Discerning

There has much that has been said in the Christian community concerning the direction our nation is taking today. Materialism, sensuality, and immorality have overtaken what was once moral and good with the result that living for self is the norm. Violence is on the rise and personal freedoms are being eliminated. The cry for revival goes out as we seek to steer our nation in such a direction that will stave off certain judgment should we continue on our present course. We call for revival but see little change and have even less hope that this change will come. We blame the unsaved world for its attack on the Gospel and actually for being what it is the unsaved world. Some of us shrink back, bracing for the judgment to come seeing it as inevitable. However, we don’t have to resign ourselves to the status quo. There is no reason we cannot expect to see revival in our times. The solution lies in us, the true believers in Jesus Christ—His Church. When we can set aside petty differences we can have a real impact on the unsaved people around us.

The problem is that the Church is getting distracted from what is important and that is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ—that we are sinners in need of a Savior—that Jesus bore our sins at Calvary—and that only through receiving the Lord Jesus Christ into our lives can we be delivered from the consequences and dominion of Sin. Too much is passing for the Gospel today that offers prosperity and a better life now, but doesn’t deal with the issue of sin. Tried and true doctrines are set aside as churches seek answers as to how to bring people in. Churches that were once known for their strong stand on the Gospel are finding their influence waning while mega churches have sprung up in their places offering weekly celebrations and the latest new exciting thing, but doing nothing to deliver from the bondage of sin.  The trend goes on. Bible believing churches appear to be shrinking while Gospeless churches are on the rise.

 We cannot expect that Gospeless churches will change but we can expect that Bible believing churches must hang on to what is true and right renewing ourselves to the clear call of the Gospel, purging ourselves from those things that distract and divide. We must consider what got us into this state of affairs in the first place. We must consider what took our eyes off our primary objective. This writer grew up in churches that preached the imminent return of Jesus to take His Church to be with Him. This doctrine was the driving force that impelled us to preach the Gospel like there was no tomorrow. Today this doctrine has been largely set aside with many strange interpretations of Scripture put in its place. This is the problem. Church leaders have been too quick to accept the latest things put out in print instead of examining them to see how these new ideas stack up to the Word of God. In other words churches are failing because they have set strong systematic Bible study aside and accepting sloppy and even lazy Bible study in its place. Consequently, we have church leaders lauding works that promote the non-biblical interpretations of the events of 911, and the teachings of a three year old that is said to have visited heaven, and a false God and Jesus.

God’s true church has not gone away and can yet make a difference. But we have to stop being distracted. The Gospel must come first.  We need to carefully determine what is in the Book. Our task is to win as many as we can to Christ now and live in such a way as to be a restraint on the evil in our world. We have to be discerning as to what we allow into our lives. We need to stop prepping for an economic and social collapse that is not going to happen until we are with our Savior. We need to get back on course.