3 Marks Of A Ministry God Hates

The prophet Jeremiah was God’s messenger in a time of national, ecclesiastical, and familial downgrade. The spiritual state of the people of God had declined so far that she was described as a fountain, not pouring out a river of living water to bless the nations, but a fountain of wickedness, violence and spoil, grief, and wounds. (Jeremiah 6:7)

This stirred up God’s anger. He warns “Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee; lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” (vs. 8) But tragically they now lacked the capacity to hear his warning.

The American church and its churches are clearly in a similar place. If you know and love the Lord and his Law, you cannot help but see that the fruits of our nation and its churches are foulness and rot, flowing as a river into the world. There is little savor, if any, left in the salt, as holiness is passé and Christians often excel in wickedness and worldliness.

We live in downgrade days, and we should understand from God’s Word these downgrades, these apostasies, stir up his just anger. He announced on Israel a judgement traditional Americans are already now living under:

“And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord.” (vs. 12)

But like the old Jewish church, it seems Christians now lack the capacity to hear and heed God’s Word, so their profession of faith and inclusion in the church does little but elevate the wickedness of their wickedness, adding on top of sinful worldliness the sin of hypocrisy.

“To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.” (vs. 10)

In our day there is little to no concern for or appetite for God’s commands and way of salvation. A million other matters, feelings, desires, plans, and concerns choke out the most important things. The show must go on. The grift must go on. The brand wars must go on. The good ole boys must be affirmed. There are ears to be tickled, consciences to be assuaged, false comforts to dole out. Ministry is SUCH HARD WORK, we hear, but we see little tears, little wisdom, little faithfulness. Just the grind of religion flavored activities. When the Bible is used, it is used for our own concerns and feelz, massaged into a new shape to fit today’s hot topic of interest. It’s certainly not to know the mind and will of God and his deliverance in Christ. There’s no time or energy to know God! But there’s loads of energy for stuff we care about and are troubled by!

There’s no energy for what is actually needed when the churches, families, and towns are flowing with filth and wounds: trembling at God’s warnings of his anger and soon-coming, surprise judgment that will sweep all comforts away in a moment: “Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces” (vs. 5) he forewarns. But she will still not be ready.

Amid this spiritual downgrade, inability to care, and warnings of impending judgment, we ought also note that this horror has been propagated by a kind of church ministry God hates. So on to the main point of this essay.

What are three marks of a ministry God hates?

First: God hates a ministry oriented around itself and its success rather than the fear of Lord.

“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.” (vs 13)

When churches and ministers succumb to this particular evil it may not be first noticeable, as they are busy about good work, preaching, writing, leading, organizing, counseling, etc. But under God’s searching sight, he finds the reason for this religious activity is that the church or minister might get more: money, esteem, self-assurance, power, recognition, or maybe just pay the bills. The heart of this ministry God hates is self-service based in desires for what he has either not promised or has wisely withheld in his providence.

The desire, the coveting is hiding in the heart, but God sees it, yet it bursts out in lies. “…every one dealeth falsely.” Often these are the lies of overt false doctrines, long ago rejected by the faithful but resurfacing anew like the shameful foaming of waves. Or it is the deception seminally in that first lying question, “has God really said?” This is the oft repeated in many forms, basic lie of what we call “liberalism.” Or it may be the lies of silence where the clear and sharp edges of God’s Word are shaved off as not to offend. Or it may be the simple, flashy lies of the salesman who has turned his ministry, sect, brand, or denomination into a business to be sold to consumers. However it plays out, a ministry arising from a covetous heart is a ministry that lies.

Second: God hates a ministry that values superficial peace and comforts rather than thorough reformation and renewal.

“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” (vs. 14)

“Sermonettes from preacherettes” might be an apt enough phrase for this sort of evil, and the churches are full of those.  This superficial Christianity shows itself in many forms, but I’ll highlight two: a managerial approach to the church and a therapeutic approach to the Christian life. From the managerial standpoint, the minister and presbyters begin to behave as if what really matters is simply keeping the organization going with minimal disruptions. Uncomfortable conflicts, hard matters, difficult people, divisive questions or disagreements all become matters to address primarily through strategies that bring consensus, cooperation, or at least a less uncomfortable resolution. But, there is an order to peace in the church: it begins in the peaceful holiness of the life of the triune God. Individually it begins in peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ and the experience of that peace more and more as the Spirit conforms us to the image of the very beloved Son. When this God-ward vision of peace is replaced with a managerial approach, organizational, interpersonal, and brand concerns create a superficial “peace” that mimics the deeper healing of sanctification but leaves a deep festering infection just under the surface.

In the same way, the therapeutic approach to the Christian life is another ministry of superficial peace that God hates. This is where the Law of God and the thorough sanctification Christ brings, gets replaced with more momentary concerns like feelings, temporal success, interpersonal dynamics, styles, outward conformity, mantras, mimicking each other, self-improvement techniques, and mutual affirmations. All of these things have their place, but they each can easily mask a heart that is not healed from its self-service, pride, and works-righteousness. Jesus still saves, and it goes all the way down into the very recesses of the soul. No superficial salvation will save us from God’s wrath, and in fact God hates ministry’s that announce “peace” when peace isn’t REALLY there, especially peace with God.

