Beware Of Neo-Evangelicalism
By David J. Stewart | September 2014 | Updated May 2018
Obadiah 1:11, “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.”
The word “neo” means “recent” or “new.” The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 6:16
to ask for “THE OLD PATHS.” The Devil always seeks to introduce so-called “new”
false doctrines, new ecumenical methods, new apostate worship, new school
morality, new corrupt Bible versions and new worldly ideas into the church,
which God did not give in the Bible. Our churches are plagued today with
new-evangelicalism. The Devil wants to take our young people and con them
into living the Christian life without ever being born-again. And if they
are saved, then Satan wants to get them to spend their life being good
instead of doing good.
I recently heard an awesome MP3 sermon by Dr. Bob Gray Sr., from which much of this article is inspired and written. I love Dr. Bob Gray Sr.'s bold stand for the truth! The sermon's titled, “How A Fundamentalist Becomes A Liberal.” Also, please listen to “Which New Is Right?” by Dr. Jack Hyles. The following words are not intended to bad mouth weaker churches; but rather, to fight on the front lines against apostasy creeping into our churches.
“This isn't over Jack Hyles, this is over fundamentalism! These are evangelicals fighting fundamentalists—that's what it's all about; and their effort is to destroy Hyles-Anderson College. Over my dead body they'll destroy Hyles-Anderson College; and their effort is to destroy the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana; and I'll go to the finish before I'll let it happen! That's what's going on!” —Dr. Jack Hyles, a truthful quote from the needful sermon, “Weathering The Storm!”
Here are some signs of a deteriorating church, or a new-evangelical church:
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Pastors who deny the inspiration of the King James Bible. There is NOTHING more important in the world than the individual believer's firm, unmovable and solid conviction that the Bible is the perfect, inerrant, infallible, preserved, inspired, Word of God!!! Your entire attitude toward God, life, living, morality and doctrine is going to be 100% affected by how you view the Bible that you hold in your hand. If you believe that your Bible is imperfect, non-inspired and faulty at best, then you're not going to have that burning zeal, desire and passion to study, memorize, live, defend, preach, promote and love the Bible that you use. The introduction of the New International Version (NIV) openly admits that the NIV translators don't believe a perfect Bible version exists in the the English language.
Check and you'll find that people who use the New International Version of the Bible DON'T memorize large sections, chapters and entire books of the Bible. They just don't!!! Ah, but you'll find countless King James Bible only believers who can quote hundreds if not thousands of Scripture passages, because they are passionate about the inspired and perfect Word of God. Sadly, many Bible colleges no longer believe that the King James Bible is inspired. Sadly, Hyles-Anderson College (HAC) is now one of them, since 2008. I couldn't in good conscience recommend that anyone enroll there, until they return to their previous correct position on inspiration, as Dr. Jack Hyles taught (please hear his MP3 sermon, “The Battle Of The Ages,” preached in 1994). Today's apostate neoevangelical Bible colleges believe and teach that only the original autographs were inspired. The big problem is that we DON'T have any of the original autographs available today! I wouldn't send my dog to those new-evangelical schools. You need to ask a Bible college the direct question: Do you believe that the King James Bible is inspired? I find no fault in the King James Bible! Bible colleges are getting sneaky, claiming to believe that the Bible is inspired, but they won't tell you upfront that they DON'T believe in the inspiration of the King James Bible. HAC is guilty of this too!
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Using modern corrupted Alexandrian versions of the Bible. The Devil has published his own Bible versions (such as the New International Version, NIV) instead of the King James Bible. The Devil is behind the modern Bible-corrupting movement, aka, the Bible-of-the-month-club. If you have a corrupted Bible version, then Satan has effectively rendered you useless for God. Corrupt Bibles produce spiritual miscarriages, still births and deformed religious churchgoers. I wouldn't recommend for anyone to remain 5-minutes in ANY church that doesn't exclusively use the King James Bible. It is a matter of spiritual survival. You cannot spiritually survive and remain healthy in the Lord in a church that uses corrupted versions of the Bible. Look at the mess in America today as evidence of what I say. Look at the NIV, ESV, ERV, VOICE, LB, HCSB, NASV and CSB toting churches and see what kind of ministries, standards and preaching they have. Then look at King James Bible only churches and see their bus ministries, prison ministries, soul-winning clubs and strong pulpit preaching! How New Bible Versions Corrupt The Gospel.
