I am growing increasingly concerned about the genuineness of some of our Pastors and the apparent absence of the authentic apostolic spirit of Christ in some of our churches.
There seems to be an ever-growing need in the pastoral ministry to meet the world’s expectations and secular benchmarks of success.
Many worship services disguise their organization’s real purpose of raising money by calling it a church service. They have a hidden agenda of captivating and capturing individual members to teach them about financial stewardship to the church to increase the church’s fiscal strength and visible attractiveness. Church seems to be more about business, entertainment, choir performance, physical attractiveness and political correctness than about genuine salvation. Salvation is the cover story while finance is the goal. I know that his assessment doesn’t apply to all churches but an ever-increasing number of churches seems to be purposely headed in that direction. After all, it is attractive and offers many perks that holiness doesn’t.
They have brought the elements of the night club into the church to artificially influence the congregation to “dance for the Lord.” They have disguised club music as praise break music using the fast tempo and heavy beats to manufacture an atmosphere of excitement and joy. If the joy is real, I don’t need no music to praise the Lord in dance.
Artisans of religiosity and motivational speech have taken the stage as pastors spinning webs of nonsensical yet poetic rhetoric that persuades intrigues, intoxicate and captivates but not save.
Many pastors and churches are more concerned about what men think about them than what God thinks of them. They attend seminary more out of a general need to impress prospective employers (Churches) with their credentials than out of a need to impress God wit their hunger to know Him. Why would God need them to go to seminary to learn of Him as if seminary could tell them about Him? (1 Cor. 1:21) That’s not happening.
Many so-called Christian pastors tolerate improprieties and immoralities among their fellow clergy and in their churches in exchange for financial consideration, popularity, pastoral prestige and job security. They cover one another’s sins up not out of concern for quiet rebuke and eventual correction but out of a sense of fraternal loyalty and shared risk.
No one seems to be concerned about saving souls anymore. I’ve seen a number of church services where the pastor ceremonially took in several new church members without them ever repenting, being baptized in Jesus’ Name or receiving the Holy Spirit. They just prayed a prayer and danced around or fell on the floor and rolled around a little or gave a story about their so-called conversion experience, usually involving something personal, emotional, strange and unsubstantiated. They usually ended up saying that they loved the Lord and the church votes them into the body or the pastor accepts them as members. They walk away thinking that they are saved because they joined a religious institution. This is so sad and it breaks my heart. I so much want to interrupt the service but that wouldn’t be productive or prudent.
There appears to be no standard of holiness in many of the churches that I have visited these days. I have personally witnessed practicing fornicators with live-in lovers singing on church choirs, serving as missionaries, ushers, ministers, musicians and in other various capacities in the church. Adulterers and drunkards are Pastoring and conducting communion services. Open homosexuality is very visible in the church and no one dares to address this abomination and affront to the Kingdom of God and its message of sexual purity.
As long as the finances come in, the bigger buildings are being built, the larger pastor salaries are being made, the prestige, power and honor are being bestowed, everyone seems to go along with the program as business as usual.
But one day, God is going to require that all of these pretenders and false prophets and false prophetesses give an account for their behavior. What an eternally sad day that will be.
“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign Lord. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’” (Ezekiel 13:8-9)
REPENT!
“… I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.” (Ezekiel 33:7-9)
Save yourselves pastors!
Obey God’s Commandments and feed God’s sheep.
Repent!
Amen Bishop. You’ve said what needed to be said. Bless you.
Amen! Many of the churches are becoming more and more corrupt! Preaching the feel good message, desiring to be ear-ticklers instead of preaching the Truth. Without conviction, there is oftentimes no repentance, unfortunately. People need to think about their sin, and the Holy Spirit will work through the message to convict people of their sin. If people leave church just feeling good, thinking they can sin all they want and God understands…they’ll not repent for it and they stand the chance of the enemy, Satan, leading them on a path to hell. This is the great deception the enemy uses! The perverted, watered down love message….love without conviction. Political correctness has no place in the true Body of Jesus Christ!
Thank you, Bishop, for this powerful, timely message… so much needed in a day where more and more people are being led astray by false doctrine. Yes, even the elect are being led astray!
God bless you!