Third: God hates a ministry that has lost the grace of shame.

“Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.”

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a Bible believing minister make a joke or giggle about sin or another holy matter, I’d be rich. But, fathers and brothers, God hates it. He hates that you can be involved in wickedness and not humble yourself in dust and ashes. He hates that your people live like heathens and you parade around as the faithful elect ones because of what your church is on paper. He hates that your assemblies include rank unbelief, ungodliness, and foolishness of every sort and you are not sensible enough to blush.  He hates the effeminate way you turn on the tears for interpersonal gain or position, or when you suffer some loss, but have NO REAL SORROW OVER ACTUALLY SORROWFUL THINGS like people going to hell!

Can you still blush? The old ecclesiastical leaders of Jeremiah’s day couldn’t. Is your heart so hard not to see or feel shame anymore? They were unable. Have you given up seeking the convicting work of the Holy Spirit? They had.

There is a solution for those who still have ears to hear:

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (vs 16)

Do you have a heart for that work: standing, seeing, and asking for the old, good ways of the one holy, catholic and apostolic church? And knowing the old, stable ways, will you walk in them. The church of Jeremiah’s day answered, “we will not” and fell under God’s just judgments.

This call to see and walk in the old paths encapsulates the mission of The Daily Genevan and its friends. We’ve been privileged to stand together for this mission despite persecution the compromised and compromising. The Lord has convicted us that there is a better way, a well worn holy path, that believers may go amid our modern apostasies, and it is privilege to walk in that way. The true way of life is narrow and can feel lonely at times, but the Lord has given us a great cloud of witnesses who’ve lived before and is preserving his own remnant in our time. “Walk therein” the Lord says, and “you will find rest for your souls.

Denominational Death

Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Reformed- it doesn't matter. In 2024, wherever you look in Protestantism it is some variation of the same sad story. Apart from some micro or regional denominational iterations or independent congregations carrying on their respective traditions alone, all the nationwide, legacy denominations are fried or nearly fried, doctrinally and morally speaking. It goes without saying that this is true of the Mainline churches, and has been for decades. I am not primarily thinking of them, but more specifically have their "conservative" cousins in mind- the ones that likely exist because of some previous split with an apostatizing Mainline denomination and that were founded with the explicit intention of conserving the historic teachings and practices of their respective traditions.

I am prompted to make these observations after the latest betrayal of the faith by the bishops of ACNA, which unanimously selected a pro-women’s ordination and race woke archbishop last weekend, despite a significant internal division about the WO issue, and woke batshittery in general, throughout the communion. One observer commented:

“ACNA is unserious about the orthodox faith and traditional Anglicanism. Conservative resurgence is on a ventilator now. But maybe it always was. There are no ACNA based bishops. Knock it off.”

You could swap out ACNA/Anglicanism/bishops with almost any other denomination/tradition/top officers and the statement would be just as true. This is happening everywhere in conservative Protestantism. The Left advances within them inexorably, the conservative wing of leadership talks a big game about standing firm or taking it back, said leadership caves or fights incompetently, the faithful laity and less influential leaders are betrayed. At best, the orthodox might have a good year or two at synod, GA, or whatever, and the lurch seems to be stopped temporarily. But it always resumes because the troublemakers are never rebuked, discipline, or purged. They continue to plot and caucus and manipulate the levers of soft and hard power while the cucked conservatives refuse to sully their hands with such ungentlemanly tactics and box out the few based people in their ranks who would.

Yes, faithful minorities within each denomination hang on no matter how bad it goes. Yes, these churches are not all equally far gone. But the elite apparatus in them all is riddled with regimevangelicals and pretend conservatives that won't really fight them, and the necessary resources and manpower to reverse the leftward momentum has already been eroded away. They are all of them living on borrowed time. The days of the major “evangelical” bodies in every Protestant stream are numbered. The orthodox parties within them will eventually be brought to heel and made to accept the current heresy, convincing themselves that it was a principled compromise and they will not allow any further drift next time, so that they can sleep at night. Those with more integrity will be driven out by disciplinary action or compelled to withdraw by conscience or disgust as dialogue becomes diktat and orthodox doctrine moves from the standard to just one option in a “big tent” to being proscribed altogether. And then these “conservative,” “confessional,” “traditional,” “Bible-believing” denominations will go full Mainline, joining the family of Regime-approved state denominations before their eventual demographic death.

Is this the end of Protestantism? No, I don’t think so. I believe the future of Protestantism is going to be orthodox believers of various traditions informally partnering and standing together against a hostile culture and a hostile set of state churches. Many congregations have already departed from these failed denominations. Some are going it alone for now. Others have found or formed new networks and alliances. I do not believe independency is any kind of ideal for church polity, but it seems to be an understandable necessity for many congregations in this time. Why join a legacy denomination when every option you have is currently sinking?

