The Impotent Church

Of major concern today, is the state of the Body of Christ,
it’s Churches and their Leaders. That which is supposed to
be the conscience of the nations has become so weak, uncaring and
spiritually impoverished, that in general, the Church is no
longer challenging, or capable of challenging, the mushrooming
corruption and evil in the world today. Worse still, it appears
to have no intention of doing so.

Much of the post-modern Church is convinced they have a
mandate from God Himself that justifies living like Kings and
amassing great wealth and empires for personal glory. So with
eyes blinded by the glitz and glamour of this world, is it any
wonder many are no longer even able to discern the difference
between right and wrong or truth and error. This is especially so
when the Bible no longer holds the prominence it should have in
our pulpits, when it is being replaced by a solid diet of
psychology, sociology and success motivation.

A frightening scenario that presents itself in our day is that
only a small percentage of preachers and ministers, 9% to be
exact of all ‘born again’ believers and 7% of
Protestants, have a biblical world view. We are speaking here of
concern for the things of God, worldwide, in our time. These
figures are according to the Barna Institute survey of January
12th 2004. This is alarming news, that the representatives of the
Bible, possess a non-biblical world view, which reflects on our
interaction with society and its problems, and in turn affects
our attitude in dealing with them. This has come about because
most Christians are no longer taught the Biblical viewpoint or
perspective, as it is considered irrelevant today. What an
indictment against the church.

This statistic is equally as bad in the Fundamental and
Pentecostal camp, but has come about from a different
philosophical mindset. Fundamental modernistic thinking decrees
that the Bible and our old biblical concepts are outdated and
irrelevant and must be scrapped. Evangelical Pentecostal thinking
has concluded we are the object of Gods attention and here to be
blessed by him, so whatever brings blessing must be God. It is
nothing but a corruption of the Bible in suggesting materialism
and self is OK after all, and furthering our popularity and power
in our society is something we must strive for.

Jesus said He did not come to bring peace to the earth but a
sword. Matthew 10:35 records, "I have come to set a man at
variance against his father and the daughter against her mother
and the daughter in law against her mother in law."

If Jesus were here now, saying this, especially in America and
the Western world today, which are now subject to the Patriot Act
and International Law, He would be charged and convicted for hate
crimes. Mentioned in the New Testament in 1 John 2:15 is this
command, "Love not the world neither the things that are in the
world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not
in him." You cannot put it much plainer than that!

This is the truth conveyed here. We are being warned that if
we are at peace with the world (aligned or in agreement with it)
we automatically are an enemy of God. Light has no communion with
darkness. The mindset of the modern church has embraced the whole
philosophy of capitalistic greed so enthusiastically that it is
now considered part and parcel of western world Christian
culture. I heard one deluded Church Leader recently state, "I do
not think it is right, giving to the poor for they cannot be
trusted to get a return from it. Give to the rich for they will
multiply and make more from it." Whatever happened to just simple
benevolence without asking for a return? Is that not what agape
unconditional love is all about?

As a pastor in ministry for 35 years, I have become somewhat
sickened with all the hype that I hear concerning the modern
church’s attitude toward money. I have sat in conferences
and seminars and listened with disbelief at the foolish
humanistic distortion of the Word of God. My conclusion is this!
I believe the church itself is now in the dangerous position of
being the very instrument of its own demise. I also believe it is
now becoming the single most influential vehicle for preparing
Christians to embrace a doctrine and creed of selfishness, so
insidious, that it in turn will enable and empower a
materialistic antichristian totalitarian regime to be
established.

2 Timothy 3:2-7 teaches that the last days would be
characterized by perilous times for men shall be lovers of self
rather than lovers of God. After recording a substantial list of
character faults and sinful behaviour, Paul records that they
have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. From such
turn away for they are ever learning yet never come to a
knowledge of the truth.

In today’s modern Christian world view we prevent the
possibility of the second advent of Christ happening until we
have conquered all opposition to our objectives and taken control
of the wealth of the nations. The reasoning is we must
demonstrate our importance, and pursue every opportunity to
further our influence in regard to the kingdoms of this world,
but forget Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world and
neither is ours - we are sojourners passing through .

If you want to read an alarming presentation of the antichrist
strategy to subvert modern Christianity, the book "GRAVE DIGGER
FILES" by Oz Guiness (Now out of print and hard to get ) is
incredibly enlightening. It sets out the strategy of those who
oppose the Church as to how they will finally destroy it. The
strategy is not frontal attack, but a subtle intrusion into the
leadership and theology of those who influence its direction. The
plan recognizes that Man cannot destroy God’s Church but
when His people become so materialistic that sin is no longer an
issue, then God will destroy it himself.

It describes the most effective means of throwing the church
off course, is to infiltrate its colleges and denominations, then
begin to subtly train personalities, religious superstars and
televangelists with a focus on mammon who will steer the church
into an anemic, insipid, materialistic exercise of
self-exultation whereby God himself will abandon and reject his
own church.

It appears they are succeeding by and large, apart from the
simple fact that God is not mocked. He anticipates every maneuver
and has made provision for it. He will turn it to his advantage
and will not be outdone by any satanic humanistic barrage. That
doesn’t mean we should continue in our apathy. The hour is
late – it’s time to wake up!