Samuel Chadwick (1860-1932) hit the nail on the head when he wrote,
“The Church always fails at the point of self-confidence. When the Church is run along the same lines as a circus, there may be crowds, but there is no Shekinah.”
It is the Shekinah [God’s manifest presence] that we must have, the Lord dwelling in our midst, a continual “visitation” that doesn’t quickly pass. As someone has said, the Kingdom of God is not going to be advanced by our churches being filled with people, but by the people in our churches becoming filled with God.
There is a place for clowns and stunt men. But that place is not the church of Jesus.
It doesn’t take much thinking to admit that if the glorious Lord Jesus were being exalted in our meetings through the agency of His mighty Holy Spirit, we wouldn’t need so many of the fleshly tactics we rely on today.
No tricks. No games. Just the Lord.
If we speak the truth in love and compassion, if we bring people into genuine contact with the living God, there will be lasting fruit. Hollywood is hollow and entertainment is empty. It is more of Jesus that we need.
He alone is the solution to...