The Purpose Of The Church

Ezekiel 34:16, “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.”

I listened to a wonderful MP3 sermon today by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) titled: “The Purpose Of The Church.” In this very needful sermon, Dr. Jack Hyles preaches a precious truth that is almost non-existent in Baptist churches today—that we as saints have the responsibility to work to restore fallen and broken sinners to fellowship with the church.

Sadly, Pensacola Christian College (PCC) still hasn't learned this great truth. If they did, they would beg me to come back to Campus Church with open arms. Instead, they won't even communicate with me, because they are carnally minded and filled with hatred. What they have at Campus Church and PCC is NOT Christianity!!!

“It's time we decided to take responsibility for those folks who fall away; driven away, driven away by unfaithfulness, by unfriendliness.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “The Purpose Of The Church” 

“We are far too hard on people that go into sin.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “The Purpose Of The Church”

“Every person in this church that goes astray, we ought to consider him with the same tenderness we'd consider flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone, if they went astray.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “The Purpose Of The Church”

“This church is a hospital for spiritual sick people to get well, to get their broken bones bound up, and get their diseases healed, and get right with God.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “The Purpose Of The Church”

In the preceding last quote, Dr. Hyles is not referring to Charismatic physical healing of diseases of the body; but rather, spiritual healing of the soul.

I humbly agree with Pastor Hyles that every time someone leaves a church the pastor and congregation are partly to blame. We are all guilty at times of driving people away! People just want to be loved. Dear reader, you may be the only Jesus that someone knows. Pastor Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) rightly said: “Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.” That is absolutely true! Having said, please read this:

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶 𝘀𝗮𝘆, ‘𝗜𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀, 𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻?’ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗞𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 (𝗧𝗡𝗦)

Chuck Stanford, lama emeritus, Rime Buddhist Center: To fully understand this quote, it is important to know the backstory from where it came.

While Gandhi was a practicing Hindu, Christianity intrigued him. In his reading of the Gospels, Gandhi was impressed by Jesus whom Christians worshiped and followed. He wanted to know more about this Jesus that Christians referred to as “the Christ, the Messiah.”

The Rev. Pattison tells the following story: One Sunday morning Gandhi decided that he would visit one of the Christian churches in Calcutta. Upon seeking entrance to the church sanctuary, he was stopped at the door by the ushers.

He was told he was not welcome, nor would he be permitted to attend this particular church as it was for high-caste Indians and whites only. He was neither high caste, nor was he white. Because of the rejection, the Mahatma turned his back on Christianity.

With this act, Gandhi rejected the Christian faith, never again to consider the claims of Christ. He was turned off by the sin of segregation that was practiced by the church. It was due to this experience that Gandhi later declared, “I’d be a Christian if it were not for the Christians.’“

SOURCE: https://www.vvdailypress.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2016/08/26/why-did-gandhi-say-x2018/985856007/

“𝗜’𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀.” —𝗠𝗮𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗺𝗮 𝗚𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗵𝗶

I couldn't help but be reminded of the cold-hearted leaders at Campus Church and Pensacola Christian College (PCC). As of August 2, 2022 their rotten pastors have banned me from attending their church. It didn't matter that I apologized for criticizing them on social media, nor that I offered to do whatever they require to reconcile and make things right, they still refused. That is why we are enemies today. I speak that to their shame at PCC. The ball is in their court alone. I have done all that I can to seek fellowship and restoration, but PCC is a cult where only SOME LIVES MATTER.

Mahatma Gandhi was told he was not welcome in (just like I was told I am not welcome), nor would he be permitted to attend this particular church (just like I am not permitted to attend Campus Church). If I didn't know any better, I'd never become a Christian because of the bigotry, hatred, Pharisaism and woeful lack of compassion for individual people at PCC. The way we treat people matters. It really does! People just want to be loved.

“Our job is not to criticize those who have been driven away; our job is not to look down on those who have been driven away; our job is to bring back those who have been driven away.” —Pastor Jack Hyles, “The Purpose Of The Church”

The purpose of the local New Testament church is not to entertain you.

God's purpose of the church is soulwinning, to seek and to save that which was lost.

