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JOEL 2:11-12
"Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with ALL your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." "Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity." |
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| It's time to wake up: Modern churches in serious decline |
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RELIGIOUSLYINCORRECT.org There is nothing we cannot achieve as long as we put our full confidence in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Committing ourselves with ALL our hearts to His complete will has always been a reasonable request from our Lord. After all, He died for our sins, so now we are His servants—and the very adopted children of God Himself. (Romans 8) But without a full commitment, we will never be as a church what Christ died to make us. Many—far too many—of our churches are losing young people, slipping in Biblical knowledge, and becoming less and less concerned about the many false Christian religions surrounding us. Parents are not raising their children according to the Bible's instructions. Marriages are failing because they are not based on Christ's instructions and Lordship. Congregants appear to be utterly uninterested in basic Bible studies and mutual spiritual encouragement. And although talent is abundant in our churches, teachers seem to put forth little effort to grow in knowledge and teaching skill, and often appear to be ill prepared for their sermons. Many older women, who have been plainly instructed to teach the younger women of the church, are not only failing to do so but have little interest in doing so. And those who are interested cannot—since few young women seem to be interested in learning. Traditionalism, the offspring of deficient knowledge or waning commitment, is rampant. Church leaders are not mission minded. Many churches simply have no serious plan for reaching the lost of their local communities. And the list goes on and on and on. But—by far—the worst part of it all is the widespread complacency regarding this disastrous situation. Modern members of our churches either don't acknowledge these problems exist, or simply downplay the extent of them. Consequently, many churches have closed their doors in the past few years, others are getting ready to do so, and many others are dwindling away. The words of the prophet Amos are so fitting for the modern church! "Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria...You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments...[you] use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph." Descriptive of far too many modern churches This tragic picture is thankfully not true of every congregation, every church leader, every preacher, or every member. But it describes far, far too many Christians and churches today. Indeed, our problems have reached epidemic proportions, yet still there are those among us who have convinced themselves that "this is just the way things are supposed to be." Brother, sister, friend, this is NOT the way things are supposed to be. Here is the way the church is supposed to be (at least in part): Churches and members focused truly on Christ as Lord over decisions and actions; Warm, friendly, spiritual churches hungry for the Bible, not tired of it after a short sermon from an unenthused, unprepared teacher; Spouses dedicated to Christ as Lord over their decisions, and determined to see that their children and grandchildren are solid in the faith; Christians dedicated to proper knowledge growth and developing spiritual minds and thinking, and actually seeking to encourage others as God has commanded us all to do, in love. Souls—many souls, I believe—have been lost from our churches because of our negligence, and it's time we recognized that and got back to the basics. What are the solutions? What are the solutions? Simply getting back to the basics of obedience to Christ. Basics of developing spiritual, Biblically knowledgeable minds. Basics of re-committing our marriages to Christ. Basics of re-committing ourselves to solid training and Biblical instruction of our children as a TOP priority. Basics of re-thinking church decisions based on what pleases Christ, not what pleases our comfort zones and traditionalism, or what pleases the world in the form of entertainment. Basics of well-prepared public teaching by teachers who are actually proactively seeking to increase their talents to edify the church. Basics of having enough basic Bible knowledge to be able to identify a gross false teaching and how to actually deal with it in the manner Christ has prescribed, not man. When these basics, and others, are returned to, we WILL see positive changes. THEN we will finally in many churches have an environment for new growth of outside conversions. But when we fail to keep our own children faithful, how can we expect new growth? Change what is lacking, and then we will see changes elsewhere as well. That's where we have been failing, and that's what this website will be initially dedicated to focusing on. But make no mistake: our problems are epidemic, and failure to realize that will result in little change. Let's make a strong determination to change! Why not? The rewards will be enormous, both in this life and the life to come. Let us acknowledge our sins, determine to change, and get on the right path before it is too late! Be on guard! Be alert! For you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If your Lord comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. (Please click here for introductory video relating to what you just read.) SOURCE REFERENCES: Mark 13:33-36
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