The corrupted New International Version (NIV) removes “Repent” in 46 places to bolster their heresy that repentance means forsaking sins to be saved. This is ungodly heresy and a recipe for disaster. The Fallacy of Thinking People Can Be Saved Through the Modern Alexandrian Bible Versions. Also, please see, The NIV: An “In-Depth” Documentation Of Apostasy (a great 28 page .pdf book, Dr. Peter S. Ruckman).
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A lack of prayer for and teaching about the necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit. A church that attempts to serve God in human strength is nothing more than a religious social club. Jesus said in John 15:5, “WITHOUT ME YE CAN DO NOTHING”!!! A lot of church leaders are familiar with this passage of Scripture, but they don't live it. You're only going to have the power of the Holy Spirit upon your ministry as much as you pray for, seek, and depend, upon God's Holy Spirit power to work behind the scenes. I have attended Independent Baptist churches where not one word was ever mentioned about the need for the power of the Holy Spirit. Such churches don't teach or encourage soul-winning. They water baptize four people every 6-months. What a shame!!! They don't have the type of Spirit-filled preaching that produces repentance! THE PREACHING THAT PRODUCES REPENTANCE (by Dr. Harry A. Ironside; non-offensive sermons won't win the lost!!!).
A sure sign of church leaders who don't depend upon the Holy Spirit's power are those churches who make light of canceling church services, shirk off the teaching of doctrine, replace preaching with graduation ceremonies and cantatas, and fail to emphasize the importance of the Word of God. There is a direct relationship between the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God. Everything God has ever done, does now, or ever will do is by the power of the Holy Spirit through the inspired Word of God. Jesus is the Living Word. The Holy Bible is the Written Word. They are “twins” as Dr. John R. Rice used to say. We abide in Jesus by yielding to the indwelling Spirit of Christ, and His words abide in us as we search the Scriptures.
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The heresy of Lordship Salvation. Corrupted religious radio, TV and internet teachers are an epidemic these days. It is tragic that the false plan of salvation of Billy Graham has been adopted by many Baptist churches today. Evangelist Billy Graham is not saved, no doubt about it, because he perverts the Gospel. Beware of religious radio teachers like Evangelist Chip Ingram and other wolves in sheep's clothing who have corrupted the Gospel. A neo-evangelical church is going to fall hook, line and sinker into the captivity of the Devil doctrinally, because a church that doesn't seek, love and stand for truth will succumb to falsehoods. If a pastor is wrong on repentance and salvation, then he's going to be wrong on everything else too. It's like the buttons on a dress shirt, that is, if you get the first button wrong, then all the other buttons are going to be wrong too. I warn you not to trust Evangelist Ray Comfort, Dr. John MacArthur and Evangelist Paul Washer, concerning the Gospel, because they ALL teach the heresy of Lordship Salvation.
Any plan of salvation which adds human effort, such as doing good works or forsaking bad works to be saved, is a false plan of salvation. Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. It is shameful that literally half of all Independent Baptist churches today teach a false plan of works salvation which requires human effort to get to Heaven. Beware of the false plan of salvation of David Cloud, Ray Comfort, Chip Ingram, Billy and Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, Rick Warren, John Hagee, John MacArthur, Kirk Cameron, Beth Moore, Jimmy Swaggert, Charles Stanley, James Dobson and Joel Osteen. All of these false prophets corrupt the simplicity which is in Christ by requiring some type of human effort to be saved. There is a false repentance, which requires turning away from sins to be saved. THAT IS NOT THE GOSPEL OF FREE GRACE!!!
