SACRED COWS
Contains some copied materials
A SACRED COW is a term that means:
 Something highly REGARDED or VALUED
 It’s seen as something that ought not be
CRITICISED or QUESTIONED...
 For fear of public OUTCRY.
It can include...
 A person, institution, a custom, or belief
system...
 Which, for no reason other than the
demands of established protocol or
POPULAR OPINION, should be accorded
RESPECT or REVERENCE, and
 Not touched, handled or examined too
closely.
It is...
 A treasured belief or process
 Someone or something that has been
ACCEPTED or RESPECTED for a long time
and that people are AFRAID or UNWILLING
to CRITICISE or QUESTION.
It is an allusion to the Hindu reverence for
cows.
It IS GOOD for us...
TO QUESTION SACRED COWS.
It’s been said that “Sacred cows make the
best burgers.” Maybe it’s time to have A
SACRED BARBECUE.
Many of us can have “SACRED COWS” in
our lives.
What are the sacred cows (the holy cows)
of God’s people?
And what ought we to do with them?
John 2:13-17 And the Jews' passover
was at hand, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem, (14) And found in the
temple those that sold oxen and sheep
and doves, and the changers of money
sitting: (15) And when he had made
a scourge of small cords, he drove
them all out of the temple, and the
sheep, and the oxen; and poured out
the changers' money, and overthrew
the tables; (16) And said unto them
that sold doves, Take these things hence;
make not my Father's house an house of
merchandise. (17) And his disciples
remembered that it was written, The zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up.
Sacred cows are LIES.
And they must be dealt with strongly.
Some sacred cows we ought to confront...
CONSUMER CHRISTIANITY
“Being hip... Some Christians are drunk with
the desire to be relevant.”
Some churches are hell-bent on being hip and
relevant, cool, and trendy. They are marketdriven.
By this approach “we’ve dragged Jesus down
to the level of culture.”
Jesus broke all the rules. He wasn’t about
being hip, and trendy.
He wasn’t all about being popular and cool.
He took time for the broken people of His
world.
The Consumer Christianity model places a
focus on giving people what they want.
As the saying goes, "What you win people
with, you win people to."
If church is purely driven by “offering
trendy products that create more
consumers, then Jesus becomes a trendy
product that will become stale and boring
if we don't keep feeding the consumer
machine.”
Consumer based Christianity designs its
“church” around performance. It’s all
about “performers”, on a “stage”.
In Consumer Christianity we are fed
entertainment-based sermons that revolve
around MEETING PEOPLE’S NEEDS.
The danger is in a focus on people’s needs,
regardless how selfish and godless these
needs may be. The preacher’s goal ought
NOT to be to make the Bible RELEVANT,
but to help people see HOW RELEVANT THE
BIBLE IS!
Consumer Christianity.
It’s a Sacred Cow.
The MARKET-DRIVEN PREACHERS want to be
liked. They want to use ENTERTAINMENT to
draw people to listen – but they may be
entertaining their hearers to death.
Some other SACRED COWS today that we
ought to confront are:
INCLUSION and TOLERANCE
The Bible is the Word of God and IT IS
TIMELESSLY RELEVANT!
The Bible transcends all cultures, fads and
fashions.
Some churches now resort to having a fog
machine and a jazzy light show. It is far
removed from a gathering of corporate
worship with the object of the GLORY of GOD.
The services revolve around having a
performance on a stage. Really it all detracts
from the Biblical model of participation from
the congregation.
Welcome to the “Program driven church”,
where it’s all about having lots of activities.
Today it is as if “INTOLERANCE” is the
ultimate cultural sin.
And for many in the professing Church,
they follow suit with this philosophy; today
it’s all about an accommodating of sin and
falsehood.
There are many false prophets who are
corrupting and destroying the Church from
within.
Whilst they may do some good, some of
their teachings are POISON. The Bible
commands us to SEPARATE from error.
We cannot be INCLUSIVE with ERROR.
Our obligation must be to SEPARATE because
of error.
 Freemasonry is a sin
 Ecumenism is a sin
Many churches are rejecting the Scripture’s
teaching against homosexuality, abortion,
inerrancy of the Scriptures, and liberal
theology.
Thank God, He can forgive sin, if we will
but come unto Him. But there is no
excuse for an accommodation of sin.
There is a valid time and place to HATE.
"Ye that love the LORD, hate evil..." Psalm 97:10
There are some plain things we ought to be
INTOLERANT of...
 The demonic Roman Catholic church
 Mother Teresa
 The false prophets of the charismatic
movement
The Word issues a clear call to exercise
BIBLICAL DISCERNMENT and BIBLICAL
DISCIPLINE.
