“CHRISTIANESE” vs “CHRISTIANIZE”

"CHRISTIANESE" vs "CHRISTIANIZE"

One of the most RELIGIOUS and IRRITATING ACTIVITIES too me, in relation to CHRISTIANESE and it's self-righteous inferences, is the OVERUSE OF BIBLICAL DESCRIPTIVES — as if you "saying it" is going to MAKE IT A REALITY!!

• "Prophetic Sunday", "Prophetic Wednesday", "Prophetic Friday"
• Glory Gathering of Global Prophetic Saints & Friends
• Title-toting bandits with SELF-PROCLAIMED titles or UNQUALIFIED AGENTS that "God called" in the unique VACUUM related to their "peculiar calling", etc. etc.

STOP IT!

- Taking a trip or multiple visits overseas may represent "traveling internationally", but it doesn't make you a GLOBAL MINISTRY..

- It's MOCKERY to assume a post that GENERALS poured their blood out for..

-"Googling it" doesn't mean that you KNOW IT, HAVE IT or POSSESS IT..

-Trying to "become" before you KNOW "who you are", is definitely "putting the cart before the horse" (IDENTITY CRISIS) and the PRIMARY REASON there are SO MANY CASUALTIES in the Body of Christ — with very few MANIFESTATIONS, MIRACLES, and MOVES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT that we can point to opposite of DECADES PASSING before any NOTABLE occurrences happen!

CHRISTIANESE VS CHRISTIANIZE

CHRISTIANESE = church-speak is an indiscernible critique communicated in complete ignorance of the impact of our shared thoughts and words, which may very well have no ill-intent, malice or unfair judgment attached or assigned to them; except the limitation of our past exposure, experience and education speaks loudly to our lack of knowledge in the end..

CHRISTIANIZE = to imbue (inspire or permeate with a feeling or quality) with Christian principle; make Christian..

3 THINGS THE CHURCH DOES WHEN THE GLORY DEPARTED..

1. When the glory has departed, the church turns to gimmickry
2. When the glory has departed, the church loses discernment
3. When the glory has departed, the church turns monastic (seclusion to the point that isolation and religious vows are priority)

CHRISTIAN, your:

• Preferences are NOT SCRIPTURE
• Experiences are NOT SCRIPTURE
• Opinions are NOT SCRIPTURE
• Statements are NOT SCRIPTURE
• Judgments are NOT SCRIPTURE

A Christian's AGREEMENT with the WORD OF GOD is "how" to bring your earthly conversations, judgments, opinions, preferences, and statements into ALIGNMENT, so that we become a SANCTIFIED VESSEL as unto the Lord; and this describes the process of SANCTIFICATION that every committed Christian undergoes through and over time, as we agree with the HOLY WRIT!

CHRISTIANESE is short-sighted, offensive, undiscerning, and unbiblical mannerism, because any attitude, entitlement or haughtiness that presents itself as a STANDARD and JUDGES someone else's foundation or difference in a way that esteems a FLESHLY QUALIFICATION, RELIGIOUS CEREMONY, or a SELF-RIGHTEOUS RANT as some superior quality, is the worst cultural expression

CULTURAL IGNORANCE can be defined as "ignorance and disrespect of someone's culture, and or the adoption of one's cultural elements to be negative and harmful to the culture from which traditions are being borrowed."

Phases of Intercultural Development

• What is INTERCULTURAL DEVELOPMENT? The Intercultural Development Continuum (IDC TM) describes orientations toward cultural difference and commonality that are arrayed along a continuum from the more monocultural mindsets of Denial and Polarization through the transitional orientation of Minimization to the intercultural or global mindsets of Acceptance ...

Phase One: My Experience of the World is the World (Ethnocentrism)  

This ubiquitous attitude was arguably the 'norm' for Europeans when doing business in the past and is still prevalent in the societies in which we live.   This attitude encompasses an expectation that the only way to do things is 'my way'. 

The awareness that people might do things differently elsewhere – while getting the same results and sometimes better, does not feature in this mindset. Their understanding of the world can be simply summed up as their experience of the world.

Phase Two: I understand that people might do things differently, but my way is still the best (Ethnocentrism)  

Fundamentally, this phase recognises that people might do things differently. The individuals may have received greater exposure to other cultures via an international workplace, holidays, the media etc.  However, acceptance that 'other ways' exist is often perceived by individuals in this phase as threatening. 

