"The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them."
(i.e., The biggest lie the devil ever told is that churches could win souls with entertainment.)
—Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892), from an aptly
titled sermon, "Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?"
In an excerpt from "Restoration of Truth and Revival," (Sword and the Trowel, December 1887), Spurgeon wrote:
"The Lord our God, is holy, and He cannot compromise His own glorious name by working with persons whose grovelling tastes lead them to go to Egypt—we had almost said to Sodom—for their recreations. Is this walking with God? Is this the manner in which Enochs are produced? It is a heart-sorrow to have to mention such things, but the work of the Lord must be done faithfully, and this evil must be laid bare. There can be no doubt that all sorts of entertainments, as nearly as possible approximating to stage-play, have been carried on in connection with places of worship, and are, at this present time, in high favour. Can these things promote holiness, or help in communion with God?"
One would almost think that Spurgeon had visited many churches here today in North America, and the rest of the world. Francis Schaeffer once said, "Tell me what the world is saying today, and I'll tell you what the church will be saying in seven years." Pretty sad when the church is imitating the world instead of setting itself apart as holy, like it was commanded, to be a light on a hill.