The title refers to Amos 8.11. If you look it up, make sure
you read the whole chapter. It's quite poignant and it's a reminder.... times
change, but for the most part people do not.
But remember while it's proper to use Israel as an analogy to
the contemporary situation, don't think in terms of contemporary Western
society or American culture. That's not the analog to Israel. Think in terms of
the Church. That's the New Testament sense it which it is applicable. Viewing
it this way as opposed to society at large gives the message (and indictment) a
quite different and actually much more severe meaning and application.
The force and urgency behind some of my latest writings has
been in part motivated by my recent survey of area churches. The congregation
we belonged to folded about a year ago and since then we have been 'making the
rounds' trying to find something to attend. At this point we're really only
looking for something we can sit through. We have lowered the bar considerably
and yet our recent investigation has proved to be startling. Congregations we
visited fifteen and twenty years ago have seriously degenerated and in some
cases disappeared altogether. Theological liberalism, contemporary performance
and entertainment-type 'worship' (so-called), feminism, worldliness and
ignorance have waxed bold. The politicisation of the pulpit has increased
significantly and in some cases dangerously.
If Evangelicalism had during the 1990's and early 2000's devolved
into therapy and politics it's now barely even that. We literally cannot find a
church that preaches the Scriptures. The Scriptures are quoted, a passage is
read but the subsequent sermon is almost always a topical mishmash of disjointed
and misguided cultural and political commentary. The people are starving and
yet don't know it. Families are almost nonexistent. This is probably truer in an
area like the one I live in. The long-term economic depression has driven many
young couples and families out of the area. The professing conservative
congregations we find are largely comprised of a few people in their fifties, a
half-dozen or so people in their seventies and beyond and that's about it. Most
of the conservative Evangelical and Fundamentalist churches we have visited are
going to fold in the next decade unless something changes. We have visited many
congregations where there are no kids, no families and no teenagers. Churches
that in the 1990's had congregations of 80-100 are today down to less than 20,
swelling only when family members visit or during holidays. I can think of
several we've visited with under ten people. In many cases the only thing
that's keeping them together is the building. And the only thing that's keeping
the building going and the lights on is some kind of fund or trust that was set
up in a previous generation. They no longer bring in enough money to sustain
the building let alone a hired pastor.
They might have in place some kind of outreach but clearly they
can't get the people into church. Again I understand there are urban areas with
numerically vibrant churches. And even here there are some following the Willow
Creek/Purpose Driven type models that are (for this area) numerically
impressive. I do not consider these to be viable options and these
congregations built on worldly aspirations are quickly caving in to the
culture, selling out to feminism and the sexual revolution.
Additionally I think these models pack in the people but
they're like a lake that's a mile wide and inch deep. They'll dry up. For most
of the attendees it's a fad, just like the model itself.
I've lived in the South and I know there are still large
numbers of churchgoers in that part of the country. The question of the Bible
Belt is for another time. My point is this. There is a cancer within the
American Church. Evangelical Churches are going liberal and Fundamentalist
Churches are disappearing. Confessionalist congregations are on a practical
Sunday to Sunday level probably the best option though they too are caving in
to the culture and in many cases are growing more entrenched in their own
political (denominational) orders and in taking a hard-line on the culture war.
They might be better than the quasi-liberal Evangelical church down the street
but they too are infected with the false gospel of Sacralism.
In no way am I suggesting a Harold Camping course. I'm not
saying the Church Age is over or even anything approaching that. The Church Age
is not over and will not be until Christ returns. But, once again I am making a
plea for reformation... not a re-hash of the Magisterial Reformation and a
revival of Protestant Scholasticism but a genuine return to Scripture and a
break with both Magisterial Protestantism and the whole tradition of Sacral
Christendom. The Bible and Church History need to be revisited. Only then can
we hope to find a path through the dark days that are before us. Only when
Christians can break with the institutional ethos and the sacralist tradition
of clergy, buildings, accreditation and the host of corollary corruptions that
accompany these errors and distractions can we hope for the remnant to become
manifest.
I have long believed the day is coming in which many people
will find themselves without a viable Church. I continue to grit my teeth and
sit through things I probably shouldn't. Now that my kids are older I am not as
concerned. We are able to talk through what we've seen. But families with
younger kids cannot subject them to gross error and sacrilegious spectacles
masquerading as worship. Of course if you have to deconstruct the service and
sermon every Sunday your kids will not only be confused but will not have a
very high view of the Church.
Not everyone can pick up and move to be near a PCA, LCMS or
Reformed Baptist congregation and not everyone wants to. For those that still
have viable congregations to attend be thankful but be on guard. A new
Reformation is needed and though those may be the better places to sit on
Sunday morning....it's not coming from those circles. I pray that the remnant
will become manifest and that a growing number of people will (Bible in hand)
break with so-called traditional churches. The time for meeting in homes has
come. It's long overdue. We may before long be back to meeting in cellars,
barns and forests, the lot of the faithful Church throughout much (if not most)
of its glorious history. When we return to the simplicity of Word, water, bread
and wine we will be that much closer to the Christianity of the New Testament,
the Gospel preached by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ. And dare I say it, the Kingdom will be seen with greater clarity.