Tear Down Common Christian Idolatry In Your Spiritual Life
Such As: Sola Scripturolatry, Traditionolatry, Pastorolatry...
Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. ( 1 John 5:21 )
There are four common religious idols in the Christian church that must be torn down in the hearts of Christians in order for the worship expression of Heaven to be realized in it's fullness. These four are sola scripturolatry, pastorolatry, traditionolatry and bandolatry. It is rare to find a church in which all of these idols no longer exist. Any one of these idols can negatively influence the praise and worship time and also the praise and worship expressions in the church. So please forge ahead with praise and worship freedom even if some of these idols still exist in the hearts of people within your church.
Your life must be free of Sola Scripturolatry, which is making the scriptures your God by having a relationship with the Bible that is only meant for God himself. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees by telling them that they spent too much time with the Scriptures, looking to the Scriptures as their source of life. Think of the Scriptures as a guide that lead you to the door step of eternal life that is found through Jesus Christ, and being in the presence of God, and having the presence of God within you.... our source of life, who is El Shaddai, the God and Father of our leader Jesus Christ. God is not Father, Son, and Holy Scriptures, but rather Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Being led by the Spirit is the relationship to cultivate. If you can carry God around in your hand as a book, why would you need to cultivate HIS PRESENCE ?
Your life must be free of the idol of Traditionolatry also. You may have been brought up in a church where you do things during the praise and worship time a certain way like only singing during the praise and worship time or only raising the hands. But you have not been brought up in a church with any form of dancing to the Lord. Both lower body dancing done with the feet and upper body praise dancing which is done with the hands may seem really strange to you. You may be hindered by the chains of tradition that are wrapped around your mind. Ask God to free you of those, fill you with his Spirit, and teach you how to praise dance.
Your life needs to be free of Pastorolatry ( sermonolatry for some ). God never intended for the church to be pastor dominated. It is sad that so many churches are held together by the natural charisma of a man. The church is supposed to be member ministry orientated where a number of people contribute to the worship service and no person dominates (1 Corinthians 14:26). It is sad that there are so many people who look forward to hearing from the pastor (who may be a comedian) on their way to church, and very few look forward to experiencing a more powerful experience of the presence of God through worship and praise.
Another idol for some is Bandolatry which is seeking out a church primarily for the worship band that can be passively enjoyed each Sunday. The people who are involved in this error, choose a church because they love to sit and listen to the worship team singing, and do not participate in the worship time themselves. The people who are involved in this error have no real heart for participatory praise and go to church to just sit in their seat and be entertained. This may be seen in the Sunday morning life of a man who said to me about the church he attends: "It is like a concert every Sunday."
There are four common religious idols in the Christian church that must be torn down in the hearts of Christians in order for the worship expression of Heaven to be realized in it's fullness. These four are sola scripturolatry, pastorolatry, traditionolatry and bandolatry. It is rare to find a church in which all of these idols no longer exist. Any one of these idols can negatively influence the praise and worship time and also the praise and worship expressions in the church. So please forge ahead with praise and worship freedom even if some of these idols still exist in the hearts of people within your church.
Your life must be free of Sola Scripturolatry, which is making the scriptures your God by having a relationship with the Bible that is only meant for God himself. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees by telling them that they spent too much time with the Scriptures, looking to the Scriptures as their source of life. Think of the Scriptures as a guide that lead you to the door step of eternal life that is found through Jesus Christ, and being in the presence of God, and having the presence of God within you.... our source of life, who is El Shaddai, the God and Father of our leader Jesus Christ. God is not Father, Son, and Holy Scriptures, but rather Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Being led by the Spirit is the relationship to cultivate. If you can carry God around in your hand as a book, why would you need to cultivate HIS PRESENCE ?
Your life must be free of the idol of Traditionolatry also. You may have been brought up in a church where you do things during the praise and worship time a certain way like only singing during the praise and worship time or only raising the hands. But you have not been brought up in a church with any form of dancing to the Lord. Both lower body dancing done with the feet and upper body praise dancing which is done with the hands may seem really strange to you. You may be hindered by the chains of tradition that are wrapped around your mind. Ask God to free you of those, fill you with his Spirit, and teach you how to praise dance.
Your life needs to be free of Pastorolatry ( sermonolatry for some ). God never intended for the church to be pastor dominated. It is sad that so many churches are held together by the natural charisma of a man. The church is supposed to be member ministry orientated where a number of people contribute to the worship service and no person dominates (1 Corinthians 14:26). It is sad that there are so many people who look forward to hearing from the pastor (who may be a comedian) on their way to church, and very few look forward to experiencing a more powerful experience of the presence of God through worship and praise.
Another idol for some is Bandolatry which is seeking out a church primarily for the worship band that can be passively enjoyed each Sunday. The people who are involved in this error, choose a church because they love to sit and listen to the worship team singing, and do not participate in the worship time themselves. The people who are involved in this error have no real heart for participatory praise and go to church to just sit in their seat and be entertained. This may be seen in the Sunday morning life of a man who said to me about the church he attends: "It is like a concert every Sunday."