I was thinking…about the apparent “falling away” we see so much in the church today. Jesus warned us that the day of the Lord will not come, except there be a “falling away” first. Then the end time calamity spoken of in Matthew 24 and in Revelations of the Bible will become a full reality.
I’ve pastored now for many years, in several churches…and I’ve seen seasons of “falling away” during all those times, but not like we see it today. It seems that church church, a lot of the times, have gotten so used to being “entertained” that most in the church feel like their attention has to be held in awe or they’re history!
What I’d so much love to see is a season of time, if for only a season, that people seem to have a true hunger for the things of God. I know bygone days are just what they are…bygone days! But oh, to just see the hunger in people eyes and action once again like i grew up seeing in my young teen years!
I remember times when my dad’s church would be having revival. This was before they built the “new sanctuary”…the one with the great big cathedral ceiling with beams…the one with the large choir area…the one with the, then, Hammond B3 organ being played along with the grand piano.
I remember when revival was set in order, when people would gather to the church, they wouldn’t be talking about the “blue light special” at K-mart or something of the like. There would be what I’ve called a “hushful murmur” across the crowd as folks were turned around before church asking their neighbor to help them pray for that lost child or husband, or for God to heal a family member or a friend of theirs!
There wasn’t any of the backbiting, slandering, and gossiping like goes on in God’s house so many time today. They were there on business for the King! And enter into His business they did! From the moment the pastor stepped up to the podium, they came to attention, and from that time on, they had church! They sang…they preached…they shouted…they ran if God led. They weren’t one bit ashamed to “let their hair down,” so to speak, and get rowdy for Jesus!
Oh how I long to see the day return that when someone prayed at the altar, the pews were empty because the people were eager to see someone get what they needed from God at the altar, so they all gathered around the one or ones seeking God and they prayed just like it was themselves seeking God for a definite need!
Folks interacted with each other back then. I know…life was lived at a little slower pace back then…but god is still the same…Heaven is still the same…and so is Hell! What’s changed so radically is…US! We’ve let down on so many standards that the church has no repore with the world around us any more!
We’ve become “user-friendly” by succumbing to what the world wants…entertainment and gratification! We’ve bought into the idea that we must conform somewhat to the world to ever win the world! But what’s happened is that far too much of the world has gotten into us…the Church of the Living God!
I feel almost like Jesus had to have felt when he ran the money changers out of the temple! He told them that His Father’s house was to be a “house of prayer”…but they’d made it a “den of thieves!” I feel kind of like taking a whip…cracking it real loud…turning some money changers table over, and running them out of the House of God!
I feel like demanding an answer to the question…”Who authorized you to make God’s house a “House of Entertainment?” “Who authorized you to water down the Gospel of Jesus Christ…the Gospel that the martyred disciples bled and died for!” “Who told you to change the truth into a lie?”
One day…and I believe it to be very soon…Jesus is gonna step out on the clouds of glory and call all of “His Children” home. I’m afraid that there’s gonna be a lot of people…so-called Christians…people who’ve bought into this modern-aged vasad of a lifestyle…who’ll be scratching their heads and wondering, “What happened? Where’d everybody go? Surely that wasn’t the Rapture! Did I miss it?”
A man who’s already gone on to be with the Lord now, a true modern-day prophet if there ever was one, told a large body of people at a General Assembly of that organization this…he said…”I tell you, that if the Lord was to come back right now, there’d be enough of you left here right now to carry on this General Assembly without a hitch!” Needless to say, that was the last time they ever let the man…a prophet of God…ever grace the Assembly floor!
God help us to somehow get back to true Bible holiness before you come back to get your church! If we don’t…we’re gonna miss the next great move of God on this earth…THE RAPTURE!
I was thinking…
Pastor Rick Towe.
