The Matthias Chronicles: The fall of Christianity

Now thats a phrase that isn't heard every day, but none-the-less very true. I have quite a few articles in my archive that hint and haw around this very topic so maybe its time to cut to the chase.

What would lead to the fall of Christianity? Two articles in my archive in particular, A world without GOD and America is becoming godless, high light many of the underlying issues. However, there is one issue I haven't covered yet and it is perhaps the most important reason why Christianity has fallen and is failing.

Christianity's biggest reason for its downfall are a vast number of the very people that claim to be Christians. Thats right, many of the Christians are the reason Christianity is falling. Do I have your attention yet?

How can this be? How can the Christians themselves be Christianity's undoing? The answer is surprising simple. Many people that call themselves Christian don't practice the meaning of what being a Christian is. Not all people that call themselves Christian are undermining Christian principles, but a vast majority are. The news never reports what a true Christian does... because there is nothing sensational about a true Christian.

For this point on, I'm going to make a few distinctions. First, I will use Christianity to refer to the mainstream modern practice and Christism to refer to the teaching of Scripture and Jesus Christ. These distinctions are important as you'll soon see.

Have you ever listened to those tele-evangelizing preachers that say GOD needs your money or that they saw a ten foot tall Jesus? Or maybe you've heard one of these crazy loons say something like "if I don't raise eight million dollars by noon, GOD is going to strike me down." Are these wackos for real? Who, in their right mind, is going to be mislead by this crap?

I don't know which is worse, the crazy loon preachers spewing this verbal vomit or the people that actually believe it and dole out tons of cash to the crazy preachers. This is completely against scripture:

Hebrews 13:5 - Do not be carried away by the love of money; but be content with what you have; for the Lord himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Acts 8:20 - Simon Peter said to him, Let your money perish with you because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with wealth.

Mark 6:8 - And he commanded them not to take anything for the journey, except a staff only; no bag, no bread, no copper money in their purses;

1st Timothy 6:10 - For the love of money is the root of all evil; and there are some men who have coveted it and have thereby erred from the faith, and have brought to themselves many sorrows.

2nd Timothy 3:2 - And men shall be lovers of themselves and lovers of money, proud, conceited, blasphemers, disobedient to their own people, ungrateful, wicked,

As you can see, Scripture is quite clear, these fly-by-night wacko preachers crying poor-mouth are NOT practicing Scripture, but rather, they are raking their parishioners over the coals to satisfy their narcissistic greed. Scripture does say a Christ centered person is to tithe. Tithing is the life's blood of ministerial work.

Here though lies a double edged sword. Where do our tithes go? How are they used? This is where most Christian preachers go horribly astray. Our tithes are to support the work of the church, NOT the preachers or ministers of the church. I say this again, the money we tithe is NOT to support the preachers, pastors, ministers, or whatever other over-inflated title they choose. All money received by the tithing is to go to the work of the church, food pantries, helping the homeless, and so on. Any preacher that receives pay from the church is going against Scripture and NOT following the teachings of Christ:

Luke 11:42 - But woe to you Pharisees! who take tithes of mint and dill and every kind of vegetable, but overlook justice and the love of God. These were necessary for you to have done, the very ones by no means to have been left undone.

Matthew 23:23 - Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you take tithes on mint, dill, and cummin, and you have overlooked the more important matters of the law, such as justice, mercy, and trustworthiness. These were necessary for you to have done, and the same by no means to have left undone.

I should make it known here that I have heard every excuse imaginable to justify why the preachers should be paid from the tithes. However; as you can see, Scripture is very clear. Tithing is to support the work of the church, not the lazy sanctimonious fat asses running the church.

Now lets look at how Christianity has spread, in general. Jesus commissioned us to go into the world and preach the Gospel:

Acts 16:10 - And after Paul had seen this vision, we were desirous to leave for Macedonia at once, because we understood that our Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

1st Corinthians 1:17 - For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel; and not to rely on the wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be in vain.

1st Corinthians 9:16 - For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for I am under obligation; yea, woe to me if I preach not the gospel!

1st Corinthians 9:18 - What then is my wage? This is it. When I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, I do it without thought of recompense, and I have not abused the power given to me in the gospel.

2nd Corinthians 10:16 - And we shall become strengthened so that we may preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not boast of the things already done by others.

Nowhere, i repeat, NOWHERE does Jesus call for arm twisting, leg breaking, stabbing, shooting, poisoning, murder, war, or any hethenistic action against anyone who chooses not to believe he is the Son of the Living GOD and that he died for us and our salvation. Anyone who uses these tactics has undermined the very teachings Jesus gave the Apostles. War and bloodshed have marred Christian history beyond belief. All of this is against what Jesus taught. Every human being on this planet was given free choice. It is every single person's choice, and theirs alone, to either accept the teaching of Scripture or reject them.

I believe this next point is, in many ways, the most profound reason why Christianity has fallen. The Vow of Confidence has been atrociously misused by modern mainstream Christian churches and the results are utterly horrifying. It is my firm belief that the Vow of Confidence was never meant to hide or conceal crimes in the church. One crime that comes to mind, pedaphilia, is absolutely appalling. Any preacher (et al) that commits this heinous and cowardly crime should be defrocked, excommunicate, castrated, and turned over to the legal system whereby they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. There is absolutely no excuse for this crime or for the church to hide its occurrence and protect the perpetrator of such of such a crime.

I could easily go on with examples of why Christianity has fallen, but I think the above examples illustrates the topic sufficiently. Recent statistics say that seventy six percent of this country practices Christianity. Taking the above and other such actions into account, I wonder how many are true Christ center Christians... I'm willing to wager the number will be very very small.