Saturday, March 14, 2015

Is The Church Facing its Doom

It seems there is a trend among Christian writers seeking to assess the church in America with a doomsday type approach. One recent article I came across with this mentality was over at Charisma Magazine entitled Here's How the New Christian Left is Twisting the Gospel. I will say I honestly am not entirely familiar with this magazine and from what I do gather it is one I would not ordinarily subscribe to. But I saw this article show up on my facebook newsfeed and it caught my interest. Originally I thought it might be a good article discussing the challenges facing those who minister to the younger generation and what we can do and be aware of because of these challenges. Instead I was frustrated to find it to horribly miss something very important; namely, the teachings of Scripture.

That may seem a very broad and severe accusation, but I believe it is accurate. Doomsday articles like this one miss out on one very important doctrine regarding the church, and that is the question of who is in charge. It is true that if the church was 100% guided, lead, operated, or whatever other word you might use, by man alone then the church is indeed doomed and one might argue it should have died long ago. But there is something much better, much greater at work in the church.

During Peter's confession, Jesus said "on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18). The verb for "I will build" is an active tense verb. Jesus is very clearly and very intimately involved in building his church and protecting it from every possible scheme the enemy may press against it.

In the Gospel of John Jesus relates to us his exact plan for how the church will be built up and protected from the enemy. Note some of the following passages from John 16:

7"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
 8 "And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment;
 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me;
 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;
 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
 13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.
 14 "He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you.
 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.
The Helper, or Spirit is the one through whom Christ is even now working to build and protect his church. Just as God did not create the world, wind it up and stand aloof from his creation, so now he not only predicted the church, he started it, he is continuing to build it and will one day return for his church in its consumation.

So for articles such as this one to make blanket statements such as
Research tells us that evangelicals are drifting further away from the orthodox truths their parents and grandparents held dear. 
Our churches have rarely—if ever—faced the exodus we are seeing today. This will have a direct effect on the spiritual and moral values that will shape the nation in the coming years. That is why it is urgent that concerned Christians start acting now before the situation gets worse.
 tends to neglect the spiritual aspect of God's work in building and protecting his church. Yes we do need to be aware of the challenges faced by Christians to maintain doctrinal purity, but to speak as if unless we do something the church is going to die is an affront to God's sovereignty, power, wisdom, and love for his church.

I agree that we are facing many challenges today. But for one thing, as Solomon once stated, nothing is new under the sun. The church has weathered difficult storms before and our faith informs us that God will bring us through the next one. There may be some purging of the church, turning away those who are not true believers and making it clear who are his sheep and who are goats, but in the midst of the storm, have faith and stand strong against the fiery darts of the evil one.