AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

Yes, that was indeed the virtual version of a scream. I would like to scream sometimes. I think it could be very therapeutic. Somebody should research "The Benefits of Screaming on a Regular Basis"...if they haven't done that already. If they have then somebody send me a link to the story, I think it would be very interesting to read.

Now, on to reasons for screaming. There can be many, such as:

1. Something of great value to you has been destroyed.

2. You were robbed.

3. Countless personal problems.

4. Facebook

And the list can go on and on and on and on and on.....you get the point.

But none of these are what I would like to scream about at the moment. No, at the moment I would like to scream about people who claim to be Christians but still do not reflect Christ.

Now before I start pointing fingers at others allow me to first degrade myself, for as I have said before, I am nothing but a worthless wretch who deserves nothing less than Hell and probably more. But thank God that He, in His perfect will, with His perfect grace and mercy, saved me from the depths of sin. I am probably the most hypocritical of the hypocrites, and if I died right now and God condemned me to Hell for eternity, I would be thankful that He even found me worthy enough to be judged.

With that being said, allow me to continue my original rant.

This past week, while in contact with so many students and people my age at the Student Life Camp which was held at Liberty University, I noticed a very common thought process among the people there. I had been noticing this process before, but when it is seen on a much larger scale, it is a lot easier to identify.

That process was basically this, "I said a prayer and I do good enough, why should God care if I have a little fun for myself? He wants me to be happy anyway right?"

This was not the only thought process there, but this one and different variations of it was by far the largest one.

(Sidenote: I say these things with all due respect to the staff at Student Life. They are all very passionate about Jesus and very sound in their faith and doctrinal beliefs. I was thoroughly impressed with them...not so impressed with Liberty though.)

But I am getting ahead of myself. Allow me to recap the week, starting on Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning we were already in Lynchburg, and, since it was Sunday, our youth pastor decided to take us to a local church. And what local church in Lynchburg, Virginia, could be better than Thomas Road Baptist Church?

So we went to church at the fourteenth largest church in America, and I was not impressed.

Before I go any further allow me to say that I have no problem whatsoever with "megachurches" as long as they are being biblical in everything they do. In my opinion, the more Christians that are congregated in one spot praising the Lord the better, but more often than not "megachuches" are mega because they aren't church.

As soon as you walk into Thomas Road Baptist Church there is a huge foyer with a welcome booth, a place to buy books, and a giant iPod that serves as a sign to point you where to go. (I think there may have also been a coffee shop, I did not pay that much attention.) Immediately upon seeing these things my mind reflected back to Matt. 12:13, "He said to them, 'It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer," but you make it a den of robbers.'"

But I stowed this thought away in the back of my mind for the moment being as we entered into the "sanctuary."

Since attending this church was a spur of the moment decision, we were all dressed in blue jeans and T-shirts. This led to some very unfriendly greetings from the ushers in their expensive suits, even though the TRBC website encourages people to attend in whatever clothes they wish.

So far this church had two strikes with me, but I was willing to bear with it throughout the service...especially since I had nowhere else to go and no way to get there. Also, it was nice to be in a church on Sunday morning, even if the church was not as admirable as one would like. So we sat in the second row and soon the concert began.

As far as loud contemporary music in a worship service goes, I haven't studied the topic enough to formulate a valid opinion yet. Right now, as it stands for me, I do not care what music you have as long as you are worshipping God with it. So I watched the lyrics of the songs come up on the screen and discerned if they were at least worshipful, and for the most part they were. Of course, as a Calvinist, there were some lines I disagreed with that speak of free will and such, but these things were to be expected.

Impressively enough though, I did find that, as the band played some songs I knew, I could worship with them. I was not trying to be hostile to TRBC. I really did want to give them a valid chance, and I really hoped that they would be a great biblical church on fire for God.

But alas, it was not so.

When the singing was over, Rev. Jonathan Falwell stood to speak on the subject of stewardship.

As I listened, I heard all of the things I grew up hearing. God wants you to do this and you should do that and look what our church can do if you would just do this, etc. etc. and I was disappointed.

I don't think that I once heard the name of Jesus outside of a worship song, and the only time God was admirably mentioned was once at the end of the sermon when Reverend Falwell said we should "do all these things for the glory of God," but he said it as an "Oh by the way" type thing.

So in a quick recap the sermon was, law law law law law oh by the way do it for God's glory.

After the sermon we left the "sanctuary" and went back to our van to continue the rest of our trip.

Later on that day we would begin our work at Student Life, and, as I previously mentioned, I was very impressed with the staff, band, and speaker there. They were all biblically sound, and obviously in love with Jesus and God's Word. I would love to find a group of people such as them to hang around with for the rest of my life, but this leads into my original reason for wanting to scream.

For the most part, there are no people my age who want to have anything to do with God. Most of them only see God as a card to get them out of trouble. Thus leading to the previously mentioned mentality which I have observed.

I do believe that, as the true gospel of Christ was preached throughout the week, God saved many of His chosen.

But I also know that there were many there that would have none of it.

And so my heart is in turmoil. I rejoice for those who are saved, mourn for those who would not hear, and am angered and saddened by those who say they know Christ but clearly don't.

I guess the whole point of this post is to say that the church is not the church anymore. We have megachurches teaching all law and no gospel. We have the next generation, my generation, either believing that God does not exist, or that He is their personal butler. And we have no discernment to know that we are wrong.

So having observed this I also know I can't just sit on the sidelines, but what am I to do?

For now, I will start where I am, and I will take the gospel to people wherever I go. May God use me, not for my benefit, but for His glory. May I be a light to my generation, and may God save many by using me as His vessel. Not that I deserve it by any means, but because it is pleasing to Him.

This is my desire. This is my passion.