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A TIME IS COMING | Revival, Revolution

“Despite decades of secularization, not to mention mass immigration, Britain remains at heart a Christian kingdom. Its churches, however, have repeatedly shot themselves in the right foot by embracing fashionable opinions rather than remaining resolute in the face of modernity. If they want to regain their former glory, they should follow Britain's young Christians in going back to old certainties, time-honored traditions and absolute truths.”
The above quote is the conclusion of a research work investigating why England’s churches are (fast becoming) empty, published here.
There is no doubt that modernism has affected the Christian Church of today in more ways than one; the most obvious being in the areas of entertainment, ostentation, and extreme permissiveness (in no particular order).

Entertainment

One thing that never fail to amuse me is the fact that whenever a new church is to be set up, one of the first major projects is the acquisition of musical instruments. I know this sounds odd, coming from an instrumentalist like me, but I don’t mind. Well, entertainment goes beyond music. Our (guest) preachers and song ministers are now fast becoming masters of stage performance, creating the desired sensations and responses from the crowd at will. It may not be out of place to call (some of) them Super-Stars.

Ostentation

This refers to the extravagant lifestyle of some of our church leaders, especially when brought side-by-side with that of most of their members. I guess this is to show members of what (financial) prosperity will be like when they taste it. Unfortunately, it looks like people are extorted to sponsor these extravagant lifestyles. Personally, I have always wondered why giving (particularly, to the church) is the most popular, most taught and (consequently) most obeyed Bible theme.
Another unfortunate offshoot of ostentation is that making money through questionable means is no longer as ‘bad’ as it used to be. All are now tagged ‘God’s Blessings’ and ‘Reward for Faithful Giving.’ Rule: Ask no questions. One of our priests was praying for members’ businesses one Sunday. At some point, he said something along these lines “…since there are still some people who successfully import these (contraband) goods, Lord, may all the seized (contraband) goods of these ones be released…” Of course, there was a loud chorus of Amen.

Extreme Permissiveness

This, to me, is the most unfortunate. Like the church in Thyatira, we now “…tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and by her teaching leads astray [God’s] servants, so that they commit fornication and eat what has been sacrificed to idols.” The rate at which we permit things amongst us is quite alarming. A high-ranking cultic man or Moslem repents today; tomorrow we mount him on the pulpit and give him leadership roles – no proper discipleship. A high-ranking pop-star or secular entertainer professes Christ today; tomorrow he becomes our song leader or starts getting invitations as guest artiste. No time to prune away his old lifestyle.
Anything that will boost head-count in our meetings is highly welcome. Whereas one may argue that doing this enables them share the Word with a lot more people at the same time, one will also need to bear in mind the words of our elders: if, in a bid to kill a rat, you set your house on fire, the rat will surely die; but you will be the ultimate loser. It is my view that we have become too permissive in our quest to be community-friendly and politically correct. As a result, we are fast losing our taste as salt.
I bring this to a close by sharing a discussion between Jesus and His hearers, recorded in Matthew 11:7-10. After Jesus addressed the emissaries John the Baptist sent to Him, He turned around and asked His hearers a simple question: “(paraphrased) those days you normally go for a program in the wilderness, what did you go out to see? Was it a man dressed in soft (luxurious, fancy) clothing?” That was a rhetorical question, for Jesus Himself answered, “(paraphrased) No; such fancily-dressed men are found in the palaces, NOT in the wilderness. Rather, you went out to see a prophet.”
I wish to state clearly here that soonest – sooner than you think – there will be a strong famine in the land. This time around, it will not be a famine of food, but of the pure Word of the Lord (Amos 8:11-12). In that day, people will wander from place to place to seek the unpolluted, undiluted Word of the Lord, settling for nothing else.
Entertainment won’t draw people to church again, neither will the ostentatious lifestyles of some church leaders motivate or give hope to their members any more. It will no more be difficult distinguishing sin from righteousness, neither will it be difficult distinguishing a true believer from one who is not. The pleasures of this life will suddenly begin to lose meaning to brethren as they come to increasing knowledge of the eventual end of this world. Brethren will once more learn not to leave leprosy uncured and paying heed to mere rashes, they will seek, once more, for that which is needful.
Even though these are end-times, so we expect more and more decline of true spirituality and increase of frivolities as replacement, I perceive that, in final preparations for the Final Battle to destroy the Enemy, there will arise a generation of those who seek the Lord, and on whom the Lord will release His blessings and righteousness (Psalm 24:5-6). All those who rely (overtly or covertly) on entertainment, ostentation and extreme permissiveness will become the biggest losers in the end.
He who has ears, hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying.
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