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Decline in preaching
It doesn’t take a genius to observe that the messages that were being preached by ministers three decades ago are a far cry from what we hear in church today. In those days, sermons about death, salvation and the coming of Christ were the regular diet on Sunday services, crusades, funerals and even hospital visits. This was pivotal in the strengthening of church membership as people attended church as a way of preparing for what will happen on the other side of the grave.
Well, let us all mourn the day when all that went out the back door, only to be replaced by the weak and crowd-appealing “success” message. Spearheaded by the charismatic, cool and motivational talk church leaders whose mission was to “help people overcome challenges”, this became mainstream Christianity within a very short space of time. Sunday sermons became nothing but “encouraging” people that all their problems were about to disappear, God was there to give them the desires of their hearts – as long as they left “seed” envelopes of course. Unlike the good old days when preaching was the center and the reason why people went to church, now it was other things such as “deliverance” and “prophetic” sessions that took center stage – enhanced by the Pastor’s charisma as expected. It wasn’t long, in fact, it took only a single decade for the masses to realize that the promised blessings were not coming anytime soon, they were still facing the same old issues of poverty and unemployment despite enriching their spiritual leaders – they had been cheated.
This, I tell you, is the number one reason for the loss of appetite for anything church-like among the average citizen. And I go on to warn you that nothing will change, church attendance is yet to decline unless we re-examine our preaching and return to the same old doctrines of the Christian faith that are grounded on the simple Gospel message which is the power of God unto salvation.
Increase in wickedness
My Bible is already open to Matthew 24:12-13, where I read these words “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved”. Here we are given a reason why the love of many is growing cold towards spiritual things, that is, an “increase in lawlessness.” Hence its neither poverty nor politics that is destroying people’s faith but it is that monster called sin. It is evident to all of us that the world around is becoming darker by day. Some evils that we see now, we could never think of seeing about 30yrs ago. Even more, I think individual sins are the more dangerous than what is happening outside. Just think of the fact that you don’t have to hunt for pornography anymore because it will find you right at the comfort of your cellphone. Being a Christian, and maintaining that faith has become harder than ever. This is the reason why our heavenly army is losing its soldiers.
Fulfillment of prophecy
The whole of Matthew 24 is actually words of prophecy that Jesus the Lord was warning His disciples about concerning the end times that we now live in. Hence we must not be surprised when even the house of the Lord is losing the best of its members, if anything this ought to be a confirmation that the Bible is true on all fronts. That is a good reason for the faithful to believe its message and hold on to its precepts without wavering.
The remnant
At least on my part, I am a bit comforted by the words “he who endures to the end will be saved”. It means that whatever the problems that the Church faces today with regard to the exodus of the congregants, there will be some who will endure and remain to fly high the flag of Christ. A lesson from the Old Testament is that regardless of how rebellious Israel was, there was always a seven thousand reserved whose knees did not bow to Baal. Suppose I also get tired of this Christianity thing and say my goodbyes, I know there will be some who will continue on with this journey of faith just fine without me. Have you ever wondered why believers have faced all kinds of opposition throughout history yet still today they are one of the growing groups in the world? Because it is the Lord who sustains His own people for the sake of His name. That is the true Church that I want to be part of.
The cleaning effect
There is a doctrine that I have come to learn in these past years called the perseverance of the saints. Its basic idea is that a true believer cannot lose his salvation because there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ. However, if an individual who happened to be a faithful believer somehow falls away from the faith never to come back again, that is proof that there were never a true believer, to begin with, they were, according to Hebrews 12, illegitimate children. Therefore, those who seem to lose interest in the Church of the living God never to come back again, are evidence that there were never part of the body of Christ in the first place, regardless of their former dedication to their churches. I am sure even John himself would agree to this by the words, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us (1 John 2:19).” If there was a right time to discern who the true sheep of Jesus are, it is now.
Friends, we are at the end of our time once more. I may not be a prophet to predict the future but through what I have learned in Scripture, I can tell you that things are yet to get worse in this Christian faith, However, I am encouraged because I know that the good Lord is faithful, those who belong to Him, He will sustain until the last day. Let him who is evil continue being evil and let him who is faithful persevere in his faithfulness. Which side are you on? May the Lord bless you and keep you, and may His face shine upon you.
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