We start to see now why Foglio divided up these verses to make his individual points. To properly handle the text of course, you cannot take these five words and pretend they have no connection to the context in which they are found. It is specifically because they honor in word alone while their hearts are far from God that their worship is then useless, or vain. In the case of the Pharisees, they would devour widows' homes and operate devoid of the mercy and justice of God and then piously worship God in the temple. Thus their worship was useless. God is not going to honor worship when it is a veneer.
"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. -- Amos 5: 21-24 (ESV)
In the seeker friendly world, worship has become entertainment. It is no longer done for God but rather to feed our flesh. Last year Victoria Osteen admitted that they do not worship at Lakewood for God but rather for themselves. Twenty years ago we sang about How Great Thou Art and today we sing about how much He loves us. That is not worship. It is not lifting up Jesus to sing to God how much He is our friend. More importantly, when your doctrine has eradicated Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, whatever you try to sing in worship will be useless before God. Completely in vain. Foglio tries to again turn this into old religious folks not tolerating anything new. It is a strawman argument however. There are plenty of contemporary worship songs that stay true to Scripture and that is the only point that should matter. Foglio concludes:
Traditions have become doctrine. -- Tony Foglio
"Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men " laying aside the commandment of God, they hold the tradition of men -- God Almighty
Tony Foglio is clever but transparent. The issue that bothers the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex is not that traditions have become our doctrine but rather that we have based our traditions upon doctrine. This is of course the complete opposite of what the Pharisees were doing and what the complex does. As if all of this were not bad enough, Foglio gets greedy:
"But that's the way we've always done it," they will say. Show me a stagnate church, and I'll show you a church steeped in its own traditions to the point that those traditions have become doctrines. -- Tony Foglio
This is a common false teaching from the complex but it based on such unbiblical foundations. A stagnate church for example is one that is not growing into a mega church but that is not in Scripture at all. At the end of Acts Chapter Two, we see very clearly that it is God who decides who gets added to the fellowship, not man. So his definition of stagnate flies in the face of what the Bible actually says. It is not that smaller churches have allowed doctrines to become traditions it is that they based their traditions upon doctrine. Now however that Foglio thinks he has laid down sufficient pious sounding points, he reveals the true agenda of the complex:
Let's stop condemning ministries and preachers that are reaching the masses through new technologies, unorthodox presentations and anything else God may be using to impact people with the gospel. -- Tony Foglio
As discussed at the beginning, the purpose of the complex is to protect the complex. If by new technologies he means smoke machines and disco balls during worship I think he has missed the point. If by unorthodox presentations he means dressing up like star wars characters to preach a sermon about a secular movie I think he has missed the point. If by condemning ministries and preachers he means exposing the false teachers for who they are as the Bible commands us to do, I think he has missed the point. If by the gospel, he means this seeker friendly, purpose driven, sugar coated, easy greasy, crossless, bloodless, self help, motivational tripe that cannot save anyone but might just "church them" -- I know he has missed the point.
The point is that Jesus Christ did not come to bring peace but a sword. That one must pick up their cross and deny themselves if they are to follow Him. That without the blood we remain guilty before God. The point is that without the cross we never discuss why He had do die. Without that we never talk about our own sinful state that has us separated from God and bound for hell. Beloved, without that talk there cannot be repentance. Sure you can be churched. You can attend every week, serve in ministries, and feel like you have a purpose beyond your wildest dreams. You will not however be saved. You will merely be playing church. A customer of the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex. You will have had God marketed to you, slickly packaged and sold to your specifications. You want to revel in your own sin; we have teachers who specialize in greasy grace. You want to excuse all of your wealth or greed? We have prosperity preachers to scratch your ears right where you itch. You want to feel as if you are God? We have word faith heretics and those who traffic in false signs and lying wonders. Don't you worry either about anyone coming in and ruining your party. You go right on dancing to Christian hip hop and rock concerts disguised as worship. You go right on believing that it was you who felled the giant with a pebble and parted the Red Sea with a stick. After all, we have people like Tony Foglio to defend you. To protect our customers. To preserve the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex.
Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 10, 2016
