Strange Fire in our Churches

Leviticus 10:1

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.

God was very adamant about doing things his way. Nadab and Abihu put a strange fire on the altar, and God killed them. Strange fire is any fire that comes from any source other than the altar of burnt offering. You notice that it says these men put incense thereon, which means they started the fire themselves rather than getting it from the altar of the burnt offering, as God commanded.

This incident makes me look at many churches today that draw their fire from sources other than God's Word. This strange fire is causing us to lose a young generation to the world and worldly churches. Let me share some of the strange fire I have seen in churches today.

I have seen the strange fire of politics in our churches. I am afraid that too many people have become more enamored with being politically involved than with reaching the lost for Christ. You cannot be involved in the political world without it changing you. I have seen it so many times throughout my ministry where people thought they could change the political world, but the political world always changed them.

I have seen the strange fire of bringing in false perversions for the sake of getting some truth from someone who doesn't believe in God's Word. If someone is willing to use a false perversion of the Bible, they will also be willing to use false doctrine as well. Too many church bookstores have books by so-called Christian authors who don't even use the KJB. The only thing you will get from these books and from these preachers that we allow in our pulpits is their perverted doctrine and worldly mindset of church building.

I have seen the strange fire of community involvement. So many churches are more involved in the community than they are in spreading the Gospel. Never once in the New Testament do you see the church involved in community activities; rather, the church in the New Testament was involved in one thing: spreading the Gospel through soul winning.

I have seen the strange fire of counseling ministries. I am not against counseling, but we have let counseling overtake the true purpose of the New Testament church, which is to go soul winning so we can reach the lost. The best counseling someone can get is through their pastor or the Word of God, and then go soul winning. Nothing will change someone's life more than soul winning.

I have seen the strange fire of para-church organizations training our young people. For some reason, we think it is OK to send our young people to Bible colleges that are not under a local church ministry, but rather are friendly with a local church. This strange fire will produce a generation of young people who will believe the local church is not important.

My friend, it does not matter how sincere the strange fire people use is; if it is not the fire God has given us, it will destroy the next generation. Let’s be careful about allowing strange fire in our churches so that we can keep our doctrine pure, keep our churches vibrant and growing, so that we can reach our world for Christ in a Scriptural way.