To address this threat, the individual operates by way of stereotypes, creating an 'us and them' situation which helps to simplify the challenge and mitigate the perceived threat.  Individuals falling into this phase are more likely to denigrate other cultures and believe that their way is the best way. The UK expression 'my way or the highway' sums up Phase Two behaviours well.  

"Culturally literate individuals and their intercultural mindsets are essential to the future of global business operations. The competencies these individuals bring to a role are increasingly recognised at the interview table.  A condition of appointment for many international roles is that the individual already possesses a high level of intercultural awareness. Global employers are less likely to accept individuals with an approach that suggests 'their way' will be bulldozed into an organisation when working internationally". Lubna Husseini, Global Recruitment Consultant

Phase Three: We do things differently (Ethnorelativism)

Individuals who have entered the ethnorelativist stage (appreciating that we are all subject to our own cultural frameworks and that the way in which we all behave is relative to these frameworks) recognise that people do things differently based on their cultural background.

They are more likely to take an interest in cultural difference and their understanding of this area enables them to make relevant contrasts between different cultures.

Within the workplace, these individuals are far more likely to champion diversity and to analyse intercultural situations; taking a 'pick and choose' approach to identify the best approach for the task at hand.

Phase Four: Adaptation (Ethnorelativism)

Individuals in this phase are far more adept and savvy when working interculturally.  Not only can a Phase Four individuals make contrasts between cultures (as with Phase Three), but they are also able to empathise greatly with cultural difference and use this empathy to change or adapt their behaviour to advance the intercultural situation in which they find themselves.

To put more simply, they can see through the eyes of their intercultural peer and appreciate the behaviours or responses expected within the situation.

Their appreciation of cultural constructs means that they can understand a myriad of cultures – they are not limited to only the Western world or Asian world for example.

These individuals are generally good champions of diversity within the workplace and they are more likely to successfully mobilise others and gain their trust – regardless of culture.

Phase Five: Third Culture (Ethnorelativism)

This phase is really the pinnacle of intercultural ability and denotes the phase to which the most successful global managers might strive in their commitment to developing intercultural skills.

In this phase, individuals are so adept at moving between cultures that their own personal sense of cultural identity becomes eroded and they no longer feel that they belong to any one culture. They are equally comfortable within even the most complex cultural settings and have developed the ability to move seamlessly and effortlessly within them.  Such individuals are likely to have extensive expatriate backgrounds – moving between international assignments on a regular basis.  They may also be cultural nomads, moving from country to country for the sake of the move itself and not within an expatriate capacity.

Within the workplace, these individuals do a great job of engaging with a mixed intercultural group to create innovate and new rules which best govern a situation.  In effect, they are helping to create a 'third culture'; a culture which independently frameworks a situation. This third culture is  not specific to any on culture.  It is unique, relevant and more likely to gain the engagement and understanding of the diverse team in question.

MATTHEW 7:1 COMMENTARY

Matthew 7:1: "Do not judge others until you are prepared to be judged by the same standard. And then, when you exercise judgment toward others, do it with humility"

When Jesus said, "Judge not lest you be judged," He wasn't issuing a blanket rule that people are never to judge others. A closer look at the rest of the passage illuminates the real issue Christ wanted to address: "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, 'Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,' when you can't see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye" (Matthew 7:1–3, NLT).

Christ's teaching was primarily directed to believers, but the principle can be applied to anyone. Jesus does expect us to "deal with the speck" in our friend's eye, particularly our brothers and sisters in Christ. He wants us to discern sin in others so we can help them get rid of it. The purpose of judging someone else's weakness is to help him or her walk in freedom (1 Corinthians 5:12). But how can we help someone else if we are not free? We must first be willing to look honestly at our own lives and exercise the same judgment toward ourselves. When we do this, we judge from a position of humility.

Jesus's statement to "judge not lest you be judged" zeroed in on the problems of spiritual hypocrisy and self-centered pride. He compared these offenses to giant logs that blind us to our own faults while we laser in on shortcomings in others.

Humility is a mega theme throughout Christ's Sermon on the Mount. It is impossible to carry out these kingdom teachings without maintaining authentic humbleness in our attitude toward others. In Matthew 5:7–11, Jesus encouraged His followers to show mercy, cultivate peace, and bless those who persecute them. To enter the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said that our righteousness had to exceed that of the teachers of the religious law and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20).

These Pharisees and teachers of the law were considered to be the pinnacle of moral integrity at the time. Jesus stopped this misconception right in its tracks. He saw through the outer veneer into the reality of their self-righteousness, spiritual pride, and moral bankruptcy.

