What Happened To The Church?

Posted on October 20, 2014by 
I sat in church Sunday morning with a tremendous pain in my heart. The church I have attended for the last 29 years is going through a very painful time; a time that will ultimately determine the success or the failure of the ministry.
Over the past several months, our offerings have dropped over 25%; the same with our attendance. As a matter of fact, this morning our normal attendance for the first service is usually just shy of 200 people. Yesterday we may have reached 40(?). I was attempting to worship, but the whole time I could hear the Spirit weep. (Have you heard the Spirit weep? No? I hope you never have to). He cried out, “You are worshiping in vain Shame on those of you who support what is happening, or those who are sitting by indifferently or undecided. Don’t you know, don’t you see?”
I was immediately reminded of Isaiah 29:13:
These people come near to me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is based on nothing but their own understanding and human rules
Those who value an honest faith and the convictions of Scripture — all of it, from Genesis to Revelations — need to see what is happening to The Church as a whole.
I recently found online a report written back in 2002 (12 years ago!), entitled, “Hate crime police raid 150 homes.” The article came from the BBC, reporting that police had raided 150 homes and arrested at least 83 people on “hate crime.”
Now when most people see the phrase “hate crimes,” they automatically think of people being beaten, murdered, or some other act of violence because of their racial, sexual, or religious status. But as Commander Cressida Dick, director of the Diversity Directorate, said, “We want the offenders who hate, hurt and harm others to know the Met will do everything in its power to find them out and put a stop to their crime. People should not have to go through life being subjected to abuse because of who they are or what they believe in.”
However, that was not the only case and I will explain what the “crimes‘ were, in a moment.  Because I saw another report dated March 20, 2001, where another raid in London resulted in 100 arrests.  Again, these were listed as “hate crime” raids.  The alleged offenses included racially aggravated death threats, harassment, the publication of racist or homophobic material, and assault.”
Now it certainly sounds terrible, especially the death threats. That is obviously unacceptable. They should have been arrested, and the key thrown away, right? So what “racist” and “homophobic” literature were they passing around? The Scriptures! Honest.
In Canada and on Staten Island, New York, the Bible has been identified as “hate literature.”  In Martinsville, Indiana there was an Assistant Chief of Police who came under heavy attack. Why, you ask. Because he wrote a letter, as a private citizen, to the local newspaper condemning homosexuality, multiculturalism, and pluralism from a Biblical standpoint. The only reason he didn’t lose his job was because several of the local citizens stood up for him.
In the year 2000, the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance proposed “anti-hate” and “tolerance” legislation in Europe.  According to the proposal,
“appropriate and efficient measures [should be] taken to combat racist organizations, as well as to criminalize oral, written, audio-visual and other forms of expression, inciting to hatred, discrimination or violence against targeted groups or persons because of their actual or presumed racial, ethnic or national origin or religion . . .”
Wow! It sounds reasonable, until you realize that one of the items they site are
“Fundamentalist Christian groups that alienate and criticize homosexuals and the Islamic faith.”
Now we can say that was a decade ago, certainly things have gotten better, right? Well, in an article written on October 10, 2014, I found,
“Eleven Christians will go to court in Philadelphia in December to learn whether they will have to go to trial, charged with committing a ‘hate crime’ when they peacefully protested a city-sanctioned homosexual event in October”
The Freedom from Religion Foundation had a secret settlement with the IRS which allowed them to demand sermons to scrutinize for “political activity.” It was also reported that, “The city of Houston issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city’s first openly lesbian mayor. And those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court.” Huh? That’s right.
If Mayor Parker is successful, I assure you that it will happen in other major American cities. It is time for everyone — especially Christian Pastors — to stand up, “be strong and courageous,” and defy this illegal edict reminiscent of Henry the Eighth, who proclaimed himself head of state and head of church.
What is ironic is that the Delaware Constitution of 1776 declared that every office holder in that state had to swear:
