#18 – ... The Accommodating Church.( Part 2 continued from posting #17

As a final point, I must make mention of the fact (that I have found rarely commented on elsewhere) that Mr. Tiller was actually a member of a “Christian” church and was serving as an usher at the time of his murder! I don’t know about you, but that fact is a very sad commentary on the state of the Christian Church today. Of course, the Church will always be a place of differing opinions, though I would expect that the accurate teachings of Scripture would be extremely difficult for those who are pro-abortion to reconcile in their reasoning. But MEMBERSHIP for an unrepentant abortionist; how can that be justified? Furthermore, I would expect that membership would require that Mr. Tiller was a Christian. But, excuse me, according to the Bible, a Christian is one who recognizes their sinfulness and accepts the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for their forgiveness and accepts Him alone as their Savior and Lord. (Colossians 1:13-14) How could an unrepentant abortionist be considered a Christian - biblically? {Of course, a church that does not view things biblically is itself not a church and is not a part of the Body of Christ and an authentic Christian church.)

Mr. Tiller’s recognition by his “church” to be a Christian and to be accepted into membership at that “church” is illustrative of how accommodating Christian churches have tended to become. In trying to be “seeker-friendly,” many run into the danger of tailoring not just their services but their Biblical teachings to make them more acceptable to those who have not yet learned of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Many have gone so far as to not use words such as sin or mention the very real Hell that Jesus spoke of more often than He did of heaven itself because “it might offend some visitors.” Shame on those churches!

Oh, but you say, not my church. Really? Let me ask you. For one, when was the last time you heard a sermon on why, biblically, abortion is murder? Secondly, when was the last time your church prayed for an end to abortion in this country? Then, is your church either helping those pregnancy resource ministries who offer free help to women considering abortions and/or have members who actually go to an abortion clinic to counsel the women there with appointments to have their unborn babies killed? And finally, does your church continue to extend membership to those who, knowing the evil of abortion, decide to abort their unborn child? If a church is not in some way standing for Life and against the forces of Evil, than it is by default accommodating that Evil.

Several years ago, I was asked to give a prayer on Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. (This is usually the 3rd or 4th Sunday each January that coincides with the annual anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion on demand in the U.S.) I was quite disappointed that the pastor himself did not step forward to offer the prayer. But I was shocked by what happened when I stepped forward on stage to offer a prayer. From behind me, the worship leader stepped forward and whispered in my ear, “Now, be sure not to say anything that might offend the guests in our church.” I was so incredulous and upset that if I went by my feelings I would have turned and yelled at the guy! There I was, about to pray for the end of the most horrific ongoing holocaust in our country’s history (at least 50 MILLION unborn killed and tens of millions of Moms and others victimized) and he wanted me to be sensitive to what some people might think! Even if I had said something that inadvertently upset someone who disagreed, I would find the whole idea that we as a nation legally allow the murder of our most innocent citizens to be offensive enough to outweigh anyone’s slighted feelings. And besides, if the truth about evil upsets someone, maybe they are just too comfortable with that evil and NEED TO BE UPSET at that instead of at my words of Truth!

If your church is one of who does one of those things I’ve described, I commend your church. But if your church does not do any of those things, then, I submit, as a friend confessed to me once, that the killing of the unborn “is not even on my [your church’s] radar screen,” and I say with sadness that you belong to an accommodating church. It confounds and yes, angers me, that many Christians today are so determined to be seen as “tolerant” that we go far beyond just accepting the views of others who hold anti-biblical and pro-death views, but we are actually afraid to challenge such wrong-headed and dangerous thinking for fear of appearing “judgmental.” God’s Truth will always in itself pronounce judgment on lies and by nature will offend those who choose to believe those lies. The Body of Christ represents the Church of Jesus Christ and a Christian church is never to be the “Church of Tolerance and Accommodation.” When we devolve into such blasphemy, then we are no longer part of the Church but, by our accommodation, support the very Evil that the Church is called to stand against. And, I believe, when the Church fails to be the Church of Jesus Christ, it invites God’s judgment upon itself and, tragically, by its failure, also upon this nation that professes to be “under God.”