Worship Leaders, Drinking, Culture

I recently talked with a couple people on the topic of worship leaders who also drink. They could not understand how they could be leading worship and doing this at the same time. The reality is we all have faults and short comings in our lives. Until we allow God to convict us we really wont change. Some of our faults are private and some are out in front. The Bible says to not be drunk with wine or come into a different state of consciousness. The Bible also states to not do things that make your brother stubble. Yet another place speaks of your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

In a society that says it is cultural acceptable to be a Christian and drink is just that a cultural acceptable standard. But that is culture. The biblical standard is far different. Holiness is the ultimate standard and the things we do should not affect that. Drinking does not lead us to holiness. I know you will say well what about TV or this and that. I will tell you the same things. Much of what we fill our spiritual well with does not lead us to holiness. What you put in, is what you have to draw from. Much of what we fill ourselves with has demonic agendas attached to it. Stating what you believe to be a justifiable truth because it is culturally acceptable with no Biblical basis does not make it Biblical standard nor acceptable to God. Especially if you were once enlightened and now have fallen away from that truth.

We want to see God move in America but America is the vilest self justified nation of the world. Much of the evil other nations face can be directly connected to what originates here. This is not my opinion but a repeated opinion my host in the nations I have traveled to have told me. I have had it explained repeatedly how American culture has adversely affected them and the life of the church, reducing spiritual life in individuals. Every time I hear of why it is not happening here, like over there, it brings me to one thing. We don’t realize they follow biblical standard and we follow cultural standards. In the church we change biblical standards and replace them with cultural standards. We don’t live a holy life and justify our self indulgences. In Africa, where things are happening like we desire to see, if a man drinks he is not fit to be in any role in a church but to sit under the word for a change from the addiction. In America we are willing as leaders to have no standard, so we can have a natural gift appointed to a position, even though their life is not whole. We have made what God has said is holy as common, and thus made it unholy, so we can be relevant to culture. And we wonder why God does not show himself in our meetings as His stamp of approval.

The desire to have a culture of entertainment in the church has made the church to become another club with a “spiritual option” attached to it. The desire to please people and not confront their lifestyles carries greater weight that pleasing God. Homosexuals in pulpits, or teaching classes, people drinking on worship teams and leaders in sin are not biblical standards. They actually remind me of philistines, Baal, and other enemies of Gods people in the Old Testament that He said come out and be separate from them!

When leaders are placed in a leadership role it is because their life is an example to be modeled after. I have heard of people becoming alcoholics because they say their brother in a leadership role, at a checkout line buying alchol and thought it was ok to drink because they were buying. The person eventually fell away from God and died in sin. The real problem is the senior leaders standards are not biblical, more so than the individual who drinks. A person might be leading worship, or on a worship team but the reality is what kind of worship they are experiencing. Is it throne room and people are moved by the spirit of God or is it entertaining and based not on spiritual life but natural ability? Remember God will anoint things sometimes because he loves people and desire to meet with them. But how much higher or better could something be if the person leading had their life right.

We want to see a move of God. Many do. But few want to pay the price of living a life that would release that kind of move in America. When this next move of God comes I guarantee it will have deep heartfelt repentance with it. Christians will be awakened to lifestyles they are living, that are contrary to Gods heart. They will repent not because of being caught or found out but because they realize THEY have broken His heart and made the heart of God sorrowful. The move of God is coming. Right now it is unfolding with those living contrary to culture, living a lifestyle of repentance. For those with mixture a moment of repenting for a lifestyle will suddenly come and they will be overwhelmed with it. Drop the culture society is trying to dictate and live a life contrary to it and you probably will be living a Biblical culture.

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