Non-Profit Churches

"The prophetic voice of the Church is almost silent. It is the pastors who have silenced it...Today the Church’s door is shut to the prophets. We have traded the prophets for profits.”

From "Non-Profit Churches" by Coach Dave Daubenmire, posted 11/8/07 at newswithviews.com

Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

No I didn’t spell prophet wrong. A prophet is “a person gifted with profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression.” Today the Church’s door is shut to the prophets. We have traded the prophets for profits.

I saw it again this weekend. Every time I go I pray it will be different; it is my nature, to believe for the best. But I have to admit, it is very discouraging.

I travel the country standing up for Truth. I’m not sure how this mantle fell on me but I do my best to be faithful to the call. I believe that the Lord is using me to awaken the Church. My message is hard and penetrating. It is a sin-hating, God-fearing exhortation to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded.”

I am a missionary to America, an alarm clock to the Church, which has punched the snooze button far too many times. Like a teenager on Saturday morning most of our church leaders do not want to hear the sound of the alarm. They “love to slumber.”

...Let me offer you a challenge. Do an internet-search of the great preachers/prophets of the past. From Luther (1500) to Knox (1550), Bunyan (1600) to Wesley (1700), Moody (1800) to Sunday (1900), you will be hard-pressed to find one sermon on the prosperity/life-enhancement Gospel. They preached on sin and repentance. What a disgrace the sissified voices of today are to the memory of these Christian-prophets

Read the rest of Coach's commentary.