"holy and blameless."

[motojojo]

Almost any pastor or church leader you talk to privately will admit that down inside he knows something is desperately wrong. Many people wander from church to church looking for something they know they are missing. The message of "peace and safety" being preached cannot put an end to their inner turmoil. They discern the spiritual emptiness in religious traditions and often fall prey to cults and sects that draw them away from Jesus Christ and the Word of God altogether. Others are looking for the true body of Christ which they know is supposed to be "holy and blameless." People easily become disillusioned when they see in the Church what they see in the world. Churches have turned to recreation and entertainment in an attempt to hold the people, becoming more and more like the world. Rather than select a pastor on the basis of his spiritual maturity and understanding, they choose a man based on his fund-raising ability and his charismatic personality to attract people in order to increase the size of the congregation and "build the church." Counseling ministries flourish as the message proclaimed by the churches is not sufficient to meet the needs of the spiritually hungry and desperate people. Many pastors, looking for answers, have investigated other denominations and groups (sometimes secretly for fear of being labeled disloyal to their denomination), only to be disappointed to find the other groups have similar spiritual problems. In the midst of this day of people searching for answers, we should recognize that we are now experiencing what the Lord promised would come. "'Behold, days are coming,' declares the Lord God, 'when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord. And people will stagger (in spiritual darkness) from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.'" Amos 8:11, 12. While this famine continues, the Lord has begun to awaken His sheep and reveal to them the essential truths from His Word that have been overlooked and ignored. God did not find it necessary to cooperate with the requirements of religious systems in order to reveal His truths in the time of Jesus. That has not changed. God has begun restoring the power and truth of the gospel today. This is the day that will see the glory and power of God coming to earth into His Church which will be "holy and blameless."

 

[loveschild]

Thank God!..........................

 

[giantone]

I see the problem as much deeper and ongoing than most people know, Charles Spurgeon wrote many things 100 years ago about how churches compromise or think they will get more members by going away from the Bible and the process of compromise continues over time.

When people reject God they turn to everything except Him, especially to doing what they call good works and if say enough prayers and do plenty of good things, then that makes you Christian. Having a form of godlikeness without God or a pre-packaged brand name God you can put in the box or take out whenever you want.

God gave me a prophesy once. I was on a walk by myself outside of town and prophesying It said something like this "God said, God said, God said, the Christianity you think you know you will find out to turn out to be all backwards (I knew allot about the Bible and Christian walk at that time). I told this to my mom a few days later and she looked at me like I was crazy, days after that we had an evangelist with the gift of prophesy at our church say the exact same words over me word for word and I turned around to look at my mom looking like "I told you so". She just kn oded like yes I know. I had no doubt when I spoke it the first time it was God. Years later I find it is so true, mom has as well. There is a verse in the Bible that says no longer will you say God said but that is the words this prophesy came out. My point in saying this is every individual has to find out for themselves what is backwards in there Christianity. (if they need to.)

 

[VW]

what is wrong is that christianity has gone the way of that generation that perished in the wilderness. then they said to moses, "speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not god speak to us, lest we die." god has saved us for his own purpose, that we would become his people, who love him. and how can we be his people unless we listen to his voice?

we are told everything but hearing his voice.

today if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts,
as when they provoked me.

to not hear his voice takes a willing decision to not hear.
many have never been taught that we should hear.
are we god's people?

 

[pickles]

Where I live has the highest count of christians in the U.S. yet the lowest church attendance in the country.
I think there is alot of truth in what you share.
I know of few churches that are going back th the scriptural ways of church form and from what I have seen it has brought back the relationship
with God that has been so missed.
As to a famine of the word of God?
I am not sure, whatI do see is that many have been unable to or so lost in all the confusion that they have forgotten how to see the food in the word.
Another point is for so long leaders decided for many what the scripture's message was, rather than teaching how to recieve Gods message.
Also much of the interpitation did not ring true.
I do believe that all is going through a pruning, and that many will begin to see the message that Jesus wanted us to know.
It will be a joy to see how the Holy Spirit brings understanding and truth to all of Christ' church.
God bless, pickles