[aron]

I can think of three times in history where the Christian ethos had free and unfettered access to the people's hearts and minds. The Christian faith had untrammeled hegemony, and what happened? As Witness Lee would say, "Not so good".

First was the Empire. The Christian faith was ascendant in what is now Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, Persia (Iran), some of Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome, of course, and into Europe (Gaul, Spain). And what of it? They fell to fighting over who was in charge, over the meaning of the word translated as "Nature". There was no Islam - think about that. The Church was ascendant and they blew it.

Then the Holy Roman Empire, post Great-Schism.

Then the Protestant Hegemony, lasting until the 1960s (roughly). In all three cases, the Christian polity and its leaders had essentially unfettered access to the hearts, minds, and wallets of the people. Christianity largely controlled economic, political, social, and conceptual realms. And what of it? What did we do with the opportunity?

My point is simple: the "powers of the air" are still here. And when Christianity gets big, it gets co-opted. Any ministry that becomes large is suspect. Not wrong, mind you, or evil any more than any other, but we the consumers of ideas should be wary. That which is great in this age will not be great in the next. That's the rule, and everyone thinks they have the exception. But again, the spirit of the age is extremely powerful, and isn't called "the subtle one" for nothing, and we all should be wary.

How many of my posts are "good"? Huh. Please. I'm not today's Guru, just saying why I as a Christian have become more wary, as I age, of those who disseminate their concepts in hegemonic ways. What concessions have to be made, to the age. "The ruler of this world is coming, and in me he has nothing." God is good, and His Christ is now above all, glorified forever. Other than that, I am wary.

When they tried to call Jesus "good" he dismissed that. He told his followers, "If you, being evil, know to give your children good things..." Just because I give my children good things doesn't make me good. Just because I go to work on time and pay my bills and drive the speed limit and use my directional doesn't make me good. Even confessing Jesus doesn't make me good. The road is long and hard. Don't presume anything, and watch out for the grifters, the confidence men, like Nee and Lee and many others.

For instance, I remember trying to watch Jonathan Cahn, a modern-day "Christian Rabbi" and "prophet", on the Jim Bakker Show, a couple of years ago (we had an extensive discussion on this forum about Cahn). Jim Bakker, ever the huckster, was offering a promotion - give a hundred dollars and you'll get a free teddy bear. Or the full 6-CD set of prophecies. I mean, it was just awful. Have we come to this? We can sniff at this, but this to me is the part of Christian America that predators like Lee move in. Those are shark-infested waters, folks. So beware. Watch unto prayer. Keep yourself.