Where Is The Church?
They also gave money to the carpenters and builders to purchase dressed stone, and timber for joists and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had allowed to fall into ruin. 2 Chron.34:11
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“Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” 2Chron. 34:21
The Temple of the Lord had not been properly cared for in the days of the kings. Think about it; What is the Temple today? Answer: We are. True Christians are the body of Christ. We represent the living Temple of God (John 14:19-26; 1Cor.6:19-20). How are we taking care of God’s temple? James’ letter to the Church tells us that we need to be of sober mind because satan is prowling around like a roaring lion just waiting to destroy someone, or an entire population (1 Pet. 5:8) if we remain ignorant to the schemes of the devil.
Are we living in a perpetual state of fear and panic because of the lies of the enemy, or are we living with the truth that can be backed by factual evidence as sons and daughters of the Creator? Remember, satan is a master of deception and lies and must silence the truth by force and intimidation to keep people in ignorance (John 8:44).
If you read the New Testament carefully, you will see that Jesus was the hardest on the religious leaders of the day. That is because they were the ones who were charged with guiding the Nation of Israel to focus on Yahweh. The religious leaders failed the nation in both Old Testament and New Testament times. Instead, the leaders pointed the Hebrews, both in Judah and Israel, to the idols of the surrounding pagan world. Not much has changed. On this side of the cross, every Christian is required to grow in understanding. Why do you think that is?
It is because, knowing the Creator is a survival skill. If we do not understand who the God that we worship is, we will fall for the lies of the enemy, and we will live in utter confusion and die never realizing the abundance and joy that God had in store for us (Eph. 4:14). Just like in the days of Josiah, many of the leaders of the twentieth and twenty first centuries have misguided the people because they have not only feared the government more than God, but they have also doubted in the inerrancy of Scripture, so they watered down the Gospel…Now What?
I have to wonder – what will today’s pastors and leaders do when they realize how they have neglected to warn God’s people about the enemy and his plans for humanity. Scripture tells us that Josiah was a young king who sought God as a teen and put his faith into action as he had the idols and temples to the false gods torn down.
Think of the opposition that he must have faced when tearing down the idols and systems of the devil. Josiah was the last human king that rightly honored the God of Israel. Consider the context of his day:
1) The entire nation of Israel (the people of God) suffered when there was disobedience.
2) This was a time when the kings worked with the priests and prophets and were expected to know God to properly guide the nation.
3) They were not there to rule over the people, but to point people to the Creator.
4) By the time of Josiah, God had sent prophet after prophet to warn the people of their disobedience.
No One Paid Attention!!
Nothing has changed…
Even in captivity – Ezekiel prophesied, and people ignored him
What did change, however, during the intertestamental period, was the focus of accountability from the Nation of Israel to the individual and his or her personal relationship with the Creator. That is when God decided to intervene into human history once again – in a big way. He came in the flesh. What do we see Jesus doing when he came? We see that the king was no longer relevant, so we do not see that the king is held liable. However, the priests and religious leaders were held accountable. We see Jesus reprimanding the leaders for misleading the people of God…
Ø He calls them “whitewashed tombs”
Ø He calls them “sons of hell…”
So now, fast forward to the 21st century. How are we doing? Here in the west – we have built thousands of churches across our nation and the Bible has been translated into just about every known tongue. We have, however, allowed doubt to seep into our midst and compromise the Gospel of Truth. We all too often see a FEAR of speaking truth and a hesitation by professing Christians to reach out to the lost. WHY?
I believe that it is because we have allowed the misrepresentation of minor grammatical variations found in Scripture, to place doubt into the minds of the population, and that has ultimately misled hundreds of thousands of souls.
Ø Meanwhile, satan has been allowed to thrive through Progressive Seminaries and pseudo “Christian schools” as they deem the Bible a document that should change with the times. One of the many results of this way of thinking is that we have allowed destructive ideology centered around the radicalization of sex into the Church by turning a blind eye.
Ø Meanwhile satan has been allowed to thrive as these sexual agendas are taught in schools at every level.
Another casualty of a watered-down Gospel is that Church attendance has incrementally been shrinking as it is seen by the majority as irrelevant in our modern-day relativistic culture. The Church has become hardly distinguishable from the rest of the society. It has allowed the secular realm to rule over it by allowing the governing bodies to silence their speech on incredibly important topics.
Most pastors remain gullible and unaware of world events. There is no doubt that our world has become increasingly confusing, but if Church leaders do not either do some time-consuming and in-depth research themselves or entrust someone else to fill them in on the source of the problems that the people face, they remain ignorant and do not have the needed knowledge to prepare their congregations for the battles that lay ahead. Ignorance of current affairs plays right into the hands of the enemy.
But guess what?
When we understand that satan is really real, Scripture tells us that God has equipped us to rule over Satan (Gen 4). So WE are the ones that have the power to stop the enemy from accomplishing his agenda. This means that we, true believers, MUST stand up and speak up! Silence is not an option.