May Father God Almighty Be Glorified and Praised in the name of Jesus Christ.
Thank you so much Sister Lyn Leahz. Your kind and encouraging words mean more than I can relate to you at this time. The rarities of such supportive gestures as yours make them even more valuable to me – even personal. I am still finding the courage to speak what I believe the Holy Spirit has allowed me to see and experience and your comment helps me accept the task that the Lord has placed before me.
Thanks Again and Keep Looking Up!
~owp
God bless you, and thanks for your kind reply. I understand. The Lord has called me to preach repentance, and warning that His return is near..that it’s time for the people who call themselves “Christian” to stop playing on the devil’s playground. My message is not a popular one that people want to hear.
Needless to say, I am most persecuted by “Christians” who have been taken and led astray by the watered down ‘peace and love’ message…who do not believe in preaching the whole truth from God’s Word..forgetting that Jesus is God in the flesh…the same God of the Old Testament, and the same God who loves the sinner, but hates the sin. Forgetting that in the end, we all shall kneel before Him and give account for everything. The people who want to find loopholes in the Bible…not looking at the Bible as a whole living being, but in parts, only quoting those scriptures they can twist and utilize to the fulfillment of their own passions and lusts. Many do not want to pick up their cross and carry it, or they don’t fully understand the meaning… It was horribly painful when Christ had to carry His cross… saying no to sin, and sacrificing our lives and what we want for God is painful..but it is a necessary part of our walk with God if we are to stay IN Christ Jesus.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are IN Christ Jesus..” (Quoting from my head there…) People overlook one important word in that verse… IN! If you are IN Christ…there is no condemnation…if you’re not IN Christ..well, then…unfortunately, there is.
God bless you! And keep up the glorious and blessed work you are doing every day for our Heavenly Father! Thank you for blessing me today with your kind, encouraging words!
Again I thank you so very much for your friendship and comments. I too have been completely cut off from the support of many churches and church folks because I refuse to preach a denominationally sanctioned, seminary approved, emotionally entertaining, non-biblical, theologically corrupt Gospel Message of Jesus Christ. We are not alone.
Keep Looking up!
Amen! Rejoice for your obedience to God! In heaven you’re storing up crowns..and even more…the joy and love God has for you! We all must remember…the TRUTH shall set us free! No, not deception, not half-truth, and not sugary messages….but the absolute truth through God’s Word and Jesus Christ (the only way to heaven) is the ONLY thing that brings freedom. How do I know? I’ve lived it, and God said it. Amen! This article here, not written by me, but posted by me, came to my mind… http://vineoflife.net/2012/12/07/signs-of-christs-second-coming/ Also, there are times it is difficult when people reject you and ridicule you..that’s when I have to remember they’re rejecting Christ in me…not me personally. The devil doesn’t like me and he’s got the wool pulled over their eyes. We just have to pray harder for them, because they’ll soon find out we weren’t kidding.
You ever seen this video dear friend? It is awesome! It’ll give you goose bumps! It is empowering! Motivating! This is how we should all be!
I’m sorry…my message posted before I was done… you are welcome..and thank you for the post and all you do for Him! No need to thank me… thank God! God bless you, and may we keep our eyes heavenward…for our redemption draws near!
Reblogged this on Lyn Leahz and commented:
A powerful, true, and much needed message! I highly encourage everyone to take a moment and read this message by Bishop/Evangelist O.W. Prince. I also encourage you to reblog his post so others can hear the truth about all the lies of the enemy, Satan!
Praise The Lord and Thank You for the encouraging gesture of re-blogging my post. To God be the Glory and Praise always. ~ owp
You’re welcome. If people don’t hear truth (the truth will set you free) they will not be set free from the strongholds of Satan and the kingdom of hell. You will be persecuted and told you are doing wrong, but don’t worry..we kneel before God, not those who are offended by truth. The only reason we live and move and have our being is to glorify God and to lead the lost to Christ, and to redirect those who are led astray. Trying to save people (through Jesus) from hell is a major act of love. Just as we would not stand by and watch a child ingest poison without trying to stop them, we must speak truth as we see others ingesting spiritual, soul killing poison that sends them to an eternity of death and damnation. We aim to love others in truth, and to please God by being obedient at all times..in so doing, we are IN Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
I wanted to say this earlier in my last comment, but I had to leave to go to work. I take care of the sick, dying, and disabled, so it’s a humbling job..makes you realize how blessed you are when you see others suffering worse than you.