The purpose of the church is to bring again that which was driven away.

The purpose of the church is to bind up that which was broken.

The purpose of the church is to strengthen that which was sick.

Dear reader, I love the local New Testament church. I don't blame most people today who are sick and tied of today's pathetic churches, with pastors who don't truly love or care about sinners (horrible places like Campus Church at Pensacola Christian College). But if you have ever been in a good Bible believing church, then you know how wonderful it is to be in God's house in the presence of God's children. The pastor makes the church. Everything rises and falls on leadership. Sadly, I cannot find one great church in Pensacola. We have some fairly decent churches here, but nothing that I would be glad to brag about.

Most of today's churches are caught up in the entertainment phenomena. I loathe Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) in churches. From my own experience, I have learned that such modern Neo-evangelical churches are superficial, lacking humility and don't genuinely care about people. The pastors are usually yuppie type ministers. It saddens me that most churches today have removed their pews and replaced them with stackable chairs. Today's churches look more like political convention centers than churches. I don't like the deteriorating direction that the churches are headed.

I thank God for local churches. There is no one universal Church today, there are only local churches. The Body of Christ will not assemble as a whole until the Rapture. I receive many emails from distraught believers who are at the end of their rope. They share all sorts of burdens, problems, heartaches and frustrations with me. In nearly every case they are not attending a local Bible preaching church. They just stay home. Dear friend, you and I need to be in church. We all need fellowship with other Christian believers. We need their encouragement and comfort, and they need ours.

I know the inexplicable pain of going it alone in life. I have been through difficult times so bad that I wanted to die. I despaired even of life itself. Sadly, I had visited a local church on Guam, the Agana Heights Baptist Church, but the senior pastor deliberately mistreated me and didn't want me to come back. God knows what evil thing that he did. I wrote down my phone number and address and gave them to the pastor, but he never contacted me. I was cut to the heart when he insulted me, and then abruptly walked away, making clear that he didn't want me in his church. So I left and never returned. I know what it feels like to be dissed and hurt by pastors.

So in my despair and grief I didn't attend any church for the next five years. Then in 2013, I started attending the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. I was happy to finally have a church family, and I loved them very much. But they are neo-evangelicals who preach the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation, waring repentance and use the Devil's corrupt Bible revisions. I loved them enough to tell them the truth about these woeful evils, for which I was forced out and banned from returning to church. I lost my beloved church family. That wicked devil, senior pastor Marty Herron, couldn't have cared less. It was all a big joke to him.

Pastor Marty Herron refused to allow me to come back to church, so for the next 7 years on Guam I stayed home depressed with no church to attend. I wanted to die. Nobody cared about me from Harvest Baptist Church. Nobody visited me. Nobody remembered me, because their God wicked damned pastors told everyone to avoid me, and they slandered and demonized me because I told THE TRUTH. Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”

I know and pray that God will avenge me for what those ungodly pastors did to hurt me. The fastest way to get kicked out of a church today, and banned from returning, is to just TELL THE TRUTH. Isn't that sad and tragic? The Devil has succeeded in infiltrating most churches today with the lie that faith is not enough to be saved. Those wicked fools teach that there is a second thing you must do, which they say is to turn from your sinful behavior, which is works, not grace. Very few pastors get the Gospel correct. If you do not know what the Gospel is, I highly encourage you to read this helpful book by Michael P. Bowen, titled: 'I NEVER KNEW YOU.'

If you attend a so-called church and they preach Lordship Salvation, you are in fact in a cult, not a Bible-believing church. Bob Jones University (BJU) is a deadly cult today, steeped in the corrupt Bible revisions which originated in Alexandria, Egypt (i.e., Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort's perverse 1881 Greek translation) and the Devil's damnable Lordship Salvation heresy. Please search my blog for these topics if you desire to learn more, as I have written extensively about them. God is so good! It is not the Lord's fault that preachers today have become Caspar Milquetoast wimps and indifferent concerning right doctrine and moral standards. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!! It matters which Bible that you use. Thank you for reading my blog.

People Just Want To Be Loved