“I, __________, do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, and in the Holy Spirit, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”
Obviously, the Christian Republic our forefathers envisioned doesn’t fit our current standards. In fact, I recently heard one Pastor say, “Our current culture is obviouslyahead of the teachings of Scripture.” In other words, the Scriptures must change to be accepted by the current culture.
I recently did a search on Google on “Homosexual Pastors.” I could have performed a search of “LGBT and Churches,” or “Gays in Churches,” and found similar results.
Every one of the those searches brought hundreds of stories of churches changing their views on Homosexuality and their views on Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender issues. Not only changed their views, but actually celebrate their “revised” opinions. Rather thancelebrating, we need to weep.
Now your first reaction might be to think, “Hmm, maybe I’m wrong here. Maybe my views have been too narrow.” I say no! But we were told that there would come a time when the church would fall for such delusions; that many churches would cast aside the teachings of the Scriptures and Yahweh’s commands; that there would be a rebellion against the restraints of holy scripture!
This my friends is the spirit of lawlessness. This is the same spirit that Satan used to deceive Eve. He told her, in so many words, “God is easy – he wont punish you for disobeying. You can eat the fruit and indulge your lust. You wont have to pay for it!”
That was a deadly lie when he first said it, and it remains a lie, today. Day after day, the enemy of Yahweh is convincing masses of believers that they can indulge their sins without paying any penalty. It is a demonic scheme to pervert Christs Gospel of Grace, and turning it into a message of licentiousness! Tragically, many lukewarm Christians are succumbing to this deception.
You may think, “I would never be fooled into following the Antichrist.” But Paul says the Antichrist will rise to power because people will be blinded and deceived: “. . . He will use every kind of power, including miraculous and wonderful signs. But they will be lies. He will use everything that God disapproves of to deceive those who are dying, those who refused to love the truth that would save them” (II Thessalonians 2:9-10).
Satan will deceive masses of people by convincing them of a subtle but powerful lie. What will his lie be? He will convince the world as he convinced Eve: “God doesn’t punish sin!”
Paul was saying, “Those who refuse to obey or respect Gods word will fall under a powerful delusion. At first they will wink at their sin. Then they will justify it. But soon they will actively seek out a message of Easy Grace. They will invent a grace that is far beyond what God intended. His grace never leads to license. It always leads to repentance!”
Everything I shared with you is proof that Christians are facing difficult times. But my question is how much of this is due to our abdication of our responsibilities to study, to seek, to uncover the Truth. I am sad to say, many Christians have their heads in the sand and refused to hold to “sound doctrine” and to “cling to the faith.”
Paul warned Timothy, “A time will come when people will not listen to accurate teachings. Instead, they will follow their own desires and surround themselves with teachers who tell them what they want to hear. People will refuse to listen to the truth and turn to myths” (II Timothy 4:3-4). Look around folks, that “time” is today.
Nickolas
With these Morning Messages, I take you on guided tours to, as Bunyan described, the Celestial City. At times we linger at corners familiar and unseen. And explore the depths of our faith along the way.
The trail is long, but there’s no hurry. Though we do need to stock up on supplies for the way, and that’s where I need your help. If you enjoy these messages, please consider becoming a contributing member of this tour group. It will be very much appreciated.
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One Response to What Happened To The Church?

  1. Edwin Britt says:
    October 20, 2014 at 9:31 am
    I understand. I have seen some of these things to manifest in my church home of 20 odd years. The church is now called a Worship and Arts Center. I don’t attend often, I miss my “family” but I feel that I have to take a Jeremiah stand and say this is wrong direction. Others agree, but they still attend and participate in the theatre in residence there. I can not…God removed me, and I was one of the biggest advocates of the drama department, and sent me forth and out, and upon returning, I saw the other side of the coin. I had a totally different viewpoint of our “programs”. I felt they had been weighed and found lacking.
    Reply

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