I recently posted the article Beware the Happy Church and add some additional thoughts this morning. Consider again the following: 1Co 11:20-30 When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. (21) For in eating, each...
Continue ReadingA Few More Thoughts on “The Happy Church”Author: Jeff Crippen
Beware the “Happy” Church
1Co 11:28-30 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. (29) For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. (30) That is why...
Continue ReadingBeware the “Happy” ChurchSpotting the Wicked by Watching for their Unguarded Moments
1Ti 5:24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. If you are a Star Trek fan, you know that the Klingons have a device on their ships called...
Continue ReadingSpotting the Wicked by Watching for their Unguarded MomentsWe Must Understand What Reviling is and What the Reviler Looks Like
Luk 6:22 "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 1Co 5:11 But now I am writing to you not...
Continue ReadingWe Must Understand What Reviling is and What the Reviler Looks LikeShame, Inferiority Thinking, and Victims
1Co 12:20-25 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. (21) The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." (22)...
Continue ReadingShame, Inferiority Thinking, and VictimsThe Wicked Blame Everyone but Themselves
Mal 1:6-7 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O...
Continue ReadingThe Wicked Blame Everyone but ThemselvesLessons in Discerning False Victim Advocates
1Peter 5:2-3 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; (3) not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples...
Continue ReadingLessons in Discerning False Victim AdvocatesA Sure Sign a Church’s Claim to be a Friend of Abuse Victims is False
Currently, we are seeing churches and organizations jumping on the band wagon of supposedly exposing domestic and sexual abusers in the church and coming to the aid of their victims. Occasionally these claims are genuine, but most frequently they are...
Continue ReadingA Sure Sign a Church’s Claim to be a Friend of Abuse Victims is FalseThe Reason Churches Protect Abusers and Cast Out Victims is that they do not Fear a Holy God
Most all of you know the sickening pattern. Wicked, evil person hiding in the church behind a disguise of "saint." He victimizes the innocent who then cry out for justice. Victims are marginalized, disbelieved, silenced, and even thrown out of...
Continue ReadingThe Reason Churches Protect Abusers and Cast Out Victims is that they do not Fear a Holy GodA Vital Sermon to Hear – What is Wrong with the Visible Church Today?
I delivered the following sermon yesterday here at Christ Reformation Church as part of our ongoing series in the Gospel of Matthew, specifically the Sermon on the Mount. You can read or listen to the sermon HERE Do you wonder...
Continue ReadingA Vital Sermon to Hear – What is Wrong with the Visible Church Today?