I was driving with my wife and saw a church sign that said Miracle Temple and noticed others as we drove Praise Temple, Victory Tabernacle, and various other names were noticeable.The had to ask, Do we advertise miracles when none are taking place? Do our church name reflect what we believe but not what we are experiencing?Dare we truthfully ask and answer such tough questions________________
No one likes hard questions, they lead to dancing, TAP DANCING! ________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
Truthful advertising is very important. I suggested to one of my pastors yesterday that we start advertising our church as:
They’re simply calling those things that be not as though they were
Maybe you just might ask WHY miracles et al may not be appearing in your churches when they do in fact take place in other places than your church? If you dont believe in them in the first place and ergo do not expect them then you shouldn’t advertise they do. But, should you judge others by your inability to believe the Word of God that declares Jesus to be the same yesterday, today and forever? You may have changed but He has not. I have experienced many, many, multiplied supernatural miracles all over the world and dare I say it… yes I , in the USA. So, maybe your cynicism is a result of your own problem not God or His Word.
brotherjames, I’m going to give you one final warning about your participation on this forum. This makes me a bit of a liar because I have already given you a final warning via PM, which you acknowledged, but so it goes.Your pattern of dropping in here every week or two to attack other posters is wearing
You are free to discuss all of those things.You are not free to attack the faith, integrity, commitment, or dedication of your fellow believers on this forum.
Dean holds to many of the same, if not the exact same positions, you do and yet he routinely participates here without issue. In all seriousness, perhaps you could ask him about his approach. He takes strong issue with things here yet does so charitably. I have never felt any reason to speak to Dean about the way he interacts here.
I’ve been to churches where the pastor claimed to have some program or activity going on, and it never happened.I went to a Messianic church. The minister in charge there talked about having bar mitzvas for the kids. They never did, but that was fine with me. I noticed a disconnect between what he said and what he did. He said they had Hebrew classes. I started the class. He had a book from Zola Levitt and was talking about shapes of letters, gematria stuff. It was obvious to me that he did not know Hebrew. I stopped going to class pretty quick. He wanted to find a Hebrew teacher. There were other examples like that, where he’d tell new people or visitors how his congregation did such and such– talking about his plans that were not reality at the time. Maybe he believed in calling things that are not as though they are.Another pastor was like to a lesser degree. He would say we are going to do this. You are going to do this ministry next month, then do it himself and not include you. That sort of thing.I went to a church for years as a child that had a table at the front that said, This do in remembrance of me and we never had communion there once. I got baptized there. It would have been good to have communion. I never had holy communion if the bread and the fruit of the vine variety at church until a year later when we moved and started going to an A/G.I would not say a ‘miracle temple’ hasn’t seen any miracles if I haven’t been there. But I’ve heard preachers talk a lot about healing and miracles and I didn’t see the visually obvious ailments healed. I read about an evangelist whose hotel in Cambodia was surrounded by a mob, including blind and paralyzed people who had read advertizements that the blind and paralyzed would be healed at his meetings. Some were demanding reimbursments after selling their belongings to go there. Based on what he said, someone else had done the advertizing for his meetings. It does not make sense to promise unbelievers, who have no covenant with God that includes healing, that they will be healed if they go to a meeting, unless God promises it________________
Are we seeing in our churches what we proclaim we have?Now y’all play nice as we discuss this________________
Our sign states, Pentecostal Worship Center.We live up to the name________________Charles A. HutchinsSenior Pastor SPWCCongregational Church of Godwww.spwc.church
I had a dear pastor-friend who chose to name his church, “Miracle Revival Center.†I always thought it was a great name for a Pentecostal church. It was what I call an aspirational name—what they aimed to be. They were the most revivalistic church I have ever been blessed to be a part of. When their pastor’s wife died of a heart attack at age 44, the church openly prayed for God to raise her from the dead—at her funeral. It sadly was not to be, but one thing I can say is everybody was in unity and had sincere faith that God could raise her up. Years later, after I had moved on to other places of ministry, the church chose to rename itself, “Life Church,†which I never really cared for. But in any case, they definitely believed in miracles and revival, and saw a good bit of both, more than most churches I’ve been a part of since. I don’t think they were overselling. I think they were aiming high, just like ‘Pentecostal’ churches do, when they call themselves ‘Pentecostal.’ A “Book of Acts†church is as high an aspiration as a church can possibly have, isn’t it?