A little disappointed :(

So church today was ... alright. I re-visited the church I visited last week. I had a WONDERFUL time there last week. The worship was fantastic. The message was convicting and challenging.

I was a little less impressed this week.

The worship was still very good, but only a few minutes into the preaching, and I was starting to get nervous. The first thing he said that I flatly disagreed with, was a statement that basically said that when we preach the gospel to someone, and they don't embrace it, it's because we did something wrong. He said, "If they knew what we knew, they wouldn't be able to stay away!" The only problem: even JESUS did not have a 100% success rate, and I don't think we're willing to say that He screwed up! Jesus clearly said that "some seed fell by the wayside." Sometimes we preach and it has no effect, it never takes root. It sucks, but it's the reality of it. Not too long after that, and he was heavy into the Prosperity Gospel. He basically said that the thing that would look appealing to unbelievers about the gospel, is if we are living in perfect health, having all our needs met financially, and having every relationship in perfect working order. He said that this was what Jesus meant when He prayed, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And that's basically where he sat, and the platform he preached from for the next 40 minutes or so. He made some wild claims along the way - that Job sinned in his thinking and brought all those things upon himself - that Jesus was extremely wealthy (umm...Matt. 8:19-20).

The only good news...this wasn't the pastor of the church (he's in South Africa), this was the pastor's father-in-law. So, I haven't given up yet! I still believe this is a good church. I surely hope that this isn't a frequent topic in this church. I am being reminded of the many reasons I kind of distanced myself from Pentecostalism in the past.

::sigh:: I'm disappointed...