Literally, most religious people are going straight to Hell for overshooting the simplicity of the Gospel, which according to 1st Thessalonians 4:14 is “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” It's that simple to be saved, just receive Christ's sacrificial death on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that Jesus raised up from the dead, and you are saved. Remember, eternal life is a free gift (Romans 5:15; 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9). We'll be shocked in eternity to learn how many Baptists went to burn in Hell, including many pastors and pastor's wives, for believing a lie concerning the gift of forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that eternal life is a free gift, but must include works to be valid. This is exactly what John MacArthur and Billy Graham errantly teach. Billy Graham is the most revered evangelist in the world, but a religious bastard, that is, illegitimate, not really a child of God. Graham's false plan of salvation evidences this sad fact.
There's a large independent Baptist church down the street from me on Guam. They're affiliated with Bob Jones University, employing several dozen of Bob Jones' graduates. Admitted publicly by one of their school teachers, two-thirds of their students are not saved. What kind of so-called “Christian” school enrolls unsaved students? Since most of the kids aren't saved and the church officially teaches Lordship Salvation, it's really a “religious” school. They require “turning away from sinful living” for salvation, so they really don't know what saved means. I passed out several copies of the awesome book “I Never Knew You” by Michael Patrick Bowen to each of the church's pastors, trying to wake them up concerning the true plan of salvation, for which I was shunned and eventually kicked out of the church. They have despised, ostracized and shunned me away since. I have a dozen staff members from their church as my neighbours. Although I wave to them without fail every time I see them, with God's unconditional love, if looks could kill I'd be dead. They refuse to acknowledge my existence. I have been put outside the gate with Jesus. Please listen to the life-changing MP3 sermons by Dr. Jack Hyles titled, “Outside The Gate With Jesus” and “When You Have To Stand Alone.”
I used to attend the local church in question, for one year in 2014. After church one particular Sunday night, the pastor's son-in-law had invited me over for dinner the next evening on Monday. I said I'd be delighted to come. I also handed him a copy of “I Never Knew You” by Michael Bowen on Sunday night, which I thought would be a blessing to him. The next day he completely blew me off, never called me, never told me why he didn't invite me for dinner as he had promised. I waited all afternoon for him, but he never made good on his invitation to have me over for dinner. Besides being a liar, and lacking the gentlemanly courtesy to let me know what was happening, he was greatly offended by a book that simply teaches that we are saved by changing our mind from our own beliefs of how to get to Heaven, to believing the Gospel (which is God's way to be saved). Little did I know at the time that the church had invited and honored Ray Comfort years earlier, and the book exposes Mr. Comfort as a false prophet (and he sure is a false prophet). The church is corrupted, and they have counted me as an enemy for TELLING THE TRUTH. Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?”
When Jesus spoke of repentance concerning salvation, He always meant a change of mind (Greek noun: metanoia), that is, to think differently (Greek verb: metanoeo). But today's English (Roman Catholic) meaning of “repent” is to turn from sin and feel remorse. This has caused much confusion and a false plan of salvation to creep into most churches today. Biblical repentance is not turning from sin, which is a false gospel. The only thing that you need to repent of to be saved is from whatever is hindering you from coming to Christ. Listen my friend, religion is man trying to reach God through human effort; whereas Christianity is God trying to reach man by the sacrifice of His Son on the cross for our sins. It's not what you can do for God that matters; but rather, what God has done for you by the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. If you are saved, it's not because you are good, but because God is good. God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.
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Prioritizing entertainment over doctrine. It is tragic that many churches have first-class music programs, but second-class preaching from the pulpit. Shame on any pastor who knowingly admits that you can find better preaching elsewhere than his church, which God has entrusted him to feed, lead and shepherd. We are living in apostate times, when singing supercedes Bible-preaching. NOTHING should be more important in a church than the preaching of the inspired Word of God. I'm not against large overhead projection screens, not at all. I am against anything that weakens and diminishes the importance of preaching the inspired Words of God from the pulpit.
