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THE CHURCH IN THE "LATTER DAYS"
Vol. 1, No. 9 (E), April 15, 1999
TALKS ON
THE CHURCH-LIFE
IN THE END OF DAYS
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The Last Days Church:
Apostate, Glorious or both?
by
L.D. McGriff
”... nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes,
will He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)
CHAPTER IX
The American Church
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Introduction
Millions of immigrants fled Europe for America and religions freedom. The Puritans
came seeking not only religious freedom but to create a Christian society. The
pastor and the church became the center of the new communities. They had a profound
influence on the founding of the country in terms of political, legal and economic
systems, including a moral foundation which set us apart from other nations of the world.
The church in America flourished. Protestant churches of all varieties
proliferated. Most were small, up to 200 people, and worship centered on the Sunday
morning message with the order of services (hymns, choir, responsive reading, and the
benediction). In the 60's Christian young people like myself left the traditional
church and either got caught up in a para-church organization or in the loosely organized,
anti-establishment, sometimes dynamic, and powerful Jesus Movement. Movements such
as Calvary Chapel and the Vineyard came out of the Jesus Movement and became some of
today's super churches. In the late 70s and early 80s came the full-service
"mega" church, bottom line, marketed oriented, exciting, entertaining with a
program for every possible need. The Assemblies of God, some Baptist churches and a
few independents made the leap forward from several hundred to thousands of members.
Today, we American Christians sit smugly in the richest, most powerful nation on
earth. We believe our nation was founded “one nation under God” by
Godly men. We think we are the good guys standing for truth, justice and the
American way. We are somehow blind to the fact that we have polluted the world with
our greed, lust and materialism. But the thing to fear isn't our evil side but our
self-righteousness side which knows no bounds. The day we set about to stamp out
evil in our society and in the world is truly the beginning of the end. No other
country has our crusading spirit and no one can stop us once we get started. Are we
so naive to expect an evil, sinister monster to come to power? It is more likely to
be an angel of light - someone who wants to restore traditional values, make the streets
safe, our schools productive, full employment and above all world peace and prosperity.
And how will the American church suffer? The church will be so caught up in the
righteous causes, in the quest for unity and oneness, in bringing the kingdom of
"God" to the earth, in the new legislated morality (in contrast to the true
morality that comes from the Spirit transforming a Christian from within) that real
Christians who would dare to oppose the program will be eliminated. The horror of
what this self righteous army will do in the name of God will make the holocaust pale in
comparison. This will separate the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats,
those who will gladly lose all for their Savior, from those who want the best of both
worlds. This is one persecution that will literally come from within where brother
will deliver up brother, mother daughter and so forth.
I am not judging, condemning or criticizing the institutional church. All I am
saying is that in the "last days", there will be an apostate church as
prophesied in the Bible. Just as in the days of Hitler, the physical institution of
the church will be easily subverted and taken over. The fact of the matter is, the
larger the institution the easier it is to be "compromised." Why?
They are easy to locate because people meet in big buildings and the leadership is easy to
identify because they work there. The clergy depends on the laity for their
living. If they take unpopular stands, they are out of a job. Those churches
that were allowed to remain in eastern block countries during the communist era were
easily controlled. The true church was underground, just the way it has been in
China for the past 50 years. One evening the KGB busted into a clandestine Christian
meeting in Moscow with machine guns at the ready. The leader said, “anyone who
wants to leave had bette!
r go now.” Half got up and left
.. They closed the door after them. The KGB leader said, “good, we needed
to find out who the real Christians are. Now let’s pray.”
Why was the church in Germany so easily taken over? Because, the lay people were
accustomed to following the pastors and priests and did not know how to think or function
on their own. If the Third Reich had gone on for longer than twelve years, I am sure
a powerful underground church would have eventually come forth. But there
wasn’t enough time. And there won’t be much time once the final seven year
count down begins. The time to get ready is now!
