Re: Why - seeking other opinions and answers!

Here I am, posting way down at the bottom after all these great responses.

My thoughts:

You know God touched me in a mighty way a couple of weeks ago. It was like electricity, and I didn't want ANYTHING but His presence. No food, no sleep, nothing but Jesus and the Word! Then, what happened? The TV- the TV!!- tried to lure me into the world- commercialism, materialism, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. Straight out of the mouth of Satan in the garden. "This is what you need to be happy and look successful!" And the filthy ideas and conjectured life situations in the crime shows, and the blatent lechery of the sitcoms, laced with a car or beer commercial every 15 minutes. You get sucked into this mentality of "I need to buy this stuff in order to keep up." (Psalm 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.)

So you go into debt. Absolutely strapped and one or two paychecks away from bankruptcy.(Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing; but to love one another....) This is the church! Mom's gotta work, so she's not available to minister (Titus 2:5 she's supposed to be a homemaker if she has kids). Dad's gotta keep up with the sports and newstalk radio so he can be like a regular guy at work and not some dork who'll get passed over at promotion time. (1 Peter 2:9- But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light) The kids go to public (Philistine- worships a false religion, not Hebrew- worships the God of Israel- Christ) schools and get indoctrinated with all this socialist PC agenda, where's the Lord there?

On top of that, you're getting taxed out the wazoo (Romans 13:1-7 we are commanded to pay taxes), and now you're getting double taxed, fee-d, fined, whatever you want to call it (my opinion- if the Church was acting like the church, we wouldn't be getting double taxed now) gas prices are way up, and so is everything else except what you bring home.

So who's got any discretionary income to tithe with? How's the work of the church gonna get done when there's barely enough coming in to pay the pastor and electricity bills? So you have to get more numbers. Lots of little givers to make up for what the good Christian folks aren't giving. What does God say? Malachi 2:8-12 You've robbed me by not tithing.

So how do we get the numbers? Programs! Activities! Affinity groups! Low standards! Fancy buildings! "We aren't really a church, we're a community!" Rock music! Extreme church! You get the idea.

And who's reading their Bible these days? ("Give us this day our daily bread"- no wonder we're hungry!) Who has time for a quiet time? With a full time job, a house, the kids, Little League, who's getting more than six hours of sleep a night? Depression? How about just plain tired!

So you get stressed out and you take it out on your spouse. What a witness for Christ to your babies. They say, "Why marry?" (Malachi 2:13-16 about dealing treacherously with the wife of your youth, creating marriage so there might be a godly seed, the Lord hates divorce) Wonder why there aren't more young people serving God?

That's the testimony of our churches today. Non believers don't want to have anything to do with us because we're not real.

Deuteronomy 28- the whole chapter- tells us what the blessings of God are and what the consequences of disobedience are. That's what's happening.

But look at this. Malachi doesn't blast us and then leave us for dead. God never does. Malachai 4:2-3 (God showed me this, too) says: But unto you who FEAR MY NAME shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves in the stall, and ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. (and we know the day that God did this was the day of Calvary!)

Blessings,
-Donna