U.S.-China trade in Christian 'worship'

Visiting family in Dayton, Ohio, I attended the "contemporary service" at my brother's United Methodist Church this morning. Since my last visit jumbo projector screens have been installed. Today they were used for everything from song lyrics to announcements and promotions of volunteer church opportunities such as Tornado Relief Saturdays and summer tutoring of children. A video played in the middle of the sermon showed Christian individuals talking on the topic of love.

Just the other day I caught this headline on the website The Federalist: "Why Churches Should Ditch the Projector Screens and Bring Back Hymnals." The article reads, "Hymnals are a wonderful legacy of Western Christianity. They’ve been housed in pew racks in church sanctuaries for centuries. Since they first appeared in the United States during the 1830s, hymnals have been indispensable for worship—objects of treasure both in the sanctuary and in households.

"In my denomination, many received engraved hymnals as confirmation presents. Churchgoers used to proudly carry their own hymnals to church. Nobody’s doing that anymore. In fact, more and more worshipers aren’t even looking at hymnals in church. Instead, their gaze is fixed to the front wall and a screen attached to it."

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Compare that bit of internet news to this one from author Michael Snyder: 

"Instead of sending missionaries to China, perhaps they should be sending missionaries to us.  Despite horrific persecution, the underground church in China is absolutely thriving, and it is estimated that there are now more than 100 million Christians in that communist nation.

"During one recent ministry trip, one Christian minister came away completely humbled by the dedication of Chinese believers…

'You sat on a wooden floor for three days. In my country, if people have to sit for more than 40 minutes they leave. You sat here for not only three days on a hard wooden floor, in my country if it’s not padded pews and air conditioning, people will not come back.

'In my country, we have an average of two Bibles per family. We don’t read any of them. You hardly have any Bibles and you memorize them from pieces of paper.'

'I will not pray that you become like us, but I will pray that we become just like you,' he concluded."

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Watching my church over the internet this morning, the subject was on how idols represent gods. 

"People think through that object they can reach into the spirit world but that's what mysticism is about," explains Jordan. "That's why people use aids to worship. The Bible calls them idols. They develop this thing where, 'I'm going to take this object and get close to God.'  You've experienced that.

"I was talking to a lady recently about her soul and she said, 'Well, I've begun to go back to church. I went to a funeral and I had forgotten how powerful the Mass affected me.' That's the vain, religious system."

(new article tomorrow)