“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.

Amos 8:11 — English Standard Version

The body is reeling, ailing. The Church is sick. Very sick and riddled with disease. The body vainly imagines it can live without the Head or believes in grave error it can replace the Head with its own creation. Creating a monster more monstrous than the fictional one created by Mary Shelly. For this is reality. This involves eternity. Judgment. Life and death.

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

1 Peter 4:17 — English Standard Version

I realize the above verse is taken a bit out of context, but the full context will be provided here for any reader to reference, like a Berean, to gain the full context.

God’s people, God’s Chruch — which is Christ’s Church is facing judgment, will face judgment. If you do not believe this then I beseech anyone in disbelief to get a Bible and turn to the first three chapters in the book of Revelation.

Evangelicalism is in upheaval. It is no longer clear what evangelical means since the word has become so misused and corrupted from the multitudes claiming to be evangelical when in truth they are heretics, false teachers, and false churches and denominations according to the inerrant, infallible, and unchanging Word of God.

There is little movement towards God, towards Jesus, towards the Holy Spirit, and towards placing faces, eyes, hearts, minds, and spirits in the Word of God.

Oh, do we have movement and movements!

Here are just a smattering of them presently;

The Emergent Church, a.k.a. post-modern, neo-liberal, progressive movement

The New Apostolic Reformation, a.k.a. dominion theology, latter rain, Kansas City prophets, wine skins movement

The Spiritual Warfare Prayer Movement

The Transformation Movement

The Patriotic (Reconstructionist) Movement

The seeker-sensitive movement, growth church, a.k.a. contemporary, entertainment-driven, “Purpose-Driven Life,” watered down gospel movement

The Word-Faith, Prosperity Movement, a.k.a. health & wealth, “Your Best Life Now” false gospel movement

The New Age, Eastern Mysticism Movement which includes contemplative or centering-prayer, visualization, yoga, prayer labyrinths, occultic techniques, holistic

The Social Gospel, Theistic Evolution, Mysticism, and Ecumenicalism Movement

The Signs, Wonders, Miracles, Modern Prophecy, New Revelation Movement

The Self-Help, Self-Improvement-Achievement, Motivational Movement

The Self-Esteem, Positive Thinking, New Thought, Unity Movement

The Universalism Movement

The Social Gospel Movement

The Dual Covenant Movement

Replacement Theology

The Spiritual Warfare Movement (different from the one named above as a sect under the NAR Movement)

The Psychology Movement

The Gnostic. Neo-Gnostic Movement

The Preterist Movement

The Pelagian Movement

And on and on and on they come…relentlessly with the restless in rebellion serving Satan hearts and minds of the people. Spreading his confusion and lies. Working tirelessly as the minions and ministers of evil, of the devil. All the while professing to be angels of light and enlightenment!

Oh, the movements afoot on this fallen, sinful earth! The above are but some of the movements moving billions of people to the second death and their eternity in hell.

Where is the movement towards repentance? Towards turning to the whole of the Bible? To sound doctrine? To the Lord Jesus Christ? In obedience to the Word, to the Holy Spirit, to God?

Where is that movement dear ones?

Suffering as a Christian

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And

“If the righteous is scarcely saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

1 Peter 4:12-19 — English Standard Version

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,

Philippians 3:10 — Christian Standard Bible

My goal, the goal, and purpose of EVERY person professing faith in Jesus Christ ought to be to know Him, know His Word, know the power of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Lord’s resurrection, to have fellowship in His sufferings, being conformed to His death and NOT desiring to seek and live with some “feel good” modern-corrupted version, some false gospel to suit the likes of a person — but to bow to, submit, obey the Lord and take up our cross and follow Him! In sound doctrine. Always, all our days!

Yes, the sick lost among the world, living to be a friend of the world appeasing, adopting the darkness and lies of the world church is in dire need of repentance, rescuing from judgment.

Will it happen?

Will individuals finally come out from the darkness and into the light? The truth? Putting aside the ways and teachings of the world within the church? And be healed? Seek, pray, repent and ask the Holy Spirit to forgive, heal and restore?

Let each of us pray such a thing comes to pass.

Ken Pullen

Thursday, April 22nd, 2021

ACP — A Crooked Path

Rescuing the Sick Church

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

By Dr. Joe McKeever

Reprinted from American Family Association

Rescuing the sick church: Five Principles

Sometimes we have to enroll the entire school in the first grade and start all over.

Once when I had trouble in one of my ears, the E-N-T doctor prescribed, among other things, a bottle of pills with unusual directions: “Take 6 a day for the first 4 days, 5 on the 5th day, 4 on the 6th day, 3 on the 7th day, 2 on the 8th day, and 1 on the 9th day.”

Apparently, some meds must not be curtailed abruptly.

While some illnesses respond to simple, one-step treatments, others require weeks, months, even years of medications and applications. In those, regular repetition over extended periods is needed for healing.

