We Are in Real Trouble

Somebody must say it: The western church is in real trouble. And I do not mean just the usual suspects; the Rob Bells, the Rick Warrens, the Brian McLarens, the Joel Osteens. I am speaking about all of us. We are so far off course that we no longer are setting our course by any true Biblical mark. And the men I mentioned are being used to disguise our own substantive deception and redundant exhibition of some kind of religion. Either the Book of Acts is a fairy tale or we are. Oh, I know, let’s create a theology that says God no longer exhibits His power, and believers no longer surrender all and become such committed followers of Jesus that they must be arrested at some point. We have constructed a false norm.

We are in real trouble. We cannot even commit to our marriage vows, much less our vows to Jesus Christ. And divorce and adultery are rampant in spite of all the sexual instruction and love talk now disseminated throughout the profligate church. And with the pitiful model placed before our children, we cannot anticipate anything but a further erosion of Biblical reflection in future generations.

We are in real trouble. Instead of being arrested, or at least shunned, we are embraced as a legitimate voice in the political climate. Our lifestyles are so unremarkable and so void of anything close to passionate obsession, that even unbelievers can vote for a professing believer because he may be pro-life and be for lower taxes. Jesus is no longer a stumbling block.

We are in real trouble. If all the banks required all church notes to be paid in full, tens of thousands of churches would go bankrupt. Since when did borrowing money from a fallen and antichrist system become Biblical? It became acceptable because it was a means to an end. But millions upon millions of dollars of God’s money flows into the banking system and is lent out to all kinds of nefarious enterprises and cults.

We are in real trouble. Discernment ministries have almost reached cult status. And the problem with discernment is that it usually is a one way telescope. I own a telescope, and when I look through it I cannot see myself. Sometimes we become personally deaf to the Spirit because we are obsessed with uncovering the sins and errors of others. Spiritual stagnation comes in many different forms.

We are in real trouble. We have been lulled to sleep by our so called “orthodoxy”, and in our slumber we have constructed a predictable religious structure that rarely if ever departs from the ecclesiastical script. In fact, we do not even believe God still acts anywhere near some of the Biblical narratives. Perhaps it is God that is slumbering.

We are in real trouble. You would assume that in our present condition preachers by the thousands would be clamoring and shouting out a clarion call for revival. You would think so. But while the church goes through its robotic religious practices, the world takes to the street to demand earthly change. The Tea Party and the Wall Street occupation movements have more passion for their fallen causes than does the church for the everlasting gospel.

We are in real trouble. If the prayer lives of professing believers were exposed it could mean only two things. Either we no longer believe in prayer, or worse, we no longer believe in God. And when the membership gathers on Sunday mornings, most believers will have spent more time brushing their teeth than communing with God. And the service will be filled with all kinds of things, but with prayer being conspicuous by its meager place within the well practiced service framework.

We are in real trouble. We have come to know what we are supposed to believe about truth and what the Word teaches. And we can usually recognize an aberrant doctrine when it concerns Christ or salvation. But we live lives that are aberrant in their practice of such doctrines as love, humility, sacrifice, patience, and esteeming others better than ourselves.

We are in real trouble. Jesus Christ has promised to come again to this earth. And He will not come as the Suffering Servant this time. No, this time He comes as the Judge of the Universe. He comes with fire and vengeance. He comes with clouds of almighty power and with the legions from heaven. And yet we behave as if He will tarry until we fulfill the lusts of our flesh and the contorted programs of our churches. Can a preacher actually believe that the eternal Sword of Damocles’ hangs over the entire world and yet be tearless? Can he go week after week, month after month, and not ascend into the pulpit with an emotional warning to all? Can he actually believe that Christ will come with flaming fire upon this earth and still sleep soundly every night? Can he still claim to be expecting the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to come roaring back to this earth and still not call the church to uncommon prayer during the week?

We are in real trouble. We will stay in this condition until we allow the Spirit to open our eyes and we embark upon a prayer-filled course to pursue Christ once again.