The Copycat Christian

As most of you know, I grew up Pentecostal. I learned at an early age to accept being different. My schoolmates wore pants, I wore long dresses. On Friday nights when they were at the game, I was at a youth rally. Different was my norm and became the root cause of why one of my biggest peeves is copycatting. Growing up, we could pin point a child of God at the drop of a hat and not only because of the way they dressed, but by the way they walked, talked and the company they kept. That’s not the case these days. Somewhere along the line, somebody decided they knew better than the Preachers and Teachers before them. They decided that “it didn’t take all that”.

And so they got rid of testimony service and began to allow secular music to ring from the pulpits and sermons. Churches stopped fellowshipping with each other and began collaborations with the secular world. They put a cease to “hell, fire and brimstone” sermons and discovered the art of prosperity preaching. What was the end result? The number of school shootings, gay marriages, fornicating and or pedophile church leaders, murder suicides and blasphemous acts continue to increase.

Today’s youth shows little to no reverence for our older men and women of the Gospel; citing they are too old fashioned and judgmental. Instead rebuking their teachings and sowing seeds of discord against them. I was listening to “gospel” Hip Hop artist Lecrae do a “teaching” on YouTube where he was defending tattoos stating that if tattoos aren’t permissible then men shouldn’t shave their beards or eat red meat. I don’t think Lecrae realizes that by making light of these scriptures, he was also doing it for the entire Old Testament. You can’t rebuke one scripture and obey another. Even Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, I come not to change the law but to fulfill it.
 

I grew up during a time where you had to become seasoned in the word but you jumped and began a ministry. In today’s generation, a person can get saved and start a ministry by the end of service. And if there is something in the bible they don’t understand or agree with, they ignore or try to change it. The bible tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. As a matter of fact, everything God created began as pure in his eyes. Things changed once Adam and Eve sinned. So satan, being the wickedly clever devise that he is, decided to continue in his manipulation of the mind by presenting his evil as bountiful blessings. As God directed the writing of the bible, he gave clear and concise instruction on what we as his children were to refrain from. Warning us time and time again to stay away from the ways of the world; but being the hardheaded people that we are, we turned a deaf ear and we allowed satan in. Our excuse was “Well, I am going to take this from the world and add Jesus to it.”

My husband reminded me of scripture in Titus 1:15 where it says “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is NOTHING pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” So many times, I have heard people say “I can listen to this type of music because they are talking about marriage.” Still, the word, not Bridgett, says NOTHING the nonbeliever (unsaved) is pure. This new age generation of Christians feels like the “old school church” was too strict and extreme. I’m like this, at least their “strict and extreme” way of believing resulted in miracles, healings, blessings, spiritual growth and a church united. I know the bible has to fulfill itself but I refuse to be a part of the church’s decline when it comes to holding up the standard of God. There is nothing of this world that I want to be a part of or mimic in ministry. There is a fine line between hot and cold and I pray to God daily to lead and guide our family on what is of him and not of him. I know that I have not arrived. I know that it’s easy to become naive and seduced by the carnal pleasures of this earth. All it takes is a little of satan's poison to contaminate a soul.

I mean no disrespect to anyone when I say this, but I strongly disagree with two of the latest cliché’s we hear in Christianity. The first one: God hates religion. There is no scripture to back this up. The bible speaks against the traditions of men and those who SEEM to be religious but doesn’t bridle their tongue. God is not the author of confusion so I find it hard to believe that he would hate something and then define it in his word (James 1:27). IF God hates anything, I would think that it’s the many different denominations man created which resulted in a plethora of traditions that cause division among the church as a whole. Webster defines religion as the service and worship of God or the supernatural. Now if someone decides to serve another god and then steal the word “religion” from God’s word to create their own belief, then that’s on them. Identity theft is nothing new in the Kingdom of God. Satan has been doing it for years.

 

The second one: Favor ain’t fair. It’s fun to say and even lookes cutes on a tshirt but still…If God is fair and just, how can his favor be unfair? We might feel like its unfair when others get blessings in a split second after we’ve been praying for that same thing for years. But we can’t forget that God blesses us all in due season. If you eat a fruit before it’s ripe, it will be bitter and hard to chew. God knows if he gives us our blessing before time, it won’t be as sweet and enjoyable so he waits until the precise moment when the blessing is at its perfect peak.

I’ve got to summarize here because I could write a book on this. I’ll end with this. We need to flip the script back to where God intended and return to God’s pure and Holy standard. The world should be pursuing what we have as a body of Christ. Let us not be enticed by their false sense of beauty, pleasure and prosperity but instead see the rotting decay that’s hiding underneath. Will we be persecuted? Of course. Will God avenge? Definitely! If you are out of ideas in ministry, seek God for new ones. Stop trying to perfume the acts of the world with a little Jesus on top. That’s kind of like trying to put perfume on a skunk. No matter how much you spray, it will still be a bad aroma in the nostrils of God.

 

NOW THAT'S STINKING THINKING!