Enough Said...

Disclaimer: This paper was written for a class called "Ministry Observation." i make very little comment on the church's theology. my purpose in writing the paper was to 'observe how they do ministry.' perhaps i will write about their theology in another post...




When I went to Crossroads, I walked away feeling like I had just experienced the beginnings of what will eventually lead up to the American church’s self sufficiency, and ultimately, a declaration that it is god. I am a Dispensational A-millennialist, so there is no sense in me that there is going to be a rapture, a tribulation, and then the Anti-Christ declaring that he is god in the newly rebuilt temple. This way of interpreting Scripture does not make sense to me. There is a part of me though, that sees the prophecies in Revelation and Daniel as having been fulfilled, but will be fulfilled again, just as most of the Old Testament prophecies do. There are prophesies about Jesus that were fulfilled by people before Him, and this is what I think may happen with prophesies in Revelation.
There are many reasons why I think that Crossroads, like some of the many other churches I have visited, will one day claim to be god. Everything is subliminal. For instance, most churches have a crucifix on the main wall in the sanctuary. At Crossroads, their crucifix is way off to the side, and in the place of it, where most churches would place their crucifix, is the band. So the church band has replaced the visual image of God (which, crucifixes in general, are blasphemous in the first place, but that was dealt with by John Calvin in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 11). Another thing is that while the band is leading the congregation in musical worship, there are videographers who record the band, and there are live images of them on the screen with the words to the songs. Now the band has become the physical object of worship. If you stand back and look at the crowd, and had never seen a worship service before, you would swear the people were worshipping the band, the way they stretch out there arms toward them. On top of that, everything is dark, except for the band, who is illumined in extravagant lights and smoke. It’s almost heavenly (sarcasm intended). Who does that remind me of? Oh ya: God--in Whom there is no darkness at all (1 John 1.5), in contrast with the world, which is darkness (Matt 5.14).
One night the pastor gave a message about demons, which he defined as “troubles” to “bad memories,” in other words, ‘demons are things that you have control over, if you just listen to what I have to say.’ Yet another God-like quality attributed to man. Halfway through the pastor’s message, a pianist comes out to give the preacher more of an emotional flare: the church has control over your emotions. I’m a huge skeptic of this church, and even I was drawn into the theatrics of it all. At the end of the service, the pastor asks all those who are hurting to come to him, so that he could lead them in a prayer that will save them. After this, he welcomes all those who prayed the prayer, into the church’s prayer room. The parallel of this to what happens at a person’s salvation is uncanny.
Crossroads denies that God is a God of wrath, because Jesus makes him all love. Their worship leader is a woman (one of the highest, if not the highest position in the Church). They have Arminian beliefs. Enough said.