We need to declare, as God does...
SIN is SIN
 Homosexuality is a sin
 Sex outside of marriage is a sin
The answer is not accommodation of it,
but a repentance and separation from it.
"Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers: for what fellowship
hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what
communion hath light with darkness?
“... Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord."
(2 Corinthians 6:14, 17)
The Lord Jesus did not mince His words.
He told them straight, “You generation of
vipers”.
Josh McDowell argues that TOLERATION has
replaced JUSTICE as the primary American
virtue.
“Tolerance today means that EVERY VIEW of
TRUTH and MORALITY is EQUAL to every
other view.
“(I)t says that there is no such thing as
ABSOLUTE TRUTH. If you dare to tell
someone else that what they are doing is
WRONG, you are going to branded as AN
INTOLERANT BIGOT. In that view
EVERYTHING is RIGHT and NOTHING is
WRONG.
“Some educators now argue that the public
schools must teach students TO BE
INTOLERANT OF INTOLERANCE.
“And who is the most intolerant of all in the
eyes of the world?
“CHRISTIANS ARE, because we believe in a
Creator who established absolute standards of
right and wrong.
”It may well be that in just a few years we
will see a major cultural shift in which
anyone who dares to speak out for God or
against evil will risk being ostracized and
publicly humiliated.
“If that is true, then we will face some
tough decisions in the days ahead.
“Satan’s strategy has always been to stir
up opposition to the church so we will be
INTIMIDATED into SILENCE and
COMPROMISE.
“It was true in the first century and it is
still true today.
“You may face OPPOSITION at work or
from a critical colleague or from a
classmate, a friend, a teacher, a
neighbour, a relative, or even from your
children or your spouse.
“Satan’s primary strategy against the
church is to DISCOURAGE US by
STIRRING UP OPPOSITION so that we will
stop spreading the gospel.
Fact is “... the majority has usually been
wrong throughout history, ESPECIALLY ON
MATTERS OF MORALITY AND SPIRITUAL
TRUTH.”
THE PURITY OF THE CHURCH has been lost.
Its testimony has been soiled, marred, and
dragged in the mud.
Teachings of false doctrines and doctrinal
error are STUMBLING BLOCKS. They must
not be accommodated.
We must deal with the sacred cows of...
 Ecumenism.
 Apostasy.
It is time for Christians TO STAND UP and BE
PROTESTANTS.
The modern church is in a mess because so
many believers have CONFORMED TO THE
WORLDLY WAYS that are taking over the
church.
Inclusion and tolerance.
It’s a sacred cow.
A SUBSTITUTE GOSPEL
We are witnessing in these days an
"epidemic" of FALSE CONVERSIONS across
the globe.
Today the church has become like a kind
of SOCIAL RELIGIOUS CLUB.
Few truly PREACH the WHOLE, TRUE
GOSPEL, but many have perverted it so it
is more acceptable to man. They preach
and please men and not God.
People are being led into a false sense of
security by churches PREACHING A
WATERED-DOWN GOSPEL.
The reality is that there are thousands, if
not millions, of people in churches who are
NOT TRULY CONVERTED.
Ravenhill said, “The sinner's prayer has
sent more people to hell than all the
taverns in America.”
A substitute gospel .
It’s a sacred cow.
BIBLICAL ILLITERACY
Spurgeon held up his Bible and said:
“These words are God's.... Thou book of vast
authority, thou art a proclamation from the
Emperor of Heaven; far be it from me to
exercise my reason in contradicting thee....
This is the book untainted by any error; but it
is pure unalloyed, perfect truth.
Why?
Because God wrote it.”
pander to this confusing and blasphemous
Babel of Bible versions.
This is no time for “Smooth words”, but for
God’s Word.
Pure and unadulterated...
Many are going about denying the
inspiration of the Bible.
Where are those with a stedfast LOYALTY
to the TRUTH?
This does not CONTAIN the Word of God.
This IS the Word of God.
This is a time where we must slay the sacred
cows.
In some churches they do not even HAVE
REAL BIBLES, let alone PREACH from them.
Some Bible versions are outright
PERVERSIONS. We play into the devil’s hands
to give over to them. Yet some Christians are
completely ignorant, and some churches
We must exalt THE WORD OF GOD above
the ways of men, above the methodologies
of the world, above tradition.
Biblical illiteracy.
It’s a sacred cow.
CONFORMITY WITH THE WORLD
In James 4:4 we read, "Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
It’s strong language.
It’s been said that, if you are not born again
today your worst enemy is God. God is the
enemy of the world of the unconverted.
 The world’s thinking and system.
