The Seven Last Words of the Church
Most of the "seeker-friendly" new techniques in mega-churches are pretty much hot air that will collapse when the emotional-high bubble bursts. To quote a source that I'm not going to identify because you might say - "Oh, well, that's not my flavor of Christianity!" (but if you ask real nice, I'll send you the link) - "It's premised on the assumption that basically 'all is well' inside the Church, and we just need to 'invite' and 'welcome' people to 'share' the love feast with us. As [one of their beloved leaders] once said, it’s the dead burying the dead and calling it renewal." This source continues (slightly edited to keep it anonymous) -
"The Church, and individual [Christians] in it, are supposed to be mustard seeds and leaven in this world. Or, as some prefer to say, 'salt and light.' We have a missionary imperative from Christ to convert the world. But there are at least five serious obstacles to evangelizing today, any one of which would already deal a serious blow to the endeavor.
* First, the privatization of religion.
* Second, the rejection of original sin and the assumption of universal salvation.
* Third, the widespread doctrinal and moral confusion in the Church.
* Fourth, the banality and irreverence of mainstream [Christian] worship.
* Fifth, the utter lack of ascetical demands.
When you put all these together, you get [Christians] who don’t think they should bother other people about religion, who assume that most people are already fine, who are not even quite sure they know what they believe, have nothing especially attractive to invite people to, and are not living and promoting a way of life that would respond to the needs of any serious searcher.
[We must do] The stuff the saints used to do. The reason they converted the entire world to the Faith once upon a time. That’s what we have to do today: real worship, real doctrine, real morals, real demands. Then the Lord will give us real results. We can't expect any knights in shining armor to ride in to our aid. We’ve got to do the Lord’s work or no one will. And there's no time to waste."
Now and then I've referred to Rod Dreher's new book The Benedict Option. If I were to write a book like his, I'd probably title it The Discipleship Imperative because it's not just for monastics like St. Benedict and his followers and it's not at all an option. It's imperative: all Christians are called to discipleship! In Acts 11:19-27 we read how the Gospel was spread to Antioch by ordinary believers. This passage closes with the words - "The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." So the question we should ask is - "What were they before they were called Christians?" The answer is obvious, it's right there in the text: they were disciples. All real, true, genuine believers in and followers of Christ are disciples. And so, if you're not a disciple, you're not a real, true, genuine believer in and follower of Christ.
This collides head-on with our "liberal, democratic" cultural assumptions that you can have your own religion if you keep it to yourself and everyone else should keep their religion to themselves too; you and everyone else can believe whatever you want and behave however you want as long as you're not directly harming others. These are the assumptions that undergird the first three points above.
Real discipleship will result in a "sifting and winnowing" of the Church: the tares will be shaken out so that only the wheat will remain. As the prophet Daniel wrote - "Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves clean, and be refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who are wise will understand" (Daniel 12:10). He was referring to a time of persecution, which results in purification.
This "sifting and winnowing" is a costly, painful process of refining by fire. The prophet Zechariah described it thusly - "'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,' says the Lord of hosts. 'Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be scattered... In the whole land, says the Lord, two thirds will be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. I will bring this third through the fire, and refine them as silver is refined, and I will test them as gold is tested. They shall call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, 'They are my people'; and they will say, 'The Lord is my God'" (Zechariah 13:7-9). Two thirds will fall away and perish. Only one third will remain.
The last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, also foretold this refining process - "For behold, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, leaving them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings" (Malachi 4:1-2). The "wings of healing" are not for everyone, there's no such thing as universal salvation where everyone will get to heaven eventually. Only those who reverence the name of Christ, the Messiah, and live righteously will experience this healing and wholeness.
We are right now living in a time of purging and refining from the sexual immorality that has been foisted upon us for several decades by "Hornywood, Calipornia." Women have been treated as sex objects far too long, so now they are finally coming out and exposing the phoniness of entertainment, business, and political "leaders." Here's what the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to the Apostle John -
"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass, says these things: I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they repent of her works. I will kill her children with Death, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as don't have this teaching, who don't know what some call "the deep things of Satan," to you I say, I am not putting any other burden on you. Nevertheless, hold firmly that which you have, until I come'" (Revelation 2:18-25).
The time has now come for those who call themselves "Christians" to take a stand as real, true, genuine believers in and followers of Christ, as His disciples. It's time to get back to the basics, the traditions that have been handed down to us from the Apostles and the Early Church: "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thessalonians 2: 15). It's back to the basics!
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