God pity the pathetic HILLSONG so-called “church” that is nothing more than a big worldly Rock concert. There is no preaching. Everything in a church should center around and lead up to the preaching of the Word of God from the pulpit by a man of God who genuinely walks with God. God's man ought to preach with authority, from an authoritative Word, authored by an authoritative God. Here's some real preaching my friend. And here! Please hear the needful MP3 sermon by Brother Lester Roloff (1914-1982) titled, “Running Short On Authority.” The churches have lost their authority, by adopting the corrupt modern Bible perversions. The inspired Word of God (which is the King James Bible in English) is the authority of the Church!!! The pastor is not the authority, he is a servant. The church is not the authority, it is built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ (1st Corinthians 3:11), Who is the Word of God (Revelation 19:13). If you have a corrupt Bible version, you have ANOTHER JESUS!!!
In many churches today, people clap after a song or musical performance. This is worldly applause for the entertainer/performer instead of genuine praise for the Lord. Church is not supposed to be a time for entertainment. I'm really sick and tired of only talented people being showcased during the church service. Talent seeks attention, but wisdom pays attention. Talent is a hindrance to God's power. It is tragic that most people won't go to church anymore unless they are entertained. Most of today's new music is pathetic... praise Him, praise Him, praise Him. Church is not a place to worship God, nor does the Bible ever teach that church is a place to go for worship. Please read, “The Purpose Of Going To Church” by Dr. Jack Hyles. When entertainment becomes God, then God has to become entertaining to be worshipped.
I visited an Independent Baptist church where during the sermon children were literally playing video games. I was disgusted and looked to see what kind of parents they had. To no surprise, the mother was surfing Google and not listening to a word of the sermon. The most disgusting and sad thing of all is that the church's pastor knows that people surf the internet while he's preaching, and he at times even encourages them to Google things that he is saying, while he is saying them during his sermon. My, oh my, how things have changed for the worse in our churches in America today.
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Pastors
who support tyranny and ungodly U.S. presidential candidates.
WWII German Baptists Supported Hitler As A Champion Of Religious Liberty Who
Was Doing God's Will. I was disgusted in late 2012 when the pastor of
the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas advised 300 local area pastors at
a meeting in San Antonio, Texas to vote for Mormon leader Mitt Romney (which
he called the lesser of two evils as compared to Barack Obama). As
Christians we're not supposed to vote for any evil, period. If you vote,
vote Libertarian or for some third party. Because of the criminal conspiracy
which has always monopolized America's election system to keep it either
Democrat or Republican, people who vote for Libertarians are often referred
to as “Losertarians.” I'd rather vote any day for an honest loser, than for
a crooked, lying, two-faced winner!
Shame on any pastor who leads his church congregation to vote for either Democrats or Republicans for U.S. President, because both political parties are corrupted, accomplices and controlled by the same criminal international banking cabal at the top. Republican and Democrat are merely two separate legs both walking in the same direction of World Government. Despite every Republican U.S. President since Roe Vs. Wade in 1972 professing to be against abortion, every single one of their administrations have given billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer dollars to support Planned Parenthood (Herodhood, Murderhood), which is the biggest provider of pro-abortion services in America. Where in the plan to murder the baby does parenthood begin?
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Churches that are lax on teaching fundamental Bible doctrines. God pity these weak-kneed, sissified, milquetoast, panty-waist, ear-tickling', back-scratchin', soft-soapin, penny-pinchin', pink-tea-and-lemonade, apostate, compromising, preacherettes and their sermonettes. They couldn't preach their way out of a wet paper-bag, let along proclaim with authority and confidence the inspired truths of the never-changing Words of God!!! It's a joke these days to hear a group of spiritual misfits talk about gathering around the Word, holding each other accountable, entering into their deeper-life spiritualism; while never taking a public stand for God, never street preaching, never passing out gospel tracts, never running a church bus route, never witnessing to anybody, never preaching against sin, never getting angry over wickedness, never giving to missions, never lifting a finger for the Lord. They'd rather sit-on-the-premises than stand-on-the-promises.