Now, take the sick church…

The ailing church did not get that way overnight. Often, anemic, struggling churches result from the unhealthy teachings of warped leaders. In many cases, teachers have gone to seed on a pet doctrine and omitted altogether the basic principles of solid Christian living as unworthy of them.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the ABCs of the Christian faith…. (Hebrews 5:12 paraphrase).

The elementary principles. Basic Christianity. The kind of stuff we should have been taught in a new members’ class.

Sometimes when trying to assist an unhealthy congregation, we need to enroll everyone in first grade.  (Caution: Don’t tell them you’re doing that. Being unhealthy means most would not welcome such news.)

1. Jesus is Lord.

It doesn’t get any more basic than this.

Confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9). God has made this same Jesus…both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).

So, what’s the problem? The people in the pews will nod their heads and agree, even slipping in a soft “amen.”

It’s not confessing Jesus as Lord that is the problem; it’s living it out in our daily lives. Jesus said, Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I command? (Luke 6:46).

We call Him ‘Lord’ and go our own ways, then have the audacity to say we are Christians.

Misguided leaders have done this to our people. They’ve been taught to “pray the sinner’s prayer” but not to become disciples. They’ve been told to receive Jesus but without surrendering themselves to Him.

Our church rolls are overflowing with names of absentee members who blindly believe that having prayed a prayer and receiving baptism, but nothing more, their salvation has been settled for all time.

At the judgment, some mighty surprised church members are going to be furious at the spiritual leaders who misled them.

Obedience is everything.

Jesus said If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them (John 13:17). The blessing comes from obeying, not even from believing the Word. Obeying and “doing” God’s Word brings the blessing, not knowing or loving or learning or memorizing or sharing or preaching it alone.

Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21).

Just do it.

Paul told the Corinthian believers,

For this purpose I wrote to you, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things (II Corinthians 2:9).

Anyone can profess faith in Jesus; it’s in the demonstration that we show whose side we’re on.  James said I will show you my faith by my works (2:18).  What do your works say of your faith?

2. The church belongs to Jesus.

I told you this was basic. Scriptures like Matthew 16:18 and Acts 20:28 and Ephesians 5:25 drive this point home.

So, what’s the problem?

Many unhealthy churches are afflicted by members–some of them in leadership–who think because they have seniority or occupy an office or carry the keys or their name is on the sign out front that the church belongs to them.

“My granddaddy started this church.” “My family has been here for generations. We stuck with it when everyone else left.” “We have paid the price, we ought to be the ones to decide.” “Preachers come and go, but we are the church.”

“I’m not a dictator, I’m the only tater,” I heard one pastor say.

It’s Jesus’ church and He wants it back. Our only question–the only valid question!–is “Lord, what do you want us to do with your church?”

I’ll tell you a secret: Whatever you do for the church (or “to” it), Jesus takes personally. That is a stunner. Bless the church and you are blessing Jesus. Hurt the church–attack it, divide it, weaken it, withdraw from it–and you have hurt the Lord Himself. (See Matthew 25:40,45; Hebrews 6:10; and particularly Acts 22:7-8.)

Some who will go to heaven will nonetheless be called to account for what they have put His church through in this world.

A Godly pastor will feel liberated from knowing this is Jesus’ church and He calls the shots.  That takes an incredible burden off him.

3. Love is something you do.

In our flesh–and stunted, immature church members are nothing if not fleshly–we love the people who are lovely, and often do loving things to those who deserve it. But this is not Christian love. In fact, this is the very behavior of the ungodly. (Look at Matthew 5:43-48).

Luke 6:27-38 covers the same ground as Matthew 5:43-48 but goes into greater detail.  It is the gold standard for Jesus’ teaching on Christian love. The heart of the command is this: But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good….bless…pray…and give.

Biblically, love is not an emotion but an action. In every case in Scripture, where we are commanded to love (God, our neighbor, one another, etc), what the Lord is requiring is not a feeling but action. We do loving things or what we do does not qualify as love. I suggest you pause and let that soak in.

When our Lord spoke of people loving Him, He defined it in terms of obeying Him, of “keeping my commandments.”  See these six times in the Upper Room Discourse:  John 14:15,21,23,24 and 15:10,14.

The loving activities commanded in Luke 6:27-38–do good, bless, pray, give–are the four most basic acts of love. We do these to everyone, whether a sweetheart, a grandchild, a neighbor, or a fellow church member. In most cases, we will do more than these. But toward the enemy–someone who hates us, threatens us, mistreats and curses us–we are to act in this way.

When we love the unlovely in this way, many surprising results follow: the perpetrator is stunned by what we do, the Lord is glorified, the devil is infuriated, and we are blessed. The watching world gets a chance to see Christianity in action, other believers are encouraged, and the church’s witness is enhanced.

One of the finest things that can happen to a disciple of Jesus is to be slandered or attacked unjustly. We are handed a golden (and rare) opportunity on a silver platter. Here is our moment to prove our discipleship, to bear the strongest possible witness for Christ, to speak to the lost like nothing else.

