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Friday, November 25, 2005

The Heresy of Entertainment

Below is an excellent quotation from A.W. Tozer that fits modern evangelicaldom perfectly, particularly the CBN-style glitz, glitter and glamour.

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." (Colossians 3:16)

"Religious entertainment has so corrupted the Church of Christ that millions don't know that it's heresy. . . . They don't know that it's as much a heresy as the counting of beads or splashing of holy water or something else. To expose this, of course, raises a storm of angry protest among the people . . . .

"One man wrote an article as an expose of me. He said that I claimed that religious entertainment was wrong and he said, 'Don't you know that every time you sing a hymn, it's entertainment?' Every time you sing a hymn? I don't know how that fellow ever finds his way home at night. He ought to have a seeing eye dog and a man with a white cane to take him home!

"When you raise your eyes to God and sing, 'Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord to me,' is that entertainment - or is it worship? Isn't there a difference between worship and entertainment? The church that can't worship must be entertained. And men who can't lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment. That is why we have the great evangelical heresy here today - the heresy of religious entertainment!" (Tozer on the Almighty God)