The great need of the hour is HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERED, PREACHING PREACHERS, ON FIRE FOR GOD, WHO WALK WITH GOD!!! A preacher that prays right preaches right. The reason why our preachers today are compromised and no longer on-fire for God is because they are following the weak spirituality of the dead Bible colleges. I love what Brother Lester Roloff said... We need porcupine preachers, so people will get the point! Amen to that! The average Baptist church these days is deader than dead!!! All across America there are Independent Baptist churches that never preach about Hell, fire and damnation from the pulpit. They never mention of Christ's Second Coming or the pretribulation Rapture. No kidding. They never preach against sin by name (abortion, drunkenness, adultery, homosexuality, et cetera).
I'm surprised how many churches cancel Sunday evening church on every major holiday. They water baptized four people every 6 months, and a personal video is required to be baptized. No mention is ever made of soul-winning. No one ever mentions the need for the power of the Holy Spirit. I am learning to love all genuine New Testament churches, even though they may not all be the same. I grew up in a Baptist church where church was NEVER cancelled. It's hard to stomach today's churches that close their doors on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Many of today's churches have a first-class music program (an orchestra), but third-class sermons (there's no preaching). So many churches today gather around the Word while the world is going to Hell in unbelief. They give alter calls just to go through the formality, yet you'll rarely ever see anyone go down to the alter, because they don't have the preaching that produces repentance. Many churches major on the Christian school and minor on the church. It ought to be the other way around.
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Showing videos in church instead of Bible study or preaching. I know a church that replaced their Wednesday night Bible study for 2-months with an 8-part video series on resolving personal conflicts with others. You could order the same exact series on DVD and stay at home to watch it. I'm not totally against the idea, but personally, I'd always prepare sermons and personally feed my people. That's just me. I love Dr. Jack Hyles' devotion for His church congregation while pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana for 42 years (1959-2001). When Brother Hyles traveled, he always made sure to be back in his own pulpit on Sundays and Wednesdays. The pastor of every church ought to prepare sermons and Bible studies that he has prayerfully put together himself. I don't like when churches today buy religious materials from online suppliers at the expense of the pastor feeding his congregation. I'm not trying to be unkind. This is just my two cents worth of opinion.
I would think that a pastor would want to personally teach and feed his flock at every opportunity, and not just set them in front of a video series that another group prepared. I'm not saying that the materials aren't beneficial, or shouldn't be shown at all in church; but I personally don't understand a pastor who would rather park his congregation in front of a projection screen to see a video for 2 months instead of teaching and preaching what God has put in his own heart to give his people. A pastor ought to walk with God throughout the week and share with his people what he learned. I have to be careful, because I am extreme right wing Independent fundamentalist Baptist, because there are many godly men farther to the left who haven't been blessed to have a mentor like Pastor Jack Hyles. The Bible tells us to teach the truth in love and patience to others. Many pastors simply don't know any better. I love all genuine pastors, and my goal is to help not harm. The greatest advise for any preacher is to “walk with God!” Our churches are a mess today.
I don't understand pastors who only preach on Sunday morning, cancel Sunday evening church every chance they get, regularly replace sermons with a cantata or music program, replace the Wednesday night Bible study with a secular training video, never preach against sin, never encourage or teach the congregation to go soulwinning, and regularly travels so much that he's hardly ever in his own pulpit where he belongs. Get mad at me if you want, but I'd be ashamed if I were that lackadaisical kind of minister. I love preachers, and I don't like offending anyone, but if upsetting you will help you to move more to the right instead of the left, then I rejoice in that. Please listen to Dr. Jack Hyles' MP3 sermon titled, “WHICH NEW IS RIGHT?”
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A lack of Bible preaching. Many churches are teaching a form of psychology, or psycho-heresy (mixing the Bible with secular psychology) instead of preaching the Word of God. Sadly, many churches won't even consider hiring a pastor who has a degree in pastoral theology, unless he also has a secondary degree in psychology. It is tragic when a church member has to go online to find Bible-preaching because they're not being fed at their local church. Many Baptist churches are spiritually starving congregations, feeding people milk instead of meat. If there is one place in the world where people should be fed spiritually, it is in an Independent Baptist Church. Just because a church is increasing in size does not mean it is growing. A dead corpse swells. Many of our churches are swelling because they are spiritually dead.
