For weeks I have been writing in an effort to convince people that the professing Church is under the judgment of God. While I have not presented all of Scripture’s evidence, I have tried to show from passages of Scripture that it is simply beyond argument any longer that we are under the judgment of God. The professing Church in America is simply going about its own business and busyness instead of tending to what it has been called to do by God. In a sense the professing Church is like Nero (either true or a myth) who fiddled away while Rome burned. The nation is falling around us and the professing Church is too busy with its activities and growth plans to notice.
Beau Abernathy wrote a letter for the religious section of the Lawrence Journal-World. I read his article when it came out in the paper. It was also recently reproduced on page 3 of the April, 2008 Baptist Digest (KNCSB http://www.baptistdigest.com). The whole article is worth reading. I am not reproducing the whole article but simply getting at the essential points that point to the decline of the United States. Jim Nelson Black identified ten factors that have led to the decline and fall of civilizations. He said that as few as three or four of these factors are enough to bring a society to the point of collapse. Dr. Black stated that “the United States is the first nation in history where all ten symptoms are present in one society at one time!” Those ten factors are given below:
- Increase in lawlessness
- Loss of economic discipline
- Rising bureaucracy
- Decline in education
- Weakening of cultural foundations
- Loss of respect for traditions
- Increase in materialism
- Rise in immorality
- Decay of religious belief
- Devaluing human life
One the one hand I would like to point out that a nation like that is a nation where the professing Church is simply not being light and salt in its society. Christians are to be salt and light where they are (Matthew 5:13-14). Interestingly enough, as you see the ten points of decline in a nation what you see is really a moral decline in terms of how people relate to God. 1. A people do not respect God when they are given to lawlessness. Our nation has assuredly seen a lot of lawlessness and the professing Church in many sections seems to be joining society in the abandoning of the Law. 2. The loss of economic discipline demonstrates the presence of selfishness and covetousness/greed without self-control. 3. A rising bureaucracy demonstrates a need for control when people step away from obeying laws and are given over to covetousness. It is also true that when religious belief gives way to secularism people want somebody to blame and somebody to provide for them. 4. A decline in education is a rather interesting point. In early America it was Christians that led the way in pushing for education. The founders of the early and great universities were Christians. Learning should be valued among Christians as all things are to declare the glory of God to us. But a society that is given over to lawlessness and greed without self-control will not value things that without the glory of God it cannot value in the proper way. 5. Cultural foundations can be taken many ways. However, the foundations of any culture have to do with moral and spiritual issues. The weakening of the moral and spiritual foundation is a shaking of the very foundations of this nation.
6. A loss of respect for traditions can be seen in different ways. There are many traditions that should be given no respect at all, yet a loss of respect for traditions is a sign of a people given over to selfishness of the moment. When a self-centered person that is only concerned with the moment finds a tradition, it is judged by how convenient it is and how it helps with the present moment. That person does not realize that the tradition may be there for a good reason. 7. The increase in materialism is a sign of self-centeredness and people desiring things to fulfill an empty heart. It is the pursuit of self through technology and the things of the world. 8. A rise in immorality is seen in the lack of self-control and a putting off of the law of God and is linked with lawlessness and the decay of religious belief. 9. The decay of religious belief is a sign of a people that want to rule themselves and live as they want without the inconvenient truth of the sovereignty of God and that He will judge them on the last day. 10. When human life is devalued, then nothing is important to a person but self. Other human beings are only good to the degree that they do something good for me. Therefore, if I do not want the child it can be killed. If a person is old or sick, they have lost their value to me and they should die in order not to cause me any distress or discomfort.
All of those things show a terrible problem in our nation as we race down the hill into the fall of another civilization that refuses to listen to God or history. But where is the Church? Oh, we are so concerned about being a social club that we don’t notice or care what is going on. Where is the Church? We are so concerned about being gracious that we don’t do what we should. Where is the Church? We are so concerned about offending others that we continue what we are doing while the nation and the professing Church drown. Where is the Church? It is more concerned about its programs and busyness to take note of the downward slippage. As long as the programs keep working and people keep coming, the other things do not matter. Where is the Church? It is over in the corner thinking of how to get people in the building rather than truth and love. Where is the Church? It is more concerned with its properties and money than it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in truth. Where is the Church? It is figuring out how to water down the Gospel even more so it can get more people in its doors. Where is the Church? It is fiddling away while the nation drops into eternal burnings. It is guiltier than Nero if he really did what some say he did.
The professing Church has dropped the ball as to what it is really supposed to do and be doing. Evangelism is not about getting more people in the door and extracting money from their bank accounts. True evangelism is about declaring the glory God and making true disciples who are truly the salt and light of God in the society. The Church is not a business and it cannot be run on business principles. The Church cannot be run on the very principles that are symptoms of the problems and ills of society. The problem with our nation is the professing Church. It is under the judgment of God and it is just like the world. What is the problem with the professing Church? It is so much like the world that it has nothing to say to the world. The professing Church is so much like the world that it is run like a business and judges success like a business. The world judges success by its income, the number of adherents and then the influence one has. That is exactly what success within the professing Church has been reduced to. We are told to practice the same leadership and business principles that the world follows. What has happened to the Church when this happens? It means that the professing Church is no longer following the Word of God and His wisdom but is following the world and its wisdom instead.
When a local church or a group of churches has slipped so far as to be more like the world in the way the church is run and in how it counts success, you can know that the judgment of God upon that church or group of churches is far advanced. What is different from that church than the world? Nothing but some of the content, but in truth one is not following God any more than the other. Both are following after their own ways with their own standards of success. What does the Church have to say to the world when it is like the world and not following Scripture? It has nothing of real value to say at all. As Isaiah 66:3 shows, a people can do things commanded by God and yet be choosing their own ways.
Isaiah 66:3 – But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations,
I John 2:15 – Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
Loving the world is more than loving the obvious things of the world; it is accepting the ways, opinions, goals and methods of the world. The Church is to love God and know that Christ is the Head and Lord of the Church. He calls us to follow Him and His ways. If we are not following Him as He teaches about the Church, then we are following our own wisdom and the ways of the world. The United States is going down the hill into the pit because the professing Church has been going down for a long time and has been and is under judgment. Next time I want to show how these ten factors apply to the professing Church as well. We are under judgment and only God can reverse the trend. Until we are broken and humbled and repent of our worldly ways and hearts that dishonor God, nothing will change for the better. Until we learn that the love of money and property is a sin for the Church too, we will not see the return of the glory of God. Until we learn that God is holy and demands that His people are to be set apart for His purposes, we will not know what it means to know God. Until we learn that busyness is not the same as loving God and doing His commands we will continue on in our spiritual coldness and judgment. Until we learn to quit passing judgment on the nation and look to the planks in our own eyes, we will be judged. Until we learn that the professing Church is the real problem in this nation, we will not understand the true problem. We need to be seeking the Lord for humility and grace. We must be given over to prayer seeking the desires and heart of God or we will be given over to His wrath. How can we keep ourselves from pouring out our hearts to Him?
God Loves... Himself 
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