God’s people must be taught and retaught that people inside the church and outside of it will often act in unChristian ways, and we must react to them in love. They must be taught to expect the occasional mistreatment as part of God’s plan to demonstrate to the world the difference Christ makes.

This lesson will not take with the carnal, pastor. But keep at it. Those who love Jesus (He called them “you who hear’) will eventually see.

Caution: The immature believer will sometimes say, “Well, if my heart is not in it, it would be hypocritical to do loving things to someone.” Answer: “No, it’s not fake, but faith. You’re obeying the Lord, not your emotions.”

God’s people must be taught to rescue their spiritual lives, their obedience to Christ, from bondage to their emotions.

The just shall live by faith. Not by feelings.

4. If you do not like change, you are going to have trouble with Jesus.

The living God seems to have a low threshold for boredom. He does nothing the same way twice. The stripes on zebras and tigers, the spots on leopards and cheetahs, we’re told, are distinctive to each animal. Human fingerprints, voiceprints, and hair whorl patterns are all one of a kind. Snowflakes.

And yet, in our small-mindedness, we demand that the Lord freeze-frame today and keep it as it is because we like it this way.

He will not play that game.

Behold, I make all things new (Revelation 21:5).

To live is to grow, and growth is all about change.

But we all…beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The problem is we like things the way they’ve always been. The Lord understands this facet of the human personality. No one who has drunk old wine immediately desires new, Jesus said. For he says, ‘The old is better.’ (Luke 5:39).

He understands it, but He does not give in to it.  Neither should church leaders.

God doesn’t like to keep doing what He did yesterday. His mercies are new every morning, and so, it would seem, are His creative instincts.

Over and over in Scripture, we are told to “sing unto the Lord a new song.” So much for all the golden oldies. Evidently, He gets tired of them. I know I do. After the twentieth repetition, the lyrics tend to lose their force.

Traditionalists say they don’t like choruses and only want hymns. Now, I understand that, and I love the grand old hymns. But many of today’s newest choruses are as rich in biblical truth as anything Martin Luther or Isaac Watts ever penned.

The wise pastor of a sick church will move slowly in this area, particularly until he knows the people are responding to his teaching and are ready to be more responsive to the Holy Spirit’s lead.

5. The secret to Christian strength and unity is found in submission.

Submitting to one another in the fear of God (Ephesians 5:21).

To submit means to give in. to another. You and I have a disagreement on some issue, and, unless the issue is a major deal-breaker with key issues at stake, the stronger gives in to the weaker.

Don’t miss that.  Only the strong can give in. The weak one will dig his heels in and refuse to budge.  It takes strength to humble oneself and great strength to submit to one weaker than himself.

That’s the reverse of human strategies, to be sure. Nothing new about that; 99 percent of what the Lord requires of us is exactly the opposite of what the world would do. We gain our life by losing it; we become great by serving; we live by dying.

For I say through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith (Romans 12:3).

In lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself (Philippians 2:3).

This is what servants do. Anyone want to be a servant?

Our Lord emphasized repeatedly that the way to greatness in the kingdom is by servanthood. See Matthew 20:25-28. (My favorite on this subject, Luke 17:7-10, is unique to Luke’s gospel. Its conclusion–“we are unprofitable servants; we have only done what we should”–is the attitude that sets His servants apart.)

Once when our church was in the process of bringing in a new minister to lead the discipleship and education work, I asked members if they would commit to support him and follow his leadership. One man who had given me nothing but trouble during the years I’d served there, answered, “I will, so long as I agree with the direction he’s taking us.”

Study that a moment. He would follow the man’s leadership as long as he was already going that way.

But put himself under the authority of someone with whom he might disagree? He would not bring himself to that. (That man and his family did not remain with us, but bounced around in several other churches, apparently in search of the perfect minister, one with whom he was always in agreement.)

Our individualism may be our strength, church member. But it’s also our weakness. We have “turned every one to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6), and it has severely weakened the Lord’s work in our world.

Unity is a major factor in the effectiveness of any program or ministry. Disunity halts work in its tracks.

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace is how Paul expressed our challenge (Ephesians 4:3).

Before His arrest and crucifixion, our Lord said to the Father, I pray…that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that You sent Me (John 17:20-21).

The world is not going to believe in Jesus by the testimony of a divided church.

The key to unity is loving obeying disciples who gladly give up their rights to their way for the good of the Lord’s work.

That’s submission.

Keep in mind…

You’ll not rescue that ailing church by nightfall, pastor. Be steadfast and faithful. Keep on keeping on, as the old-timers used to say.

Keep the basic principles of Christ-following in front of your people. Preach that Jesus is Lord and we are to obey and honor Him.

Tell them over and over again, until it sticks.  That will happen one person at a time, not everyone at once. So, encourage those who are awakening and beginning to grow.  Stay with it long enough and you will have a good corps of faithful believers on which to build a healthy church.

In the meantime, steady as she goes.

(Note: This was first posted on Dr. McKeever’s site HERE)