I picked up a little tip from watching a series of videos from a certain YouTube channel. This channel owner reviews different churches, pastors, and movements that way I review products on FreeBeingFree.
The channel is called BEZELT3 and this is from his About section:
The gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ is just that. It's an announcement of something that happened in history. It's that Jesus lived a perfect life and died a substitutionary death on behalf of sinners. He rose from the dead bodily and now, ascended to heaven, sits at the Father's right hand victorious over sin and death. Because of this fact everyone who trusts in this announcement will be saved from the coming wrath of God on the last day - That's the gospel and it is outside of you. If you would like to contact me you can email me at bzel333@gmail.com
I'm going to write to ask what the BEZELT3 means.
He approaches everything with slices of humor but stark biblical truths. I have not agreed with everything he has to say, but his content is thought-provoking and always laid out next to the Bible as the main source. (Totally at random, here is one of his videos.)
As I said, I agree with almost everything he has said in the videos I've watched. I am in total agreement so far with his critiques of prosperity preachers and the boy-band-type mega-church presentations. One of the main points he stands on is how the gospel is to be presented and how those presenting the gospel do so.
Discernment is vital in Christian life. I love the definition that Got Questions gives for discernment. Here is a portion from their page (my emphasis):
The word discern and its derivatives are translations of the Greek word anakrino in the New Testament. It means “to distinguish, to separate out by diligent search, to examine.” Discernment is the ability to properly discriminate or make determinations. It is related to wisdom. The Word of God itself is said to discern the thoughts and intentions of one’s heart (Hebrews 4:12).
Without discernment, it's easy for us Christians to fall prey to false teachings and false teachers.
I am always eager to delve deeper into Bible study and I have struggled in the area of discernment. I sometimes when listening to various preachers and teachers.
After watching some of the BezelT3 videos, I was reflecting on a Bible passage he had mentioned when discussing a popular preacher. Something Bezel had said more than once kept nagging at me. That's when I realized something and made this note for myself:
If the focus of a message is not the Gospel, watch out.
&
If the focus is more on mortal well-being than the eternal soul, watch out.
That's it. It's like a little cheat sheet for Christians.
I have listened to many preachers and teachers who have messages on things that are very interesting to me and my present life: my health, my money (or lack of), my emotions and stress; my bad relationships; regrets about my youth; what the government is doing; social justice and injustice...
It's so tempting to want to hear about how we can make this life more comfortable. And I'm not saying there is anything wrong with getting help with finances or health. But there are many places I can turn to for all that. For the Gospel and for learning how to live my Christian life - that is what the preachers and Bible teachers are for.
Also, churches are not for my entertainment.
I recalled something that I might have mentioned here before about a friend of mine. I was attending a church where the pastor focused on the Bible. Every sermon was a continuation of a study. We did a walk through Acts and Romans. We did a study of marriage and a study of the single life and a study on prayer, and so on. Every study was done using Scripture. Each week, on the way into the church, we picked up a pamphlet outlining the verses we'd be dealing with that day and we could pause to drop offerings or tithes into baskets at the back. A little group would lead us in a short song of praise before the pastor began the teaching. Afterward, there would be some general announcements and closing prayer before there was an offer made for anyone who needed specific prayer. Some people would remain behind for coffee and snacks. After church, I'd take my pamphlet home and spend some time reviewing it and going back over the verses in the Bible. I attended that church for a couple of years before I moved away and I always think back on it as Life Application Bible 101.
Not long after my sister passed away and I had decided to move away, I was spending a lot of time with one of her friends so I invited her to church with me.
At that time, we were in the middle of a study of Daniel and my friend was impressed. She was making notes on her pamphlet and in her Bible and really engaged for the 45-minute service. I thought for sure that she would want to return for more in the coming weeks. I was stunned when she said that, while she had enjoyed the study, she would never go back.
Her reason was that the church didn't have any "good" music or enough "happening". Her church was "exciting" and "jumping" with music and "praise". There was a lot of before and after socializing. In my church, she felt over-dressed and out of place.
I grew up in a church like the one my friend attended. "Holy Roller" churches have a lot of music and emotional "energy". People get dressed to the nines, with their hair, nails, and makeup done up. You can hear the music from the parking lot. The services are maybe 20% sermon and 80% music, "shouting" and random people speaking in tongues. It was, in my opinion, like a Sunday morning nightclub, minus the hard liquor and cigarettes.
The pastor at most of these "Holy Roller" churches doesn't preach, they perform. It's almost an art form that is handed down through generations. When I was a young girl, I had friends who could mimic these preachers by holding one hand to an ear and hollering in a cadence.
"You better look to the Lord-uh, I say looook to the Lord! You ain't hearing me. I say LOOOOOK to the Lord-uh!!"
While the pastor hollered and pranced across the platform, the organist would hit certain notes to get people clapping. At some point, someone - the pastor or a congregant - would get overcome with the "Holy Ghost" and just have to start shout-dancing (this was called "getting happy") until everyone else got worked up. Pretty soon, the entire building would be literally thumping with music and shouting. This could go on for (and I am not exaggerating) hours.
This music video is what most Holy Roller churches looked like when I was young.