Be blessed and go forth boldly! Let us always remember no matter where we go or what we do…even when we’re driving down the street (getting irritated with other drivers)…we are personal representatives of the King…Jesus Christ. We’re not of this world…no, we are more than conquerors through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit within us He so unselfishly gives. Let us never look, walk, talk, act, or even resemble the world. When people see us, they will see Jesus radiating from our countenance. They may mock, scorn, ridicule, blaspheme us…and that is awesome!!!! Because that means we’re doing something right. I live my life to make the devil mad…and when the devil gets mad, those who serve him get mad too!
I have enjoyed writing to you here and reading your posts. God bless you today, tomorrow, and evermore! Maybe we’ll meet soon in the clouds when the trumpet calls us homeward! ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫
Thank you Sister Leahz… your kind and supportive confirmation really made my day. I greatly appreciate you taking the time to encourage me in God’s Truth. Furthermore, I am grateful for and all of the followers and believers like you who visit from time to time. Your words were the medicine that my soul needed today. Thank you for being so obedient to the Spirit of Christ for I know that it was the Spirit of God that prompted you to reach out.
You are so right in your assessment of our true citizenship. And I am evermore grateful that the Lord has shown his elect ones how to not forsake the assembling ourselves by creating a loving, learning, supportive and anointed community of worldwide saints. Given the current condition of available worship places and mainstream contemporary churches, we must resort to the practices of the first century believers – meeting wherever we can and praying always for the saints, standing firm, steadfast, and unmovable, always abounding in the Faith.
Please keep me in your prayers as I always pray for you and all of the saints and followers on WORDPRESS.
All Glory and Praise Belong to Him.
keep Looking Up.
Bishop
Amen and amen..and God bless you! I live in a pretty descent sized town..and there is not hardly any anointed churches anywhere to go. It’s been a long time since I’ve really sat beneath God’s anointing. It’s not that I didn’t go somewhere to receive it…it wasn’t there. It was similar to a funeral service…maybe a notch above that or two..but not much. And, I’ve been to the ‘feel good’ services…no real preaching, no real conviction, everyone leaves feeling great, and goes home to their lives of sin without any regret.
Reblogged this on Iloilo Faith Center Church of God and commented:
Obey God’s Commandments and feed God’s sheep.
by: Othealor Wendell Prince, Jr. and O.W. Prince Ministries
http://owprince.wordpress.com/
Praise The Lord and Thank You for the encouraging gesture of re-blogging my post. To God be the Glory and Praise always. ~ owp
there is nothing “new” under the sun,…all of what you have described above has been happening for thousands of years,….has it not? many of the people who go to these kinds of gatherings “like” it that way. when we, as humans, and as believers, allow “someone else” to work out our own salvation,…then we have simply “gotten what we have wished for,…….many times, we are led to believe that we have to have “men” between our relationship with god. there is one mediator who we need, and one only. jesus.
hhhhmmmmmmmmm,……more to say concerning this,……..maybe later,……have a good one,……..
Thank you for your reply and I appreciate your comment. Be blessed.
You are right John…but at the same time, God appoints leaders, and has since way back when (i.e.-Moses, Joshua, etc.) The problem here is that many ‘leaders’ are preaching a perverted message, not preaching the truth that the Bible says. They’re going to be in some serious trouble with God for it too for leading the sheep astray. Ministers are supposed to lead the flock of believers. When they start preaching false doctrine and no longer preaching the truth of God’s Word, but sugar coating it for the pleasure of the hearers, there is a serious problem.
Oh, and another thing…it has not been happening like it is today for “thousands of years.” Just about everything in this generation has been increased more than ever before because we are living in the times Christ Himself described.
I have spent most of my life (even since childhood) studying the scriptures..I also follow prophecy news and I watch. I can assure you that the entire “Oh, everything has been happening for years!” theory is an incorrect one. I don’t have it in front of me, but there is a website where you can see the earthquake activity, for example, going way back when. Over the last fifty years, the seismic activity has increased like you wouldn’t believe.