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Canceling church services on Christmas, New Year's, Easter and other holidays. It is hypocrisy for any Christian leader to talk about the importance of attending church, when they cancel church in lieu of holidays and other activities. You'd think that the church leaders would desire to have church as much as possible, instead of canceling church every opportunity they get. A faithful man of God, who walks with God, ought to bursting forth with the truth of God's Word, as desirous to teach his people as a pregnant woman travailing in birth to give delivery of her child. Something is wrong with the pastor's heart who would rather be at home with his family, or with personal friends, than to be at church with his people every chance he gets.
Again, my website is my pulpit, but if I were to meet you in public, I'd be as friendly as possible and not mention any of this. In the pulpit I'm a pitbull preacher of righteousness for the Lord, but out of the pulpit I'm just a humble sinner saved by God's grace.
Also, it is ethical, proper and spiritually healthy for a church congregation to KNOW that there will always be a church service at the appointed times each week... come hell, wind or high water. It is unwise and sad when a church member can't count on the pastor being there behind his pulpit, or count on the church services not being cancelled on every whim, or count on always hearing the Word of God preached rather than preaching being replaced by a cantata, business meeting, Lord's Supper, graduation, or visiting missionary.
I love Pastor Jack Hyles! I attended First Baptist Church of Hammond (FBCH), Indiana for 8 life-transforming years (1985-1993). When there was the Lord's Supper, Dr. Hyles still preached, but he preached a prepared shorter sermon to accommodate the Lord's Supper. Church was NEVER cancelled on holidays. There was ALWAYS preaching! I'll never understand why any pastor would cancel church for any reason, let alone a holiday. Clearly they'd rather spend time at home with their own private family than meet with the church family. Nothing should ever replace the preaching of the Bible!
Pastor Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) used to hold church services 7-days-a-week, twice each evening to accommodate the large crowds. What a sharp contrast from today's dead churches who cancel church services and replace the preaching of the Word of God with music, singing, business meetings, testimonies, watchcare groups, school functions and missionary presentations. At FBCH, visiting missionaries spoke at 6 p.m., and then Dr. Hyles preached at 7 p.m. Nothing replaced church or preaching!
I realize that every church ought not be compared to First Baptist Church, and there are exceptions based upon location and circumstances. I understand that; however, it couldn't be more obvious that many churches today have simply lost their fire for God and are all but spiritually dead. As former career mortician and awesome Evangelist, Phil Kidd points out, a dead body swells instead of growing in size. Likewise, a church growing in size isn't always indicative of spiritual growth, but may in fact be the sign of a rotting spiritual corpse. Joel Osteen's religious group has grown to over 75,000 in weekly attendance, yet it is a swelling dead corpse, not a living church. Mr. Osteen delivers motivational speeches, not Biblical sermons.
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Having singing cantatas instead of Bible-preaching. It is apostasy when music, singing and other activities take higher priority than the preaching of the Word of God. I enjoy singing and music myself, but nothing ought to ever take the place of the preaching of God's Word. Personally, doctrine is exciting to me, and I greatly enjoy hearing the teaching of God's Word. The problem is not that the Word of God is boring; but rather, unskilled laborers who don't know how to draw and keep a crowd's attention. Someone once asked Charles H. Spurgeon what should be done about people who sleep during the preacher's sermon. Spurgeon replied, “WAKE THE PREACHER UP!” Preaching ought to be the fire in the pulpit melting the ice in the pew. Tragically, in many cases it is the ice in the pulpit that chills the ice in the pew.
“It would be a godsend if the Church would suffer persecution today; she hasn't suffered it for hundreds of years. She is growing rich and lagging behind. Going back.”
SOURCE: Evangelist Billy Sunday, The Need for Revivals, From "Billy Sunday: The Man and His Message,” by William T. Ellis, Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co., 1914
