Sub-title: High Place Worship.
Recently a well recognized minister made a statement in an article in the Christian Post concerning entertainment driven Worship. It was a good and needed statement to the body of Christ especially here in the United States but I thought it was more that could be said on the subject. It is my position that the ideas of worship generally speaking in western Christianity are extremely shallow. Because of the lack of depth most arguments about worship are centered around the type of expression, and which is the right expression. Most don't realize that our foundations for understanding spirit and truth worship are off and we are left with surface level ideas and therefore carnal expression. Congregants crave stimulation and entertainment from a surface level place instead of thirsting for edification from a spirit truth place and so organizations and leaders are left trying to pacify. We then find ourselves prioritizing performance over presence and literally building high places in the consciousness of our corporate gatherings.
Again I enjoyed Pastor H.B. Charles Jr. perspective and this is not meant to be a contradiction just my two cents well actually one and a half cents on the thought.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/hb-charles-jr-warns-entertainment-driven-worship-idolatrous.html
High places represent an alter that you build to your opinion. Many times when there were reforms amongst the children of Israel, the first thing they would do is tear down the high places and if they didn't, but tried to worship God with the high places still intact their worship would not be fulfilled, and the attempts of reform wouldn't last. The scriptures say that we should cast down every thought and imagination that exalts itself against God. (2 Corinthians 10:4,5) The High places have to be removed, when opinion is allowed; dominant preference will become priority over presence. And as a natural result of human nature, entertainment over intimacy creeps in. Where there is sincere relationship we must apply Gods standard in our efforts to draw nearer. We must be careful not to hinder true worship with false hearts. We can very easily get caught up in our gifts as evidence of our relationship with God but this can be deceptive. The effectiveness of your gift is not a determination of how deep you have been in God. The gift will work by faith and or development. Entertainment in worship is the spirit of anti-Christ; a substitute for Christ. Emotionalism has to be dealt with and confronted. Worship motivated by intimacy has a deeper outcome than that motivated by entertainment! It is the difference between preference and principle. If you don't know the difference you're probably being led by preference. The priority of the Christ is the discerning line. We can't worship in spirit and in truth if we don't believe that our truth is that we are spirit! When we depend more on our gifts and talent than on the position of Christ in our lives to gain access to the Father we have created a generic substitute which cannot produce the same result. For no flesh shall glory in the presence of God. It is a position of dis-grace: To be separated from grace. The access given for our opportunity to worship is made available by grace through He who is Grace. The right attitude toward worship must be pretty important if God the Father, the holder of heaven and earth seeks it; Spirit and Truth in worship. When pride creeps in to contaminate worship there is a pretty good chance that the idea of worship was off in the first place. True worship is based on humility as a result of seeing God in His proper position, His proper position in relation to the whole as well as my individual self. Isaiah 6:1-9 Let us remember when Isaiah had this dream that turned into an experience with God; he was already a prominent prophet in the king’s court, it was not the epiphany that called forth his gift but the revelation took his gift to a place where he could see and produce God's Glory with it.
H.B. Charles Jr warns 'entertainment-driven worship is idolatrous'
