What's Wrong With This?

We have been witness to a direct attack against the Church, the Body of Christ. The recent pronouncement of the end of the world from the airwaves and on billboards across the country also carried a condemnation of all organized local churches with the judgment that no one in these churches are saved (or they wouldn’t be in these churches). This is indeed an attack on the local church as well as an attack on The whole Body of Christ for there are believers in local churches despite the claims otherwise. Salvation is based on the Gospel, not on where one worships, and as long as a church preaches the Gospel, it is on the right track.

However, some of the criticisms that have been made concerning the local church are valid. There have been many strange doctrines drifting into the local churches.  There are issues with leadership. The time has come that we must ask how good a good job our churches are doing to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must consider whether the local church has drifted from this primary path and is more focused on “church growth” than on winning souls. We must be careful not to replace the Gospel with programs designed to bring people in our doors without offending anyone.

Many of our churches have become lazy in getting out the Gospel. We get so satisfied with what we are and the fellowship we enjoy with our friends in the church that we forget to reach out to a lost and dying world. Other churches err in the other direction trying so hard to attract the lost that while trying not to offend anyone  that the Gospel has been so watered down as to become recognizable. Still other churches have sought the excitement that comes from new and different things and in so doing have brought in teachings and practices contrary to to the clear teachings of Scripture.

The local church must stand firmly on the simple Gospel that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that whosoever calls on Him, shall be saved. When we back away from this or add to it in any way we compromise our message. While our methods may differ as will our styles of worship and many minor nonessential doctrines, the Truth that Jesus saves through faith alone must be held sacred for it is sacred. There can never be any compromise on that. As long as we have this Truth there is life in the local church.

The recent pronouncement of the end of the world was changed when the world did not end. It has now been proclaimed that the world has been judged with the result that no more can be saved. We can dispute this point vigorously from Scripture going from verse to verse or we can show that the
local church is alive and well by winning lost souls to Christ. This does not happen by concentrating on the things that are superficial but rather on dwelling on the Truth of the Gospel, letting it change us from within.