Alright, is it just me, or are we being sold a bill of goods on a bunch of stuff in our churches these days? All I've been hearing about recently is being faithful to God with your money/time, and he will provide, and people will make it through the economic recession/depression. Now, I'm not saying we shouldn't honor God with our money and our time, because we should. And I'm also not saying that people won't make it through, but I don't know that EVERYONE will make it through. Also, just because God doesn't allow someone to make it through difficult times, doesn't mean God is evil, or any less God. God is in control, and everything that happens, whether because he caused it or he simply allowed it, happens for a reason, including death. It's just that I think there are more important things to be talking about, like the fact that the day of judgement is approaching, and I don't mean death, I mean Armageddon and the end of the world. I know, a lot of people feel like the church and the world have been saying that for centuries, but the church had no clue back then. How could judgement day be approaching, if Israel wasn't a nation, Babylon had not been restored to power, and there was no movement towards a one world government, just to name a few biblical prophecies? Where are the sermons about revelations 22, which states that we will be rewarded according to what we have accomplished for Christ? Where are the sermons about sanctification, for crying out loud? The bible does say, after all, that knowing and believing in God and Christ are not merely enough, because even the Devil and his legions of Demons do that. Repentance is required, and feeling sorry is not the same as repentance. Repentance is a complete turning around of your life, it is handing over every single area of your life to God, it is basically becoming a slave to Christ, as the Greek word translated as Lord in the new testament says (kurious, meaning master of slaves). As Charles Spurgeon himself said, "All sin must be given up or else you will never have Christ. All transgression must be renounced or else the gates of heaven must be barred against you. Let us remember then that for repentance to be sincere, it must be entire repentance. True repentance is a turning of the heart as well as of the life. It is the giving up of the whole soul to God to be His forever and ever. It is the renunciation of the sins of the heart as well as the crimes of the life." Note, however, that he didn't believe that you had to be perfect, only that you stop justifying your sins. The Bible says that on the day of judgement, many will say "Lord, Lord," but God will say, "depart from me, for I never knew you." So my question is, where are the Sermons about feeding the poor, protecting widows and orphans, visiting the sick and those who are in prison, and clothing and providing shelter for those who don't have any? WHERE? Because, quite frankly, I'm tired of being sold a bill of goods, about how God wants people to be happy, and how God wants people to be successful, and if you're faithful, God will provide. I mean, he already sacrificed his son on the cross to save your soul and grant you eternal life when you didn't deserve it, and you want him to make you happy here, too? He's already provided by sacrificing Christ on the cross, and whether as Christians we live or die, are killed or continue living, die in poverty or live in a Mansion in Beverly Hills, everything we have, from our money to the clothes we wear to our very lives, is provided by God. Happiness is fleeting, joy is based on hope and faith that we will go to heaven and that God is in control, and I'm tired of the bill of Goods that is being shipped to us in some (but thankfully, not all) of our churches.