I was a preacher and I hung out with preachers. I still listen to preachers on radio and TV from time to time. And so I know this: Preachers are salesmen. The job of the preacher is to sell his brand of church. To sell his product he has to tell his target market why his product is better than the other guy's.
As a preacher, you can sell what you have to offer to 3 sectors: First, there is the sector called the unchurched. Those who don't belong to any church at all. Second, there is the other-churched sector, those who are loyal to a competitor's brand of church. And finally, there is the your-churched, consisting of those who already belong to your brand but who you need to shore up against possible defection.
To sell your product you have to villify the no-church and the other-church options. You have to continually make your brand look better by comparison. And so you have to perpetuate the myth of us versus them.
You paint an ugly picture of what life is like on the outside. You tell your audience how horrible it is to be outsde the walls of your church. You say ridiculous things (which no one questions, much less laughs at). Things like the following:
"It's so wonderful to be here, this is just a little taste of what heaven will be like! There's nowhere else I'd rather be." The truth- There are several places people would rather be, and if this is a taste of heaven, please keep it away from us.
"The world outside is evil and wicked. The world is falling apart. People outside are miserable." The truth- The world outside is not much different to the world inside.
"If you don't have Jesus, you don't have anything!" The truth- Millions of people are doing just fine without Jesus.
Someone should stand up and ask preachers to back up these kinds of statements.
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