The Old Testament has hundreds of verses that contain the word, "Peace." It is a good word that has a rich and full meaning for followers of God. It means to be spiritually well and spiritually healthy. It can mean quietness and rest. It can also mean happy, friendly, and to have prosperity.

Old Testament verses like Psalm 29:11 teach that peace is a gift from God. Job 22:21 teaches that the duty of man is to seek peace. This thought is echoed in Psalm 34:14. All true peace that we have as Christians comes through Jesus Christ. John 14:27 says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives..." John 16:33 says, "I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace..." Romans 5:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand..." And Phil.4:7 says, "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ

Jesus." Matthew 5:9 is from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where He states that "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Paul tells us in Romans 12:18 to "live peaceably with all men." I believe the Bible teaches that the man who makes spiritual peace with God will have peace of mind, and be able to live at peace with most other normal people. Peace is not a bad thing and it certainly was a real concept that the people of God experienced under the Old Covenant. You could say it was something they had come to expect when one truly followed God.

Yet the concept of peace was something that some began to twist into something else as false prophets put their "spin" on the meaning of peace. They had an entirely different meaning for "peace." They taught that peace and prosperity and good health was guaranteed if you followed their teachings. They taught a gospel of peace during a time when Israel was backsliding away from God due to their idolatry. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were two of God's prophets who encountered the problem of false prophets who preached a message of peace and prosperity. Jeremiah 6:14 says, "...Peace, peace' they say when there is no peace." This same verse is repeated in Jer. 8:11. Jeremiah 14:13 records the fact that false prophets were assuring people that "You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place." Verse 14 talks of how they claim to have visions and dreams from God and yet God says they are "prophesying lies in His name." Ezekiel 13:10 says, "Because they [false prophets], lead my (God) people astray, saying, "Peace," when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash." Some folks are experts at sugarcoating the truth while making that which is false sound good and true. And underneath it all is a flimsy foundation of lies, fancy-sounding words, and high-falutin' phrases.

There have always been these religious charlatans, but none like we have today. These new peace "prophets-for-profit" use high-tech gadgets like computers, the Internet, and Television in ways that make the false prophets of old seem like amateurs and beginners. And it they do it in a much more subtle and believable way than ever before. It used to be that these types belonged outside the mainstream and included such high profile names as Oral Roberts, Rex Humbard, Jim Bakker, and Robert Tilton. Most everyone in our brotherhood recognized these folks as false teachers out to make money and have a big following. But nowadays, these new peace-prophets are not just in the charismatic groups. They have invaded our brotherhood. Their main goal isn't necessarily money, but rather it seems to be more of a quest to wield influence over a large number of people. By doing so, they have infiltrated the leading positions and pulpits in our brotherhood. They are on the boards of directors of major para-church ministries, lead our biggest conventions, and sit on the publishing boards of our most prominent publishing houses. In these positions, they are able to develop a large following and have a great deal of influence over the leading thinkers in our brotherhood. What do they have to gain by doing this? Influence is Power and Power is Money. Most of these "Peace-Prophets" may have started out with pure motives, but somewhere along the line they develop the thirst for influence, power, and money. Many of these types now in our brotherhood seek to build large followings, and thus have all the trappings that come with having a big church. These folks are sought for speaking engagements and book deals with various publishing houses in our brotherhood. I was in a class 20 years ago with a man who is now a "big name" preacher in our brotherhood who has written several articles for the Christian Standard and has had a book published by Standard Publishing Co. in Cincinnati, OH. During a class he once stated that he planned to build a big church someday, and that he didn't care what it took to do it. And he has!

I recently read an article entitled, "Relevant or Hospitable," (4-29-07) written by Paul S. Williams, editor-at-large of the Christian Standard. In this article he writes that in his work with a church-planting organization known as the Orchard Group that he used to always ask the members of this organization one question, "Are we relevant to the culture we are serving?" He believes he has been asking the wrong question. Apparently, he believes the question the church should be asking itself is, "Are we hospitable?" What? Did I miss something? What about asking, "Are we Biblical?"

That seems like a relevant question for every church to be asking no matter what age we live in.

Being Biblical is not a high priority for the new "Peace-Prophets." Many have become more like Baptists in doctrine and Pentecostal in worship style - but more on that later.

Mr. Williams goes on to write about our present age, "I believe it is a far better time for the church than the waning years of the modern age." Mr. Williams spends a great deal of time in his columns lauding the age of postmodernism as a great time to be alive and a wonderful thing for the church.

Apparently, he believes that the presence of competing voices from different religious groups is good for the Church. I believe that the presence of these other religious groups only helps to create doubt and confusion. The result is the leading of unsuspecting unbelievers and weak believers away from Biblical Truth.

Mr. Williams concludes with, "As I watch new churches grow and thrive through the bold embodiment of the gospel, I no longer worry about the fate of the church in this postmodern age. With confidence I simply say, "May the best story win." He must be looking at something that I am not seeing in our brotherhood, because I see a weak, shallow, and superficial faith that is widespread and far-reaching throughout our brotherhood. I don't believe that the majority of people in our churches today have enough faith to withstand hardship, trials and persecution to the point of death that was faced by our first century counterparts. I feel that very few churches in our brotherhood are still true-to-the-Bible, Restoration Movement-minded churches. Many churches seem to be moving far away from having anything in connection to our Restoration heritage.

