On Jan. 20, 2016, Prophecy News Watch carried an article by Jack Minor that every Christian needs to read. His article is titled, “Polls Reveal Churches Are Increasingly Losing Their Saltiness.”
(http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=63#lItIrbf1UWae2A8q.99).
Mr. Minor begins with some disappointing facts about the decline of the church in America. The decline of the church is fulfilling Bible prophecy (Matt. 13:31-32; 13:33; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 4:3-5).
But the thing that really caught this writer’s attention is Mr. Minor’s statement that “the reality (of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage) is they were just following the lead of some churches.
Think about it! Prior to the ruling, the New Hampshire diocese of the Episcopal Church had ordained an openly gay bishop. There were reports of a gay lobby in leading positions of the Roman Catholic Church. The Presbyterian Church USA had changed its constitution to redefine marriage as a “commitment between two people.”
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the United Church of Christ were allowing same-sex marriage. The United Methodist Church had defrocked and then restored a pastor that had performed a same-sex marriage for his son. A group of 100 pastors in Omaha had signed a proclamation that homosexuality is not a sin.
Polls showed that the church was becoming more liberal. Many church members thought pastors should stop preaching against homosexuality. Many church members were accusing pastors of using hate speech when they said the Bible condemns homosexuality. Gay congregations were cropping up, and more.
But this is the point: Before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Bible a large number of so-called Christians and Christian groups had already abandoned the Word of God on this issue. The U.S. Supreme Court simply affirmed the practice of people in the church that have departed from the faith. Religious people led this rebellion against God.
Wickedness in Israel reached its peak during the reign of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. When they sat on the throne in Israel the tide of evil was so strong that it appeared as though the knowledge of God was going to be wiped out.
But it wasn’t. Why? Because God called a prophet named Elijah.
Elijah was one of the greatest prophets to ever walk the face of this earth; a prophet not afraid to speak out against idolatry, false prophets, and false teachings; a prophet so great, he went to heavenwithout dying ( 2 Kings 2:1); a prophet so great, God ended the Old Testament with the promise that Elijah will come back (Mal. 4:5-6); a prophet so great, that many thought that Jesus was Elijah (Matt. 16:14).
One day, this great prophet boldly walked into the palace of King Ahab. He said, “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, but according to my word” (1Kings 17:1). Then, Elijah turned around, walked out of the palace and left Israel.
Three and one-half years passed without rain. A devastating drought gripped the land. The vegetation wilted. Many animalsdied. Many wells dried up.
Famine struck. Israel was in deep trouble.
Finally, after three and one-half years of drought, God told Elijah to, “Go show thyself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” Elijah returned to Israel. He went to King Ahab’s palace.
The king was the first to speak. “Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy fathers house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim” (1 Kings 18:17-18).
There’s a great truth here. Those who abandon the Word of God are troublemakers. And when the judgment of God falls, it is their fault not God’s fault.
The U.S. is in trouble and some of the worst troublemakers are Laodicean church members that have abandoned the Word of God.
“If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination” (Lev. 20:13).
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Rom. 1:26-28).
“Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband” (I Cor. 7:2).
Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:23-24).
What is the value of belonging to a church that refuses to follow the sayings of God?
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Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck