Light Jazzy Religion
"A program of light jazzy religion can equally stultify spiritual growth. And too many ministers have not learned that sermonettes by preacherettes make Christianettes. If you want to have a strong spiritual life, you must spend time on it. The growth of the soul is a definite thing, and we must obey the rules of spiritual dietetics if we would come into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
...What does it mean to import truth from one heart to another? It should be understood that it is a vertical work and not a horizontal one. There have been those who have attempted to introduce into the Christian vocabulary the idea of sharing. There was quite a vogue of this sharing a few years ago. One man who had been a drunkard would tell another drunkard that he himself had been that way, and that he could share certain experiences with him, and certain knowledge of how to overcome the terrible craving of the debased appetite. The idea of such sharing is not to be found in the Bible. Sharing begins with the human heart and its experiences, and goes to another human heart. The Bible term is quite different, for the process is quite different. We do not share; we witness. Witnessing begins at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and at the throne of God in heaven where our Lord is now seated, and comes by way of our heart to the need of those around us.
...The imparting of spiritual truth is not a sharing but a proclamation."
Donald Grey Barnhouse, Romans, Vol. 1, pp 139-140
NOTE: This was first printed in 1953. Back then there were people trying to bring things like light jazzy religion, sermonettes and "sharing" into the church. But today these ideas have gained entrance and are in common use, and there is now an entire generation that thinks such things are completely normal. They don't see the problem. This lack of spiritual/historical perspective is depriving believers of discernment. It is similar to the error and sin committed by Israel in Jeremiah's day. Jeremiah 6:16-17 says:
"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. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken." This is wilful ignorance. See 2 Timothy 4:1-4.
