But the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrine taught by demons. . . . (1 Tim. 4:1) False teaching has ravaged the modern local church like a fast-spreading cancer. Today’s American hyper-sensitive church which values "experiences" and demands a message of “positivity” from its leaders looks nothing like the American church that existed just a few centuries ago. Instead of placing a large premium on emotion, the early American church placed a strong emphasis upon education and a cultivation of mind. The early American church relied upon a healthy amount of reason to understand and defend the Christian faith. Ignorance among Christian ministers was almost unheard of. In fact, history is replete with Christian ministers who were intellectual giants, as well as spiritual authorities. Anyone who doubts the validity of this claim would do well to know that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Purdue, and Dartmouth were all Christian creations originally established to educate the Christian mind in Biblical studies, among other things. Emotionalism and anti-intellectualism, however, remain the crowns of the popular American church. The church, the once formidable foe to secular foolishness through its fierce apologetic truths, has been dwarfed into a simple sub-cultural phenomenon in the minds of millions.
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