But so many of God’s elect (as the Bible says will happen) have been led astray. The Bible can not, does not lie. Here’s one for you you’ll understand.
Men have been trying to prove the Bible a hoax for ‘thousands’ of years..and they can’t. Even the biggest humanists can’t disprove the authenticity of its history… archaeologists have proven and dated things as well..such as the wall of Jericho and ‘fire and brimstone’ that rained down on Sodom & Gomorrah. Hey, and here’s one for you… in the Old Testament (I think it’s in Ecclesiastes, but I could be wrong..) there is a verse that is referring to God… and it says, “He who sits ABOVE the circle of the Earth…” This was well before it was discovered that the earth was round. I mean, many generations before Christopher Columbus…who, by the way, was Christian and claims God told him to take the journey in which the USA was discovered..at the time, called, “the New World.”
I would encourage you…as well as anyone, who thinks these things that are happening now…in this generation…have been going on for years to dig in and search. Don’t just believe it because so and so said it, or you watched a video.. the Bible tells us “study to show thyself approved.. rightly dividing the Word of God..a workman for the Lord who needn’t be ashamed.” (I’m quoting it from my head here..so forgive any insignificantly wrong wordage.)
All the things the Bible said would happen so many years ago are happening! It’s exciting and devastating all at once. We are the generation chosen by God to see the Son coming in the clouds. Exciting! However, know this…all that you have seen and will see are things never, ever seen before. I promise. God said it. I believe it. And as far as I’m concerned..that settles it.
God bless everyone..and have a great weekend!
Amen! Just as Prophesied.
Amen. That is one reason I wrote a blog about stewardship without discussing finances. I noticed it happening in the church, almost every Sunday a different member or their family would get up and talk about stewardship, but all I heard was “get the money” “teach your babies to give money” in my mind. Blessed me, I do what only the Lord tells me to do.
“But one day, God is going to require that all of these pretenders and false prophets and false prophetesses give an account for their behavior. What an eternally sad day that will be.” You really hit the nail on the Salvation line that is thrown to members to make them feel guilt about giving financially.
Wow! Oh Wow!
Nothing but the truth. You have help prove that greed and all the things listed above still exist within the church, making it qualify for a corrupt church especially when it comes to stewardship sermons and observing consecration. What has always skipped around in my head is why the need for bigger churches when the current church is rarely full? When a church is not constant with programs offered, and as if things are done on trial basis, and the next time you look up, a study or Sunday school class has been cancelled, things that truly benefit others are no longer offered, because one is thinking about the “cost”? Not to mention, there are a LOT of lukewarm members in these corrupt churches too.
Thanks so much for this post. I was going to reblog, but I think I’ll print out and leave it on church doors in my town and fax a copy to the christian radio station.
Sorry I wrote so much, I was on fire reading this. 
And now I shall go in hiding!
Pastor’s need to preach on and be reminded themselves of what Revelations 2:18-29 discusses.
Keep on being blessed in the name of Jesus!
Thank you for your kind and supportive confirmation. I greatly appreciate your stamina and passion for God’s Truth. You certainly did not write too much. I enjoyed reading your comment. It lifted me from my sick bed and gave me encouragement to fight on. I am only operating within the parameters for which I have been sent by God.
All Glory and Praise Belong to Him.
Bishop
Bishop..like I said…your message here couldn’t have been more correct. It reeks of truth, and I pray those who have turned away from the truth, and those who are not obeying what God has set forth in their lives, as well as so foolishly leading others astray..will have conviction weigh on their hearts like a lead weight. I pray that this conviction will bring them all to their knees in repentance before the Father, in the name of Jesus! And by their repentance, a new anointing is going to come down upon them…and they’re going to go forth and preach like never before! They’re going to rise above the enemy and crush his head beneath their feet as they proclaim Jesus Christ to the world and lead the unsaved and unrepentant to the cross! Amen! 2 Chronicles 7:14…the call to the world! The Spirit of God cries out…God has a controversy with the nations! Time is short… it’s time to repent..it’s time to remove the dirt-stained shoes of sin, and step into a new pair that’s all clean and white. No more time for Satan’s games…. Jesus is saying, “Ready or not, here I come!”