The church in America

[Beans1989]

A man from China came to visit an american church and when he was getting ready to leave he gave he opnion. I dont know how the church in America has gotton so far, the americans thought that was great but he had not yet finished his sintence, without God.

Now what is everyones opnion on this?

[nebula]

The Western World church, in general, is very much like the church in Laodicea.

[Sevenseas]

I believe that the Body of Christ is alive and well but the church as an institution is as Nebula wrote above

May God have mercy. I just wrote in another thread that I am way tired of folks wondering what their cough cough

gift is...everyone wants to be a prophet or have the gift of healing....how many want the gift of Job?

Though He slay me, yet will I love Him.

Yeah, not too many people want that. It is a time for discernment because of the horrific deception that is coming and

has already begun.

People need to stop complaining about their Christian brothers and sisters and pray instead.

At this time, it is very disappointing to read things like: "Christians are just not what they should be. Christians

just don't pray. There are no miracles...we should have miracles and why don't we?"

The ship is going down and crew is still trying to fly the colors while the mast is broken.

It is time to seek God for mercy and that people will listen....not wonder how great you are or if people notice

and or agree with what you think of yourself

If someone thinks all the Christians are a mess, then pray that God will move hearts and show mercy and bring

them back to Him

[rjp34652]

The Western World church, in general, is very much like the church in Laodicea.

Good point, except that it's worse than one can possibly imagine.

The church as a whole is nearly at the end of the predicted period of apostasy; the great falling away.

In Europe, the nations are completely secularized and have been for quite some time. The pope made a statement about it a few years ago, but all the holy man could succeed in doing was to define the issue.

In South America, the people are returning to their pagan gods. I've seen this with my own eyes and heard of it first hand from missionaries and from those who've traveled in the field.

In China, the church is underground. No reliable figures escape the political black hole.

In Japan, the church is losing ground to a renewed cultural interest in national heritage. My pastor makes two trips a year to that nation and attests frequently to the lack of progress of evangelization there.

In Russia, the ortodox church remains albeit without fanatic devotion or resource.

In America, the number of the faithful is stagnant and the only reason that the numbers are as good as they are is because of the faith of illegal aliens from the south.

According to the Gallup organization regular church attendance in the US is down 43% from 1948 levels. Christianity Today has published a lower number; approx. 25%. A Christian research group that keeps similar statistics based on head count records 17% for the same period. In fact, the only legitimate evangelical outreach that seems to be moving forward is the messianic Jewish movement. I've been watching them for years and their progress has been steady if not as spectacular as church growth once was.

How did we get this way?

For the past fifty years at least (it goes back further than that, but 50 is a good round number to work with I think), the protestant church has been in self-destruct mode. All that false work has paid off in dividends of low attendance, low regard among the secular, and a complete loss of respect due to the failures of the flesh; money & sex.

"If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that their very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it."

- Charles Finney

From politics to religion the great mass of American civilization has lost its conscience because the right is not spoken from the pulpit.

The thrust of virtually all Christian ministry in the past several decades has been to make Jesus Christ relevant, to bring God down to man.

St. Paul warned against the tendency to bring God down. It is our duty as Christians to raise men up to the level of Christ, to His rightness, to discipleship and to His salvation. The error of the church therefore, has been to try to make God relevant to man rather than to make man relevant to God.

The church has died because its been busy worshipping man and condescending to the whims of social wickedness and debauchery. As a result, churches all across the land are going out of business. Aggressive atheism and Islam are on the rise and the church is completely unable to compete. Meanwhile many Christians prefer to coast along like the Laodiceans of old...waiting for God or Mighty Mouse to change the things they alone are responsible for...

but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...

Edited August 12, 2012 by rjp34652

[Prycejosh1987]

On 8/10/2012 at 2:07 AM, Beans1989 said:

A man from China came to visit an american church and when he was getting ready to leave he gave he opnion. I dont know how the church in America has gotton so far, the americans thought that was great but he had not yet finished his sintence, without God.

Now what is everyones opnion on this?

As long as the message is preached and there is no heresy, then it is good to listen and get some insight and digest his words, absorb the good and poo out what is no good. That is what i do with a preaching but then again the church i go to uses a lot examples from the word to confirm what they are saying when they preach.