Jesus challenged the people not to retaliate when someone wronged them (Matthew 5:39); to love their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them (verse 44); to model themselves after their heavenly Father's perfection (verse 48); and to forgive those who sinned against them (Matthew 6:14–15).

A faithful servant of God will see himself as accurately as he sees others. He will recognize his own sinfulness and need for God's mercy—a need he shares with his brothers and sisters in Christ. He will have no reason to consider himself better than others but will follow Paul's teaching to the Philippians: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).

When Christ taught, "Judge not lest you be judged," He countered the human tendency to take spiritual truth and twist it into hypocritical superiority as the Pharisees had done. Our pride makes us criticize and judge others so that we feel better about ourselves. James warned believers, "Don't speak evil against each other, dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, then you are criticizing and judging God's law. But your job is to obey the law, not to judge whether it applies to you. God alone, who gave the law, is the Judge. He alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?" (James 4:11–12, NLT)

The apostle Paul cautioned, "You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God's judgment when you do the same things?" (Romans 2:1–3, NLT, see also Romans 14:4, 10–13).

Jesus requires true followers to apply His teachings first to themselves and then to others. When God reveals His truth to us, whether in Scripture or in some other way, our immediate response must be to say, "How does this apply to me? How do I appropriate this truth in my own life?" In following Jesus' command to "judge not, that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1, NKJV), we avoid drawing conclusions that are superficial, proud, hypocritical, or self-righteous.

CHRISTIANESE — GLORY DEPARTED NOTES..

The Book of 1st Samuel starts off with a somber tone.

Eli is the priest, his sons are out of control, they don't know God, and they are robbing God (the storehouse) of the sacrifices people bring.

The son of Hannah, Samuel, is called to ministry at a young age and immediately God speaks to him that He is going to judge the nation of Israel; and specifically Eli, because of their sin.

In chapter 4, the Israelites go to war with the Philistines and were defeated.

The Ark of the Covenant was captured, Eli's sons were both slaughtered, a long with a great deal of the Israelite army; and when Eli heard of the Ark being captured, he fell off of his bench and broke his neck and died.

One of Eli's daughters-in-law was pregnant at the time of Israel's defeat and due to give birth. The news sent her into labor and she gave birth to a son whom she called Ichabod – meaning the glory has departed. And truly it had.

The Ark of the Covenant – the dwelling place of God – had departed from Israel..

As an adolescent and young man, I have witnessed genuine miracles that we read about in the New Testament; and the revival fire that I actually witnessed as a member, elder and staff person at The Potter's House of Dallas under Bishop TD Jakes, what I encountered at the ministry heavily shaped my spiritual life and the concepts of what the church should be like when REVIVAL FIRE is leading the way!!

Here's what did happen:

• Nearly 600 people joined the church every Sunday for nearly two full years..
• New visitors were getting saved in the parking lot before they ever reached the front door.
• People's lives were genuinely changed, and to this day they point to that time as a landmark in their Christian walk – for many, it was the starting point of their Christian walk.
• We rejoiced more in the salvations and changed lives than in the signs and wonders.

There were no gimmicks.

There was no need to turn to gimmicks.

We didn't have to put forth any kind of image at all.

We didn't have to brand ourselves or label ourselves in any way.

We didn't even have to advertise.

People just came because word of mouth was that something incredible was going on at THE POTTER's HOUSE, and people were dragging their friends and neighbors into the front door of our church to get saved and set free!

3 Things the Church Does When the Glory Has Departed

Those 22 months in the 1980's forever shaped the way I view church, and I haven't seen anything like it since. But I still long for it.

I don't long for the "glory days", I long to see a church so hungry for God that she doesn't try to use gimmickry to make it look like He's shown up when He hasn't.

But that is what happens when the glory has departed from the church.

Why else would anyone want to get out of bed and go sit in a church and listen to a pastor speak for 45 minutes on something they don't even believe is 100% real?

Because 3/4 of Americans don't believe the Bible is the literal word of God. source

When the glory has departed, the church has to make up the lack somewhere and give people incentive to keep showing up.

And she has become very adept at doing this.

The results are seen in the number of mega churches all over the United States, along with the growing popularity of worship music, and the number of celebrities self-identifying as Christians.

1. When the glory has departed, the church turns to gimmickry

I recall in the early 90's when church growth strategies were a huge thing for the church. Consultants and experts were brought in to help pastor's develop a tailored strategy to attract people to their church.

But when people show up every week for months and years on end, and you don't have anything genuine to offer them, you have to keep them coming back somehow.

This is what sprung concert-like worship with smoke machines and stage lights.

This is what brought us emotionally-charged worship to make us fee like we've encountered God, when we've really just had our emotions manipulated.

This is what gave birth to sermons that smack of pop-psychology, self-empowerment, and self-actualization.

Messages like "deny yourself", "die to yourself", and the mortal dangers of sin were left behind for the more popular messages of living your best life now, personal affirmations, and God loves you just as you are.

Yes, when we come to Him as sinners He loves us we are, but He loves us too much to leave us as we are.

His Lordship and the commands of Scripture are at the very least watered down, or at the most ignored, because if we preach a clear truth about homosexuality, fornication, and living a holy life based on the commands of Scripture we wont be able to pay the church mortgage and keep up our carefully crafted image and church brand.

2. When the glory has departed, the church loses discernment

Jesus said in Matthew 6:23, "If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"

The very mission of the church is the carry of the light of Christ to a dark world and dispel the darkness; and the light of the church is the glory of God.

If the church loses the glory of God, her darkness is a great, great darkness!

What's even worse is when the light within is darkness and she continues to pretend that she has light; so she feels around in the darkness like the blind leading the blind.

In the midst of the fumbling around in the dark, discernment is lost because there is no light to illuminate.

And this is where we find ourselves today in an age when the church embraces a Christianized version of New Age teaching, idol worship, and even witchcraft.

I continue to receive outraged comments on my series on self care and personal affirmations, but I refuse to back down, because I strongly believe that the church has lost all discernment between the Holy Spirit and New Age.

The light has become darkness, so we:

• Advertise Christian yoga in the church
• We mingle Biblical meditation with transcendental meditation
• We teach about enneagrams in the church – even in the pulpit

Some are even openly teaching that we should study New Age teaching to "uncover lost truths", using Christianized tarot cards, and Christianized clairvoyance.

• We teach evolutionary Creationism
  
• We embrace and applaud Christian celibate homosexuals
• We reject the message of purity, calling it extremism
• We use profanity and immorality-laced films and TV shows as illustrations in our sermons

The glory has departed, the church has lost her light, and she has stumbled into a ditch of the doctrine of devils.

3. When the glory has departed, the church turns monastic

A cursory study of church history will reveal that this has gone round and round, and we're circling back again to a monastic church where the elite Christians who have an "in" with God become God's mouthpiece to average people who do not have the capability of understanding the "dark sayings" of the Bible.

So, the elite, professional ministers in the church do the work while the average people show up to listen.

We see this in worship, where the music is too complicated for amateur musicians and singers.

We see this in Bible studies, where we pay hundreds of dollars to have a celebrity Bible study leader teach our men and women about God's Word.

We see this in the gifts of the Spirit, where we attend huge seminars where celebrity "healers" and "prophets" move in the gifts for us.

My dear sisters, God isn't unapproachable and He never meant for lay ministry to be so complicated that the average person can't be used by Him!

God's design wasn't for a monastic church, but for an active church where the Holy Spirit uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

Because in this He is glorified!

The same Holy Spirit that uncovers treasures of the Word to celebrity Bible teachers can uncover treasures to you, too!

The same Holy Spirit who heals sick people through celebrity ministers can heal through you!

The Holy Spirit can speak through you to a person who is hurting and lost, and reveal to you things about them that only He knows, for the sole purpose of demonstrating the might and power of Almighty God, so that they can do nothing but fall on their knees and confess He is Lord!

Just as in 1 Samuel 6-7, the glory of God was returned to Israel and they repented before the Lord of their sin and idolatry, God defeated their enemy.

It is time for the church to acknowledge her blindness, repent of her idolatry and involvement in strange worship that has moved Him to jealousy.

It is time to weep before the altar because the glory has departed and we didn't know it.

It is time to seek His face, earnestly and genuinely with hearts of repentance until His glory comes again and burns in us with power and might – so that the church once against becomes the church He commissioned us to be!

Walter L. Smith III

Founder/President

Pure In Heart Int'l Ministries, Inc./

The Center For Kingdom Advancement 

Corporate Line: (424) 359-9180

www.PIHIM.org

www.AskPastorWalter.com

California Office

Walter L. Smith III

1732 Aviation Blvd #945

Redondo Beach, CA 90278-2810

**Leadership Greater Rochester, Class of 2018!

**Gallup Strengths: Positivity, Learner, Connectedness, Responsibility, & Activator

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