This is a truly sad and unfortunate development. We need folks to be reminded of our Restoration identity now more than ever. The last thing we need is to be moving away from our Restoration roots. He talks about seeing the "bold embodiment of the gospel" in today's church, yet I see and know for a fact that many don't even know what the gospel is anymore! Few are willing to preach Christ crucified and mention the blood of Christ. Several churches have moved away from having the Lord's Supper in the worship service. Several do not expect people to repent and be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sin and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The result is that many people are simply hand-shaken into the kingdom of God in the practice of open membership, which is no membership at all. The worst part is that many remain unconverted while being told they are now a Christian. Yet many cannot tell you what it means to be "in Christ" or even how one gets "in Christ."

The disturbing part about the state of the Church today is the folks like Mr. Williams who applaud the condition of the Church today, instead of trying to warn the Church of its' weak condition. Mr. Williams is like so many in our brotherhood today who are what I like to call, "The New Peace-Prophets." There are many like him but few have the platform that he has to promote his ideology.

In the Old Testament age God raised up true prophets who tried to warn people of their idolatry and backsliding. In response to the true prophets there arrived on the scene of false prophets who were mainly known for their messages that Peace and Prosperity were just around the corner.

And these gloom and doom prophets were wrong and to be ignored." Mr. Williams and others like him are the new "Peace Prophets." They tell everyone that the Church is in great shape and that it's a great time for the Church. They say we are on the edge of world-wide revival and unparalleled growth for the Church. They claim it's a great time to be alive in the church. All these themes sound wonderful and provide what seems like hope and encouragement for many Christians.

This idea of false hope and encouragement is even addressed by Jeremiah 23:16-17, "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.' They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The Lord says you will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubborness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.' "

Then in verse 21 it says, "I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them yet they have prophesied." Down in verse 25 it says, "I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream.' (v.26) How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their mind. (v.27) They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. (v.28) Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?' declares the Lord." The rest of chapter 23 goes on to tell of God speaking out against these liars and their deceptive teachings. I believe the era in which we live is very much like the one described in the pages of Jeremiah 6:14; 14:

13-14, 19; 23:16-17, 21, 25-28; and Ezekiel 13:10.

The problem is that this supposedly great news is just not true. Even the statistics provide by another "Peace-Prophet" aka George Barna, point out the problems in the local church. He has provided statistics for churches for over 20 years now. His findings show that even though more people are attending church than ever before, the percentages are basically unchanged. Not only this, but that many people are dropping out of the local church scene in order to do their "own thing" spiritually speaking. See Barna's book, Revolution, 2005, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Barna claims there are 77 million born-again Christians in the USA. (p.31) There are now over 300 million Americans. So do the math and discover that the actual percentage of our population that claims to be Christian is only 25.666666667%. Just 1/4th of all people in America are considered to be born-again Christians!

A few years ago I remember reading that Barna claimed about 30-33% of all Americans attend church on any given Sunday. Considering what Barna's 2005 findings reveal may mean that we are not even seeing that percentage being reached in church attendance today. Where is all the evidence that Paul Williams claims is giving him confidence about the state of the church in America? I realize that church attendance is not the only sign of the church's strength, but it would seem that this downward trend in Church attendance does not signal high strength, but rather a low type of strength.

It has become necessary through the ages for God to warn His people of impending spiritual decay, and ultimately, disaster due to idolatry and false teaching. God used the Prophets during the Old Testament age to accomplish this important work. Today, he may work through Preachers, writers, and publishers, or just ordinary every-day Christians. As a Preacher for over 20 years I have done my fair share of warning as well as exhorting and encouraging God's people. I am not just a naysayer with a pessimistic slant. I am encouraged by the number of people turning to the Bible to be their only rule of faith and practice. I am encouraged by the growth of family camps, and other conservative gatherings within our brotherhood. I am thankful for faithful publications like The Sword and Staff, Paraklete, The Gospel Defender Journal, and Restoration Herald to name a few.

But one cannot help but note that the big picture view of our brotherhood reveals that the majority of folks with in our brotherhood are not moving in this scripturally conservative direction. Sadly, many of the above publications are unknown to most folks, or are simply not made available to the masses in our brotherhood. Some preachers go so far as to discourage their congregations from reading these materials for fear that their people may open their eyes and begin to think for themselves. Many churches will only allow publications like The Lookout or Christian Standard to be available to their members. I choose to read and listen with discernment and thus, I know that my faith can withstand what I may read in any book or magazine. My problem is with people who are afraid to read some of the more conservative publications because it doesn't jive with their preconceived theological views. If you really know what you believe, your faith won't stumble or fail just because you happen to read something that isn't true or is something that you disagree with. Your faith should be strong enough to be able to handle reading something that is false. That is why we should read and listen with discernment. So that we can filter out the false and keep the true. Many new or weak Christians are unable to do this, but you who consider yourself

to be a strong Christian should be able to read and discern the truth.

