Thank you, Km, that illustrates the point of the article. Posted here: https://discern.org/2015/01/circus-by-the-glades/

Hello Donna, thank you for visiting. The performance of the Chris Brown song was the opening to NewSpring’s Christmas Eve service. You can watch the whole service on the NewSpring website, here. If you were referring to the circus photograph I used, please see my reply to Gavin. Numerous actual examples of church-as-entertainment can be found at The Museum of Idolatry.

Hello Gary, thank you for stopping by. The photo is of a circus and is meant to be illustrative of Spurgeon’s point. It’s by ‘peddhapati’, and is entitled The Greatest Show on Earth! You can find the original here, as mentioned in the photo credit at the end of the article. Numerous actual examples of church-as-entertainment can be found at The Museum of Idolatry.

The seeker sensitive model gets the whole thing upside down. Exactly, what difference does it make how many are in the multitude, if the gospel is never preached?!?! And you can’t sugar coat it. Those who came for the candy will bolt out in all directions when they see the true gospel. But what is the point in alluring them by appealing to their flesh, just to tell them they must crucify it with Christ when you give them the gospel, and then they all run away? The goal is, and let me make this clear for those who seem to be a bit… er… confused here… the goal is: salvation, and it works by giving… (drumroll….) the GOSPEL! You can’t lure them in with candy, bells, neon lights, and whistles folks. The message and the wrapping it comes in should match. The point is that people get saved, so they need the gospel. You want to attract the sincere ones so you make the brochure match the destination. That is how you get results. Even if you draw 100, and 20 get saved, at least there are twenty. But if you draw 100,000, and never preach the gospel, 0 will get saved, and 0 is less than 20. Heck, it’s even less than 10, or 1. If they do preach the true gospel, most who came for flesh tickling will quickly find their way to the nearest exit. Are you seeker sensitive types picking up on this yet?!? But I know something many don’t. And it’s this. Seeker sensitive church ‘CEO’s are not sensitive about the numbers of people getting saved. Shocking, I know. They are sensitive about how many people warm their pews and keep warming their pews. (church ‘growth’) And sensitive about them dropping in their $ as the plate gets passed. Or should I say $$$. And, that is all they care about. In fact, they don’t even believe the gospel, the bible, as being the truth. It gets even worse. Some are even intentional deceivers, wolves in sheep’s clothing to lead astray, workers of satan. They do exist, and infiltration has been successful. You can’t use the methods of the world to draw people out of the world. You use the methods of Christ to lead them to Christ. (yes, you can quote me) ( ; Jesus said that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him. Just another note, uh… the Father is not going to use neon las vegas lights to draw you. So brace yourselves, get on your knees, and repent. You’ll never regret it.

Satan is alive and well in the modern church! What should be bringing people into church is the leading of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the word of God. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. Matthew 21:13 “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh”.

My message to NewSpring is to heed Galations 5:16 – “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”. Romans 12:2

In Matthew 21:13 Jesus drove out the merchants from the temple saying, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.'” I can only imagine how He feels when churches like NewsSpring play songs like “Highway To Hell” in His fathers house.

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The reason the message of the Bible should never be compromised is because it is the only source of power against the sin nature in terms of knowledge and understanding for living a life that yields to God and rejects the Satanic system and the internal draw of the sin nature. If living for God were easy, everyone would do it…it isn’t easy and that is why God gave us an instruction manual with directives.