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Religious Hippies

But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. (Jude 17-18)

That’s right! You’ve read the title correctly. The one thing I think about concerning a hippie is the rebellious goal he or she has in destroying a current foundation, but not being able to put a better one in its place. Just to let you know, I am not referring to the hippies of the Vietnam conflict during the late 1960s. I’m talking about those in the religious aspect.

For many years these hippies have been crying out for something new involving the things of God. They want new bibles and new “preaching,” etc. And just in case people get suspicious or “judgmental,” they slap a “Christian” label on it. Any Bible Christian should not be surprised about these hippies because we were warned from the Scriptures that they would rise on the scene (Jude 4).

Regardless of the criticism one would face, true born-again Christians should not be ashamed in asking the question of what good has all this new contemporary religious stuff produced for our generation. I will tell you what I’ve seen it produce.

It has produced the exaltation of carnality. When you approach the average person about inviting them to church the things they ask you about is what kind of music do you have and do you have any kind of social programs. Notice that hardly anyone is ever concerned about what kind of doctrine the pastor preaches or other important spiritual questions. This is because people have got this mentality from the religious hippies of our day who have kicked the Spirit of God out and brought the wicked flesh in. As someone wisely stated one time, God put the church in the world while Satan tries to put the world in the church.

Other things that this hippie movement has produced is rebellious kids, weak homes, doctrinal confusion, sissy preachers, and even worse a new method of evangelism that has produced multitudes of “professors” but not “possessors” of salvation. This new methodology of how a church is supposed to function has produced powerless pulpits where the fervent message of repentance used to be heard and the sermons were not about social and self-esteem problems, but about a sin problem. The preachers were men with a backbone and didn’t talk like they had a hernia on their lungs and a bunion on their tongue. They justflat out PREACHED and had a testimony in their life to back up what they said.

Now we are plagued with the noodle-back hippies of our day that don’t like the old paths (Jeremiah 6:16). Their knowledge has been puffed up from what they learned from the theological cemetary (yes, I spelled it correctly). My blessed King James Bible has went through fires of persecution to be in my hands today while the modern “bibles” of the hippies only catch some fiery ashes near the ashtray. They are more concerned about reformation rather than rebirth, psychology rather than sin, and membership rather than principles.

Please don’t call them preachers! They are nothing but theological textbooks wired for sound. Please don’t call them Christians! They are religious psychological New Agers with a little twist of Christianity. May God raise up some “Nehemiahs” in our day to rebuild those walls that the hippies have burned down (Nehemiah 4).

- James S. Hodges

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