Folks like Paul Williams and George Barna seem to be motivated by needing to influence large numbers of people. Through the years Barna and Williams among others have flooded the bookshelves of people of all faiths'. They have encouraged people to have "Vision" which led to a rush of Churches creating vision statements and mission statements. They have influenced people to create a new "paradigm." That was the hot buzz word about 12 years ago and it led to people flocking to their dictionaries to look up the definition of the word. These types of church growth guru's have encouraged, "Change, Change, Change" until everything in every church was changed in some way regardless of whether it was working or not. If you weren't changing, you are just a spiritual dud according to these new "peace-prophets." Much of the changes were in music styles for worship. Many folks ate this stuff up to the point that the attitude became, "If you don't like the changes, you are welcome to leave." Many folks found themselves looking for a place to worship that still used a traditional style of worship. According to the peace-prophets anything traditional is bad and must be changed to contemporary styles. Some of the new music is good and some is just crap. But why force people out just because they don't like the new music?

But that is what Billy Strother said to do in a seminar attended by this writer that was held at Atlanta Christian College in January 2006. This peace-prophet also said we were a denomination and that we all ought to stop pretending that we aren't.

But the serious changes have been in the message more than the method. While the methods changed, some decided to start changing the message by creating doubts. The emerging Church phenomenon is one of these trends that have caught some folks by storm. Playing on the theme of postmodernism that there are no absolutes and that people today think and process information differently, some have decided to change the message as well as the method. It has led many preachers to stop using the concepts of repentance, sin, conversion, shed blood of Christ, the Lord's Supper, and even baptism in their language. The average person in the pew hasn't even caught onto these changes because their faith wasn't very deep-rooted to begin with, and thus, became very easy to dumb down these folks with more messages about self-esteem, self-improvement, and pop psychology pep talks. Very little Bible is used in most messages today and very little preaching actually takes place. More stories, skits, and devotional "talks" are given than anything else. Liberal views have flooded the sermon material of many preachers in our brotherhood in order to build up large numbers like their hero-mentors have achieved for themselves. Some just seek to be popular or try to keep up with the Jones's. Either way, liberalism is alive and well within most of our churches in this "postmodern" age. One should also consider what Jeremiah encountered in his nation that should cause us to sit up and take notice of. In Jeremiah 2:11, God speaks through Jeremiah asking, "Has a nation [ever] changed its gods, even though they are not gods? But my people have changed their Glory [God] for that which does not profit." (Amplified Bible) God accuses the people, His people, that they have traded Him, the living God, for other gods; false dead gods! Could this happen to the Church today? I believe it has already begun in many places!

Seeking peace with God and our fellow-man is not a bad thing. Several Bible verses encourage us to seek peace with God and one another. Unfortunately, the "Peace-Prophets" preach a message that guarantees you will have peace and prosperity if you just follow their teachings. The sad part is when people who don't experience this "peace and prosperity" are told the reason that they don't have "peace and prosperity" is because they don't have enough faith. The other real danger is the multitudes of people who are welcomed into a Church through open membership without one being expected to repent, be baptized by immersion, or be expected to change and truly make Jesus the Lord of one's life. Another trend found to be disturbing is the palliation of sin in so many churches. In other words, we see many preachers who find ways to excuse sin instead of denouncing it. When was the last time you heard a preacher denounce a specific sin or sin in general? Furthermore, so many folks are not being taught in these churches. Sunday School and mid-week Bible study are being done away with. When are people getting the meat of the Word being taught to them? Is it inn small groups? What a laugh! Most small groups are just another occasion for socializing in someone's home. Very little content and depth is introduced in these settings. Most of the time it descends into chit-chat and eating dessert.

It is sadly ironic that while Muslims are preparing to conquer and destroy America, the church in America is literally fiddling around with the latest praise music and exploring experiential religion based primarily on emotions and feelings. This will not lead us to have the deep-rooted faith it will take to meet the challenge of dealing with Islam invading our country over the next 25 years. We are majoring in the minors and debating over music styles instead of girding up our loins for spiritual warfare with Satan and his minions. And through it all we have the "Peace-Prophets" telling us that we are in great shape and the church is stronger than ever with a future that is brighter than the lights on Broadway. Most are unprepared for the possible suffering and hardships that may come due to Islam sweeping over our nation. It is downright criminal to give people a false sense of security that only good times are ahead for the church when that is probably not the case. The only great thing about our future is not what will take place here on this terrestrial ball. The truly great thing will be when the Lord returns and faithful, obedient followers will go to their eternal home in heaven! On the flip side, the future may not bode well for all those who preach peace, prosperity, and tell of their visions, dreams and paradigms that include the so-called wonders

of postmodernism. Don't listen to the "Peace-Prophets!" Their idea of "peace" is very different than the one found in Scripture. Read and listen with discernment. Examine everything in light of what the Bible teaches. Don't just accept what the "Peace-Prophets" say to do if it's not Scriptural. Hold your leaders accountable to the Truth. And if they don't want to be accountable, find new leaders or find a new Church.

Lyle W. Lipps is an Evangelist with First Christian Church of Adairsville, Georgia. You can reach him at: lipps_3@joimail.com