But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. -- 2Corinthians 11:3-4 (ESV)
It seems as if this story sounds familiar. Someone high up in churchianity decides not only to call it quits but to trash Jesus on the way out. In the Middle East Christians will choose losing their heads before renouncing Jesus yet these high-profile "Christians" have no problem offering Him up to any who will listen. Michael and Lisa Gungor had Dove Awards, hit songs and even co-wrote Friend of God before going atheist. Andy Mineo and Jahaziel, Christian rappers, both took their wares into the world domain, leaving the church behind. Last month the Christian world screeched to a halting stop when Joshua Harris denounced Christ and announced he was leaving his wife. This Christian celebrity only wrote the books on modern Christian relationships, selling millions. Now this week we hear of one of Hillsong's songwriters, Marty Sampson, is also calling it quits and denouncing Christ along the way. Marty Sampson is just the latest victim of purpose driven churchianity. Just like Harris, Gungor and Mineo before him. The key verses sees Paul admonishing how quickly the Corinthian believers were falling for false gospels, false spirits and false christs. I use these as the key verses to remind us that there are in fact these false gospels, spirits and christs out there and they are exponentially growing today. The apostate church has embraced the false gospels of prosperity, the NAR and false signs and lying wonders, just to name a few. The purpose driven church model of growth is a scam and the average time a congregant stays in such a church is just less than three years. Realize it is much harder for the Gungors and Sampsons of the world to leave because they derive their fame and fortune from the Seeker Friendly Industrial Complex. Yet at some point they too must realize the scam they are playing an active role in and eventually they hate what they once professed to love. This is why they do not merely bow out but insist on deconstructing the false christ, false spirit and false gospel they had been a part in promulgating. The link above is to a recent article about Sampson but the author appears to be atheist or anti-Christian at best. I chose this to review because it is important that we see how the world is looking at us. The same world that we are supposed to bring the real Gospel to. Let us reason once more but note it is a very long article. I will try to present the most salient parts.
"Marty Sampson himself has been associated with Hillsong for quite some time. He's done some solo work and collaborated with other Christian musicians, but his discography contains mostly Hillsong stuff. But it sounds like he's been struggling for a long time with doubts. Yesterday, he decided to publicly announce that he's finished with that struggle--and that reality won over faith. I'm not going to second-guess or speak for him. Still, I don't think anybody here will wonder why he struggled. I sure don't wonder. None of Christianity lines up with reality. The miracle claims don't look like actual miracles to anybody but those primed to see them that way. Prayer doesn't actually do anything in the real world for anybody--which is why Christians must tell people they're doing it. Supposedly-divine rescues from disease, injury, or natural disasters only raise more (and more disturbing) questions than they settle." -- Captain Cassidy
None of Christianity lines up with reality. How sad but the examples she gives are pretty accurate for us to notice. The apostate church brags to no end about miracles but remains way short on proof. Now it is true that a sign is not required but we go to the opposite extreme. We show Todd White in movies pretending the grow the length of a shorter leg in a scam so obvious it has its own debunking channel on YouTube. Other miracle wannabes are found at places like Bethel where they teach the youth to ask to pray for people in the vaguest of terms for the most malleable of conditions. If Bill Johnson truly believes in mandatory healing why isn't he in the Emergency Room every single day? Or at the very least cast aside his corrective eyeglasses. Why does he send kids out instead to pray for someone's "pain"; which the power of suggestion alone may make someone feel relief from. Cassidy is also right about the loud public nature of prayer within the false church. This is opposite of how Jesus said we should pray. We must realize that when you are trying to prove the existence of a false NAR God, you inevitably become like the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Divine rescues are used by those in the apostate church because their false gospel cannot save anyone and thus people need to be convinced to come back. You actually have charlatans like Gloria Copeland claiming she prevented hurricanes by rebuking them. Do we think the world is not watching? Here is the actual statement from Sampson, announcing he is leaving Christianity:
"Time for some real talk" I'm genuinely losing my faith.. and it doesn't bother me" like, what bothers me now is nothing" I am so happy now, so at peace with the world.. it's crazy / this is a soapbox moment so here I go xx how many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send 4 billion people to a place, all coz they don't believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgemental people on the planet -- they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people" but it's not for me. I am not in any more." -- Marty Sampson
Beloved, one would expect that he has found peace with the world if he clearly has no peace with Christ. Let us deal with his complaints separately. Many preachers do fall, every single day. He is right that no one in churchianity talks about it much because the first duty is to protect the brand. The apostate church is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise and they are not going to let one preacher take it down or ten. I remember when Ted Haggard fell. He was the head of the National Evangelical Association and he used to rail against homosexuality every week to his 15,000 + congregation in Colorado. Then he had to admit to a decades long affair with a male prostitute who he used to do crystal meth with while having sex. That Sunday, my very well intended pastor told us -- don't judge. Huh? Despite the fact that the don't judge verses are about hypocrisy, not judgment, how can that be the message this morning? Did we think the world was not watching? We should be open and transparent, realizing the sheep and those watching the church are more important than the fallen preacher. He should be offered love and forgiveness as he seeks to restore only his walk. When Todd Bentley fell after admitting to an affair with his secretary we should not have heard anything from him again. Instead, Bill Johnson oversaw his nonsense restoration where he was encouraged to divorce his wife and marry his secretary and then Johnson declared he was restored? Do we not think the world is watching? Next, not many miracles do happen if we were to be truly honest. This is not the fault of God but of a church system that has abandoned God and the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. If no one gets saved without the true Gospel what makes you think there will be abounding miracles? Part of the problem here is also the dumbing down of miracles. In the days of Jesus, a miracle included healing, a supernatural multiplication of food, or someone being raised from the dead. Today places like Bethel and IHOP marvel at absurdities and claim they are miracles. Like gold dust, gem stones, angel feathers and glory clouds. In the Holy Ghost movie, they claimed the growing leg trick as a miracle, as previously mentioned. Then on the other side you have absurd claims with no proof. The Bethel "Dead Raising Team" claims 15 resurrections to their credit without offering one shred of proof. Do we honestly think the world is not watching? Then comes the reveal. Then comes the proof that Marty Sampson was in all likelihood, never saved. The first two examples were spot on but now he starts wandering off into the myths the world believes. Things that are easily refuted by someone with the indwelt Holy Spirit. It is similar to when Andy Stanley realized his youth headed off to college and came back atheists. His answer was to abandon the bible when he should have started preaching the Gospel. If someone is persuaded by the big bang theory, they do not have the spirit of God inside of them leading them into all truth. Despite what Sampson believes, the bible is not full of contradictions and there are an abundance of solid apologetics workers who speak the truth to the lies the world sells. As for why people choose to not place their faith in Jesus Christ after the plethora of evidence in creation and the Gospel being preached to them -- the only answer is the draw of sin. He is right that Christians can be both staggeringly judgmental and unbelievably loving and it should not be. This level of hypocrisy is spoken against directly by Jesus, over and over. That said, when you leave the Master because some who claim to follow Him are judgmental, I conclude that He never was your Master. This is why people like Sampson are victims. They were sold a false bill of goods. A false christ and spirit through a false gospel. They were able to carve out a niche within the apostasy but once the money has been made all you are left with is the falseness and your role in it. No wonder they walk away at peace with the world and angry with Christ. This is not real talk beloved. It is real sad talk.
"Sounds like he, like so many of us, wanted the truth so much that he chased it right out of Christianity: I want genuine truth. Not the "I just believe it" kind of truth. Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God. Got so much more to say, but for me, I keeping it real. Unfollow if you want, I've never been about living my life for others. All I know is what's true to me right now, and Christianity just seems to me like another religion at this point" I could go on, but I won't. Love and forgive absolutely. Be kind absolutely. Be generous and do good to others absolutely. Some things are good no matter what you believe. Let the rain fall, the sun will come up tomorrow." -- Captain Cassidy
