pastors? Don’t you see we have the best carpets comforts,
cafeterias and chandeliers? Can’t you see we are full every Sunday, baptize regularly and have the best
youth groups in town?

“Sure they text during the sermon, but that’s the latest evangelism tool!!!”…..

First of all, I (Bernie Lutchman) did not say any of this! Read the entire New Testament and then camp of
Revelation chapters 2 and 3 to see what the HEAD OF THE CHURCH – the Living Word of God – JESUS
says about our churches in America and the west…..and you say “well that was 2000 years ago!!” No! A
thousand times NO! That word from King Jesus was for the church for all time and apart from some
weird cults and personality driven churches, almost every modern evangelical church in America lives in
Laodicea!

What does this mean? Here is what Jesus Himself said in Revelation 3:17 “You say, ‘I am rich; I have
acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor,
blind and naked”.
The first order of business after reading this admonition from Christ is to search our hearts and let the
Lord reveal our own shortcomings, so we can go about trying to fix them!!

There are many books and articles which can be written about the state of the modern church, but what
I feel a burden for after a prayer meeting last evening, was the state of the modern church HEART!

PROPHETIC PASSAGE!

The passage the Lord laid upon my heart the following passage while in deep prayer over a certain other
concern! I showed it to the event host who was amazed as it confirmed something for us. Here is the
prophet Haggai from chapter 1: 2-9:

2  “Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the
house of the LORD.”  3  Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the
prophet,  4  “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house
lies in ruins?  5  Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.6  You have
sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you
never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does
so to put them into a bag with holes.

7  “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.  8  Go up to the hills and bring wood
and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says
the LORD.  9  You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it
home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins,
while each of you busies himself with his own house.”

This admonition was about the Temple!! The House of the Lord here on Earth! We who are
saved…truly saved….are the NEW TEMPLE…the abiding place of the Holy Spirit of God! We
fellowship corporately in a man-made structure called the Church, but we ARE the true
ekklesia. We are the true church….or we are supposed to be!

In the above passage from Haggai, the Lord is speaking directly to us through His living,
breathing Word!

Take your average medium sized town and city – where the majority of Americans live and
work. If the average unsaved individual (most people) were to look at your church building (or
as Haggai says “paneled houses”), what would they say about you? Would they say that this
particular church and its members care about the poor, sick, needy and lost and they would
love to visit during your next community outreach?

OR…would they think we’re a bunch of well-dressed in our suits and khakis every Sunday; drive
in our nice cars, leave after 1 hour and 34 mins and never say a word about evangelism,
missions, outreach or the lost…until the next Sunday morning’s harmless (and technically
correct) sermon?

Unfortunately, it is the latter! That’s right! We’re a bunch of stuck up elitists sitting around
waiting for a non-existent Pre-Trib Rapture!! Yes, I went there – there is no such thing as a pre-
Tribulation rapture…a topic for another day!

WE DON’T:

We don’t Pray – unless someone sends out a prayer chain request for a medical or other
emergency on the phone or email.

We don’t even TALK about prayer. We don’t have prayer services or solemn assemblies. We
even tell people they are “in our thoughts and prayers” which is absolutely meaningless as
we’re lying! We don’t pray for them! If we did, we would find a place to begin the Travailing
Intercession process by praying with them IMMEDIATELY!

Next, we don’t Evangelize! We talk about the Great Commission and may even write a check
for $20 to Franklin Graham’s Samaritan Purse, but won’t share Christ at work or give someone a
book or even act concerned if a coworker has a problem with their son/daughter flunking out of
school. And forget street evangelism! That passing out tracts or being there to talk to someone
about Jesus is for those “other guys and gals”.

It is no wonder that most American church leaders NEVER lead a soul to Christ, while having the
best study curricula, fancy vacation bible schools and more!

We don’t do Missions. What? “But we write a check for that couple living in Ghana or
Cambodia..” What ARE YOU doing? Missions is not something a selected called few do in poor
Third World countries. The minute you step out your door, you’re in the biggest mission field
ever! Take King Jesus….wherever he stopped, there was His Ministry – the Woman at the Well;
the Rich young Ruler; the Roman Centurion etc.

