Does the American church today realize they are in charge of the culture in which we live? Just look around and you will quickly realize the church is losing the battle between good and evil. The culture in America is quickly going to hell and if the church were a professional football team, Christ’s Holy Rollers, pitted against the Antichrist Progressive Liberals, the Rollers would lose most of their games. What could possibly be the reason? There is no doubt the coaches are the problem because they have the right players. The Holy Rollers are also armed with the power of the Holy Spirit of truth, the greatest power on earth, but do not know how to use the power of the spirit of Christ. The Antichrist team has no spiritual power other than they are well trained in the art of lies, condemnations, and subterfuge. They play this game to physically steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). Evil people are being coached by Satan every day to be more focused, brave, and committed. They are trained to accept the pain, the price of playing the game. This scares most shepherd coaches and many of their players into teeth-chattering silence.
The actual problem is the body of Christ is not being coached by their Shepherds to be more focused, brave, and committed to the reality of spiritual warfare. The coaches seem to simply not know how to teach their players to “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,” to fight against evil and “speak as they ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:14-20). They do not know the game of life in representing Christ brings condemnation, but He promised His players and their coaches would be winning and blessed “…when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for Christ’s sake” (Matthew 5:11).
This lack of coaching is evidenced by the majority of the body of Christ. They do not know this power exists nor how to use the power of the Holy Spirit to deter and even defeat evil in the communities in which they live. They are not being coached to “Submit to God. Resist the devil, and Satan will flee from you” (James 4:7). Shepherds are not totally focused on teaching the body of Christ their greatest weapon against Satan is to “Go …and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that Christ has commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).
The proof is in the details. Studies show ninety-five percent of the people attending church are already saved, and most of the new people come from other churches. Church services normally begin with singing songs so attendees can feel the spirit of God. This is good, however most of today’s praise songs are about the greatness of God, encouraging virtuous living, and what Christ can do for you. Then most of the sermons are focused on the greatness of God, piety, and what Christ can do for the attendees in this church while offering salvation to the few lost. The attendees are then encouraged to invite other people to church, so they can come, be saved, tithe and serve in this Church. This is all praiseworthy to a point, but is focused on what Christ can do for the people who attend this church. Do Shepherds recognize this as pietism?[1]
Sadly, many Churches today are focused on bigger, nicer buildings to house larger services to invite more tithers to fund larger ministries that offer salvation to the few unsaved invited to church. These churches become spiritual bottlenecks, because they have habitually focused on diverting the duty of salvation to take place not in the community but inside the church. This depresses the spreading of the gospel into our communities.
The spiritual circle of the Gospel of Christ is started when the saved witness Christ into the darkness of humankind so the Holy Spirit can give people the ability to accept Christ as their savior. Then the forgiven through God’s grace, can study the Gospel of Christ to arm themselves to go and make more disciples. Substituting the church for this process is not coaching the body of Christ to go and make disciples. Satan is thrilled when hundreds and thousands of Christians are not going out to make disciples, because they have been coached to invite people to church where salvation is offered. This becomes a satirical imitation that perverts the Gospel of Christ (Gal 1:6-7)[2].
The real purpose for gathering in church is not to feel good, blessed and loved “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). Feeling good, blessed and loved is the frosting on the cake of living the blessings of Christian fellowship. The undeniable reason for meeting in a building is “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up” so “through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that God accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 4:11-13 & 3:10-11). These scriptures speak to teaching Christians the unending wisdom of God so they can fulfill God’s eternal purpose of making known Christ’s superiority to all earthly and heavenly realms, which includes the community outside the church. Then the Holy Spirit can “…open people’s eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ” (Acts 26:18).
Satan loves ‘the all about me gospel’ and ‘churches who divert the duty of making disciples to themselves.’ The all about me gospels are called many names like the prosperity gospel, and the health and wealth gospel, which are all rooted in occult movements across America. These divergent gospels have somehow spilled into righteous churches and are hard to identify without prayerful self-analyzation. Satan’s underlined goal is a quid pro quo gospel focused on self to obtain spiritual mind-healing and/or self-benefiting material gain. These, all about me gospels, soon morph into the church that diverts the duty of making disciples to themselves. This substitute gospel sidetracks millions of American Christians from their main duty to God, to go and make disciples, to churches who are unknowingly saying, come and we’ll make disciples. This causes many Christians to falsely believe they only need invite people to church. This transfers the responsibility of making disciples to the church organization that substitutes itself for the body of Christ. Worse the churches unwittingly support this perversion of the Gospel of Christ. What could be better for Satan than to restrict the number of those making disciples to inside the four walls of a building?
Now is the time to Change the focus!
Nothing is more powerful, more honorable, more Christ like, than bold Shepherds teaching Christians how to go out and speak the truth of God into the darkness of mankind. Speaking truth calls the Holy Spirit of truth to save the lost. Christ told Pontius Pilate right before He was crucified, “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37). Christians, this is our main duty to Christ after we have received salvation. We are commissioned to be like Christ, to boldly bear witness (to the truth in the community around us), to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ” (Ephesians 6:19-20 & Acts 26:18)!
Now church leaders you have been called to fight the good fight of faith so employ useful words that focus on our duty to Christ so the body can hear how to mature and bear witness to the truth that calls upon the Holy Spirit to save mankind. Shepherds speak to the body about the purpose of being equipped to stand against the never-ending warfare against Christ. Speak to maximize every opportunity to witness and promote God’s Kingdom. Speak so they know they are God’s hands, feet, and mouthpiece to go and produce real godly deeds in the public square and verbally witness Christ to the ends of the earth. Inform the body how to use the power of the sword of the Spirit to deter and expose evil in the community in which they live. Speak about the coming persecution and how to put on the full armor of God to stand and withstand evil principalities. Teach them to be zealous in making known the truth, for though divisions will be stirred up, and a man’s own household may be his foes, yet sinners will be converted, and God will be glorified. Teach them to be good stewards of their citizenship by making the manifold wisdom of God known to the rulers and authorities in the community in which they live. Show them how to accept controversy when speaking the power of the word of God into the darkness that threatens Christ’s liberty in the public square. Then this will enlighten the body of Christ to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving themselves” (James 1:22).
I know for some Shepherds this is a hard truth you do not want to hear. However, Shepherds are called to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12). Therefore, we must truthfully look at ourselves, because “A discerning person keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth (Proverbs 17:24). Amen!
David Howard, Foxhole Ministry
[1] a movement, originating in the Lutheran Church in Germany in the 17th century, that stressed personal piety.
[2] I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.