The Condition of the American Church
There is abundant evidence that the church is not nearly as grounded in the Word of God as
it was say 20 or 30 years ago. We are in an era of "pop", “feel
good” Christianity where it is the "in thing" to be "born again,"
with little evidence of fruit or a deep commitment to the Lord. People are as
illiterate about the things of God and the Bible as they are of history, geography or any
other subject. Even our leaders are not clear on the basics of the faith and see
little or nothing wrong with the practices and doctrines that are creeping into the church
as discussed in the first section. They see nothing wrong with "Christian"
psychology, the unity movements or the politicization of the Church. Some of our
“greatest” teachers are so soft on the Catholic Church, they teach that the
Reformation was a big misunderstanding. Doctrine is viewed as divisive and truth is
no longer based on the Word of God alone.
Pastors report frustration with the lack of maturity and knowledge of the fundamentals of
the faith of their congregation. Their teaching job is never done. Year after
year, they rehash the same material for the same people. They spend much of their
time counseling people about their problems. Pastors tell me that people are much
worse off today than 20 years ago. Yet, by spending hours on end counseling, they
are always dealing with the symptoms while the real answer is a committed relationship
with Jesus Christ, obedience and holy living. Look at the programming for the
typical Christian radio station or visit a Christian book store. There is a lot of
information on how to feel good about yourself, cope with family, divorce, etc. But
there are few who tell the truth - people are dying for lack of a vision! So what is
wrong?
The Clergy and the Laity
Pastors complain that the level of commitment of people to the Lord is not what it was
when they were young people. A pastor I know called his job “a tow truck”
ministry. Pastors feel they are dragging the wounded saints along kicking, screaming
and criticizing. They teach and they counsel but with little progress. Sin and
the cares of life have neutralized the average Christian. A few pastors realize that
the laity needs to be afforded the opportunity to learn how to feed others in order to
grow .So they support Bible Studies or home meetings but they have a hard time finding
mature leaders who know how to get people to participate. They end up with little
teaching meetings in the home that mirror the “church” meeting where there is
little freedom and limited participation from the average saint. A few dominate the
meetings. People are so used to being taken care of and being an observer, they have
never learned to be a participant. They come to be taken care of. But whose
fault is this?
The condition of the modern church in America is not just the fault of the clergy who
sometimes pander to the laity so they won’t lose their job or they don’t want to
drive away whole factions of the membership by really preaching the truth. It is
also the fault of the laity - that “part-time” Christian who goes about his
business all week long, barely giving the Lord a second thought and then shows up on
Sundays to sing a few hymns, be entertained and listen to a message. They criticize
the message if it is too long, too short, if they didn’t agree or if it wasn’t
dynamic enough. They have a cup of coffee, visit and then hurry home to their real
life.
How about the gospel? Shame on the average church member! When was the last
time the average Christian ever really shared the gospel with a friend or neighbor - last
week, last year or ever? I am not just being critical - there are statistics to
support the fact that the average Christian seldom witnesses. What kind of a
relationship and commitment does a Christian have that doesn’t share his faith?
At most, they try and get a friend to attend church where the pastor will preach the
gospel.
Now for those of you who say I am being too critical, I would admit that you and your
church may be the exception. Your pastor may be fantastic and really empower the
congregation to function in a meaningful way. You may have a wonderful core of dear
saints who pour themselves out to serve in Sunday School, counseling, visiting the new
ones, the sick, etc. Your brothers and sisters in Christ may be your best friends -
as they should be. I have been in churches like that but we must admit, these
churches are the exception rather than the rule. Many churches have a committed core
but little more. And as one who has been a Christian for many years, those
exceptional churches are getting fewer. I received an email the other day from a
lady who had been in a Baptist Church for thirty years, and in comes a new young
pastor who wants to bring in the “Counterfeit Revival” and out she goes.
[To Continue: http://www.endtimesnetwork.com/church/chrchnws.html
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