It is getting so bad that the biggest mission field sign is NOT over the Exit door as we leave on
Sunday morning, but the BIGGEST MISSION FIELD sign is over the door leading to the Sanctuary!

This lack of Faithfulness to the Lord Jesus and His Word…even while we have nice harmless
worship music and accurate preaching…has produced some horrible fruit….and this will lead to
HARSH JUDGMENT on Judgment Day!

Here is what 1 Peter 4:17 “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and
if it first begins with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" 
This should scare any pastor/elder or deacon…but it does not! Judgment will start with church
leadership who see their “good” works will go up in flames and will be grateful they’re even IN heaven!

MODERN CHURCH, SAME OLD BAD FRUIT:

Here is why: First, the rate of Divorce is higher INSIDE the church than the general population! Church
members are sleeping around and fornicating and watching pornography like there is no tomorrow!!
They think the Grace of God will cover a multitude of their sins!

Second, abortion and premarital sex are just as bad INSIDE the church as in the general population, as a
result of this mindless fornication paradigm! My friends who run a ministry dealing with pregnant teens
and young adults report that almost ALL their clients come in looking for an abortion and claiming they
are Christians and go to such and such church!!!!!! Do you get what this means? Are we getting it now?!

While inward looking church leadership have their heads in the sand, their sheep are in the thicket,
ripped apart by the thorns…and the elders can’t see it (or won’t). So you know what happens? Say a
teenage girl gets pregnant and is shamed in her own church….they just move to another church more
welcoming...because not every church is full of people who are not sinners or make mistakes!

Third, according to extensive proof from massive research by Britt Beemer and Ken Ham, we already lost
the next generation of youth from Grade 6 and up!! Read the amazing book “ALREADY GONE”! While
these kids come to Sunday school with their parents because they have to, we have already lost the
battle for their hearts for Christ and the Faith to the world! We have them for one hour per week…the
devil’s playground has them the rest of the week!

This is the demographic more likely to believe gay marriage is right; abortion is okay; sex and drugs and
rock and roll is fine because Miley Cyrus says she is a Christian and lives that lifestyle.

This is the demographic that will post profiles on Facebook and MySpace saying they are “Jesus –lovers”;
since contemporary “Christian” songs which hardly mention Jesus if ever and will more likely than not,
post a semi-nude or compromised unchristian photo of themselves on Facebook or Twitter!

Even worse, this is the proven demographic which says, according to both Barna and the Pew
Foundation – 57% of these evangelicals think there is another way to heaven than Jesus! Did you hear
that? Our children and youth are coming out of our nice, well-behaved conservative churches thinking
only 43% of what we say is right!! What kind of preachers do we have in America???!!

What kind of church leadership would produce the next generation – 57% of them- who think the 300
millions demonic Hindu gods, or Islam or Zoroaster or that rock by the stream can get them into heaven!
Remember – judgment begins in the House of the Lord – the church!
Fourth and final point – all of this spiritual incompetence – both by design and accident – is a result of
the lack of proper teaching of the Creator and His Creation. When we have more and more people
believing in evolution and then saying they’re Christians, we have Corruption, period! A person CANNOT
BELIEVE IN BOTH CHRIST AND EVOLUTION!! A true believer saved and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, will
never attribute God’s creation to some massive blob exploding off a big bang ape crawling out of the sea
in ancient Egypt 300 gazillion years ago…but more and more so-called Christians believe that lie from
the pit of hell, via Charles Darwin!

The reaction of several church leaders I know in my own travels locally mostly is stunning! Instead of
trying to fix the problems, seek Divine Guidance so God gets the Glory or go back to the Basics of the
Faith, these pastors and leaders hunker down, grab even more of what they THINK IS THEIR TURF and
cut off real men of God in their congregations who are the remnant that fully grasp this evil and urgency
of the hour! They cut off and ignore the hurting teens, women and men in our offices, homes and even
churches... and the Quiet Desperation of their people and while continuing with their Stained Glass
Masquerade!