As these legacy denominations tank, more congregations will be fleeing from them. Some will likely stay in but ignore everything from denominational HQ until they get tossed. There are many possible ways things can play out for faithful Protestants in the coming years. It is quite likely that based churches will begin to support one another locally, even though they are from different traditions and could never have a full union with each other in a traditional denomination. If the economy and infrastructure of the nation continue to crumble, and if the nation begins to balkanize, local association will become much more important. The Anglicans and Baptists in the same county, fighting the same enemies are going to be natural allies more than Anglicans on opposite coasts in totally different contexts that cannot even really have much physical connection anyway.

Consider marriage, for example. Limiting the spousal choices for our children to one congregation quickly results in a shallow gene pool. In days past our kids could look to the other nearby churches of the same tradition for options. But if all the other churches in that tradition are now pozzed, the nearest options in said tradition that are still solid might be states away. Economics, and more importantly, family rootedness and sense of place, might require marrying into the other based church from a different tradition. Paris may not be worth a mass, but is your family worth the Prayer Book instead of the Directory for Worship?

Where it goes from there, I can't guess. Maybe new, faithful national denominations of each stripe will eventually emerge to replace their failed predecessors. Maybe a new set of hybrid denominational traditions will be born of the camaraderie that forms in the trenches. Maybe this is the truly ecumenical moment, in which necessity forces pan-Protestant catholicity upon us, and makes us regard our traditional distinctives with the proper weight.

But what is clear is that the situation now is more extreme than we usually allow ourselves to think and we need to get into the right frame of mind about who our friends and enemies are. As a Reformed guy in a currently independent Reformed congregation I recognize the major Reformed denominations, as a whole, must be regarded as hostile, even as individual people and congregations in them are friendlies. And the people and congregations of rival Protestant streams that hold fast to the common faith of our fathers (and that includes morality as much as theology!) are also friends fighting their own set of hostiles. I have your back, insofar as I can help you. I hope you'll have mine.

We also need to get over the immature aspects of our denominational rivalries. We can still debate which of us has the superior understanding of sacraments, polity, finer points of election, and such. But we have to stop boasting about 'my tradition being the most faithful' because they've all crapped the bed right now. No time for that kind of vanity anymore. We don't have the luxury of arrogance. All of our confessions and polities - all of them - failed to keep the snakes and wolves out. Because no matter how biblical they are, none of them work without a prior loyalty to God and a commitment to holiness. We can stop trying to blame the onrush of liberalism on each other. We all succumbed to the same lies and false promises of modernity. We all failed to cultivate the same essential virtues. So let us be done with the pettiness that has existed between our tribes. May one of the blessings hidden in the curse of trashworld be an awakened appreciation of just how much orthodox Protestants have in common and how rich is our collective inheritance.

So let us each renew our commitments to our King and forge anew bonds of friendship with all who have not bowed the knee to Baal. And then let us fight for the Church - not just this or that passing denomination - the Church, wherever God has placed us within it. God shook his Church at the Reformation and things that seemed impossible happened. Horrible evils took place and glorious triumphs occurred. We are being shaken again. Where all the pieces will land cannot be seen. But our duties should be clear. Hold fast to the truth, love the brethren.

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A brief note for those sincerely committed to winning back the denominations: You probably think I overly pessimistic. You think you can save your church. I appreciate you and I pray for your success. I want you to win. Take your stands and be willing to go out fighting. It’s a noble work. But I ask of you two things: First, understand that regimevangelicals have mastered screwing over the orthodox through back alley caucusing, emotional blackmail, and denominational procedure, all with a big polished grin and warm handshake for the people they betray. You can't beat that while reciprocating their courtesy and warmth and committing to winning a street fight by Marquess of Queensbury rules. Get savage or get out. Be mean, break the BCO rules abused to sideline you, threaten to split the thing apart if they don't yield to you. Charge their guys with heresy non-stop. Lawfare is on the table. The liberals deserve no quarter. It’s not even dishonest to do these things at this point. It's probably already too late for even this to be enough, but if you won't even try that you aren't serious. Second, when you have drawn your red line, mean it. If you make your last stand, and it fails, go. Don’t keep redrawing it a few feet further back every year. You don’t get multiple last stands. Everyone can see that you aren’t serious if you keep renegotiating your ultimatums. This is the road to being just another cucked pretend conservative.

Do Not Love The World (Free Printable)

The Apostle John commands and warns us “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1John 2:15-17

Here are twenty reasons from God’s Word why we shouldn’t set our hearts on the world and worldly ways, compiled by Bonar. Print this out and put it somewhere as a reminder, or use it as a prompt for family worship. Let’s have hearts set on Christ and his kingdom above all things!

From: https://www.monergism.com/20-reasons-why-you-are-not-love-world

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Printable PDF “Do Not Love The World” https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BxQgFp9EH0ZiJ_IZUT9UqBCiO5W9RfFg/view?usp=drivesdk