Why is today’s church so far from what God expects of it?
“The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of
God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly
unworthy of thinking, worshiping men. This she has not done
deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her
very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic. The low
view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause
of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us.”“The only power God recognizes in His church is the
power of His Spirit; whereas the only power actually recognized today by
the majority of evangelicals is the power of man. God does His work by
the operation of the Spirit, while Christian leaders attempt to do
theirs by the power of trained and devoted intellect. Bright personality
has taken the place of the divine afflatus.”“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent
of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the
Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent
of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”“It is now common practice in most evangelical churches to offer the
people, especially the young people, a maximum of entertainment and a
minimum of serious instruction. It is scarcely possible in most places
to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God. One
can only conclude that God’s professed children are bored with Him, for
they must be wooed to attend a meeting with a stick of striped candy in
the form of religious movies, games and refreshments.”The church “appears to have decided that if she cannot conquer the
great god Entertainment she may as well join forces with him and make
what use she can of his powers. So today we have the astonishing
spectacle of millions of dollars being poured into the unholy job of
providing earthly entertainment for the so-called sons of heaven.
Religious entertainment is in many places rapidly crowding out the
serious things of God. Many churches these days have become little more
than poor theatres where fifth-rate “producers” peddle their shoddy
wares with the full approval of evangelical leaders who can even quote a
holy text in defense of their delinquency. And hardly a man dares raise
his voice against.”“Almost everything the Church is doing these days has been suggested to her by the world.””It is scarcely possible in most places to get anyone to attend a meeting where the only attraction is God.”If Tozer is correct – and I certainly believe that he is – then no
wonder so much of the church today bears no resemblance whatsoever to
what was found in the early church, or what was found when God appeared to ancient Israel in a cloud of glory.
As I have said so often, the world is in a mess because the church is
in a mess. We need to pray that God will convict us deeply, and once
again allow the church to be a place that the whole world knows is
different, is holy, and is filled with God and his glory.
(A.W. Tozer)
No comments:
Post a Comment