The Apostle John’s immediate readers of Revelation were the seven churches located in Asia. In His addresses to them Jesus had given John specific messages for each of the churches, (and for all churches throughout the ages).
Due to worldly compromise, only two of the seven churches were found to be faithful. He wrote to each of them individually to encourage them through approvals and gentle encouragement, but mostly to warn them to change their behavior or face judgment. We can be assured that these same warnings were intended to apply to future churches as well, (including ours).
The church that most reminds me of the Church of America is Laodicea. It was the last and worst of the seven churches of Asia addressed by John in Revelation. He plainly told them that the things of which they pride themselves are the wrong, the church had become apostate, and that they faced a real and present danger for their behavior.
Listen to what He wrote to the Laodicean church:
Rev. 3:15 – I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked . . .
The water at Laodicea was not drinkable, so the city had its water pumped in from surrounding
cities – cold water from Colossae and hot water came in from Hierapolis; however by the time it reached Laodicea it was lukewarm. It wasn’t difficult for them to relate to this passage.
To the Lord their lukewarm ways and lack of faith were so disgusting that they could not be stomached and this passage reveals the abhorrence of Christ for those who lack zeal in his service
We can rest assured that Jesus sees everything that is happening in our own country today, (unprecedented immorality, perversion and decay throughout society). As with these early churches He is without question fully aware that a majority of the pastors in the Church of America avoid preaching the word of God if and when it seems controversial to their congregations.
George Barna is the foremost researcher of modern Christianity in the country. Last week I attended a meeting in NYC that he was also attending and spoke to him privately about this issue. He referenced a recently conducted two-year research project concerning why modern-day pastors and churches are so silent regarding contentious political and cultural issues facing America.
According to his survey the pastors indicated that their top five indicators for success in their respective churches are as follows:
- Attendance
- Giving (money)
- Number of programs
- Number of staff
- Square footage (of facilities)
Barna said, “What we’re finding is that when we ask them about the key political and cultural issues of the day, (life, traditional marriage, economy/poverty, etc.) that 90 percent of them are telling us, “Yes, the Bible speaks clearly to every one of these issues”.
Then we ask them: ‘Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues? And the numbers drop . . . to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.’”
He went on to say: “When researchers ask those pastors what else they are willing to do to get their people active in the political or cultural changing process, he said “It’s almost nothing.
I hope this is not lost on you. Ninety-percent of America’s pastors say they know that the Bible speaks to all of these issues, but they refuse to teach these Biblical principles. Had these pastors said that these issues were not relevant to Scripture, and, therefore, they didn’t feel called to address them, it would be one thing, but they readily admit that, yes, they know that the scriptures do relate to our current political and cultural issues, but they are deliberately choosing not to teach those scriptural principles.
So, we are not dealing with ignorant pastors; we are dealing with disobedient pastors. They choose to remain silent.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was martyred for speaking out against Adolf Hitler when he was building momentum for his Nazi takeover in Germany; this while the church of the day remained silent and in some cases supported what he was doing to restore that country after World War one. Bonhoeffer said: “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
The genocide of Christians in the Middle East should have pastors all over this country demanding an uprising and firestorm across this land that our pitiful excuse for a president could not ignore. If there was a tremendous outcry in America to stop the slaughter of Christians, he would necessarily have to stop playing his 188th round of golf on Martha’s Vineyard and attending fundraisers and get his butt to work building a coalition of the willing to protect these helpless souls.
For crying out loud will it take another holocaust to wake us up? Children are being beheaded in front of their parents, they are being cut in two, buried alive, crucified after their eyes have been gouged out, women are being raped and forced into marriages to slimy terrorists, their heads are being cut off and put on sharpened stakes as a warning to convert to Islam or die.
Where are our pastors? Why won’t they speak out and motivate their congregations to speak out too? Why didn’t the church speak out against Hitler?
Because they’ve lost their way! They seem to be more interested in where they can obtain live camels for their next Christmas play, or how to obtain a Starbucks franchise in their brand new church reception area, or build that new parking lot to accommodate all of those new givers…
What is most important to them?
- Attendance
- Giving (money)
- Number of programs
- Number of staff
- Square footage (of facilities)
Barna supplied these numbers. He states: “Now all of those things (the five points of success listed above) are good measures, except for one tiny fact: Jesus didn’t die for any of them.”
Nowhere do you find anything in the New Testament that measures a pastor’s success by the number of people attending his church? Or by how large his offerings are? Or by how many programs his church has? Or by how many staff members he has? Or by how large his facilities are? In fact, the early New Testament church didn’t even own property or buildings.
The Apostle Paul had a list too. It is in 2 Cor.:11
- Stripes above measure
- In prisons frequently
- In deaths often
- Beaten with rods
- Stoned
- Perils
- Weariness
- Painfulness
- Hunger and thirst
- Cold and nakedness
We need a modern day Apostle Paul who is unafraid and uncompromising.
America’s problems are directly due to the disobedience of America’s pastors in not preaching the Gospel as written and the willingness of the Christians in the pews to tolerate the disobedience of their pastor.
Barna listed the number one reason that pastors refuse to teach the Bible is that they wish to be “successful” and not “controversial?”
Worldly success versus spiritual – They face it and we all face it. Let’s examine ourselves by the rule of God’s word and not the world; let us pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit, to help us to remove our haughty pride, prejudices, and worldly lusts.
When Paul wrote his own epitaph, it was a clear indicator of how we must change in order to avoid God’s judgment when it is our time to cross over into the next realm. I pray that one day all of us in the American Church can say that with pride.
2 Tim. 4:7
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
August 18, 2014 – Click here to listen