 The world’s attitudes, thinking, conduct,
and ideologies, are all in hostility toward
God.
 They are the enemies of God and he is their
enemy.
 To become a friend of the world purposely
is to choose to be an ENEMY of God.
How sad that the church in so many places
wants TO BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD, and
COURT THE WORLD'S FAVOUR.
They court and cater to the unchurched and
the church unconverted, APING EVERY
WORLDLY FAD IN MUSIC AND EVERY
WORLDLY FAD IN LIFESTYLE, terrified to
offend somebody who's not a believer.
We’re breeding a new generation of
“Christians” who think we can be just as
INCLUSIVE, just as PLURALISTIC, just as
OPEN MINDED as any POST-MODERN
POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLDLING.
BIBLICAL TRUTH is an open
CONTRADICTION to HUMAN PHILOSOPHY
and RELIGION.
GOD’S PLAN is not to make the church
MORE WORLDLY. We are called to
CONFRONT the CULTURE of THE WORLD...
John 15:19 If ye were of the world,
the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I
have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you.
There’s meant to be a distinction; a clear
difference. The world hates you.
That's how it will be. That’s how it is.
SO - WHAT WILL WE DO?
Conformity with the world.
It’s a sacred cow.
We’ve mentioned some SACRED COWS...
 Consumer Christianity
 Inclusion and tolerance
 A substitute Gospel
 Biblical Illiteracy
 Conformity with the world
There is no GENTLE way to KILL a SACRED
COW.
It takes ACTION that might be
UNPLEASANT and UNPOPULAR.
Sometimes we steer away from ROCKING
THE BOAT, and from TAKING A STAND.
But it’s better sometimes...
 To just do it
 To just “rip the band-aid off”.
In the times of Reformation...
There was an Iconoclast...
Come out from among them and be
separate!
We must SLAY the sacred cows.
It calls for PASSION and for REVIVAL...
A PLEA FOR PASSION
“A church is not a church when the passion
for souls is gone.”
Let HIS WILL be YOUR PASSION.
“To know the will of God is the greatest
knowledge. To do the will of God is the
greatest achievement.” – George W. Truett
“We are not eternity conscious enough.”
(Ravenhill).
“The surest thing in the world is not death
and taxes, it's death and eternity. Yet, we're
so unconcerned.” (Ravenhill)
We need to get truly passionate about
ETERNAL THINGS.
Booth said: “LOVE TO THE KING and
CONCERN FOR HIS INTERESTS must be THE
MASTER PASSION OF THE SOUL. All outward
effort, even that which springs from a sense
of duty, will FAIL WITHOUT THIS.
“The hardship and suffering involved in
real spiritual warfare are too great for ANY
MOTIVE but that OF LOVE.
“It is said that one of the soldiers of
Napoleon, when being operated upon for
the extraction of a bullet, exclaimed:
"Cut a little deeper and you will find my
general's name," meaning that it was
engraven on his heart.
“So must THE IMAGE AND GLORY OF
CHRIST be ENGRAVEN ON THE HEART of
EVERY SUCCESSFUL SOLDIER OF CHRIST.
“It must be THE ALL-SUBDUING PASSION
OF HIS LIFE to bring the reign of Jesus
Christ over the hearts and souls of men.
“...the great end in all we do must be the
promotion of the kingdom. A man may
work in order that he may eat, but he
must eat to live, not to himself or for the
promotion of his own purposes, but for his
King, and for the advancement of His
interests...
“There will be no running away, no forsaking
of the cross, no shrinking from the hard
places of the field; but a determined pushing
of the battle to the gate, even amid
weariness, opposition, and sometimes in the
face of dire defeat. I ask,
“Was it any less a devotion than this which
actuated the martyrs and confessors of old?”
A PLEA FOR REVIVAL
“People say, "We want another Pentecost."
I don't believe them for a minute.
Pentecost in the New Testament is tied in
with PERSECUTION, POVERTY (and)
PRISON!”(Ravenhill)
“The fire never falls on the altar; THE FIRE
FALLS ON THE SACRIFICE!” (Ravenhill)
If we will be a sacred cow slayer, let us
Be bold.
Have courage.
Have godly PASSION.
Do you go to church to meet God or to
hear a sermon about Him? How many
come to church expecting a confrontation
with Deity? (Ravenhill)
I exhort you to Passion,
And also, leave you with...
Popular Christianity is filled with sacred
cows these days.
We face the opposition of devils, yet much
of their work is hidden, undercover.
We see an endemic WORLDLINESS that
saps the strength of the people of God.
Let us slay the sacred cows!
Seek God for renewed Passion, and for
Revival.