Mustard Seed Church                                                                                                                5119 Dogwood Drive Mount Jackson, VA 22842                                             Withering Away:

    As the last baby boomers fade on into our twilight years, we can see that much has changed in the past sixty years inside of churches.  Attendance is far below a full sanctuary.  What is referred to as His earthly Church resembles little what they once were.  (1 Corinthians 3) The adage that says "Satan destroys churches from within" continues to be true.

    To hear preaching in churches like the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, a Presbyterian, average Christians would need to search long and hard to find such great type of Church preaching today.   Gentile Blessings

     I suppose an arm's length of reasons could be given for the withering away of The Lord's full gospel, fully biblical churches.  The Lord tells us in the Bible that after a while He will look away from a people and a Church body.  He says that He will "turn them over to their own way" when it is obvious the people or the Church doesn't want His Will totally.  God leaves then, and the Church withers away into something not much more than a social club and they remain a shell of the Church which the founding members built.

    At the top of the list of reasons would have to be a falling away of the men of the Church, not necessarily only in the biblical leadership of the Church but also biblical leadership in a nuclear family.  Add to those things, all of the worldly distractions during Church hours and others which increased greatly when the Blue Laws were abolished in the 1970's. 

    Be that as it may, the sheer size of 100–200-year-old churches still dotting the landscape nationwide stand as monuments to an era when Christians where great in number and great in faith of plain, pure, unadulterated and precious teachings as is evidenced by their past membership numbers. 

    Thanks be to God for the 19th - 21st century benefactors' generosity.  Through their supportive Life Insurance policies, Last Will & Testaments and by their faithful tithing, churches can continue to operate, though far from what they once stood for.  Dare I say without those faithful benefactors, many would have been shuttered long ago. 

    Those grand old churches were paid for in times when money was scarce but there was a wealth of faithful giving from a wealth of genuine Christians.  The whole Word of God was preached and the people liked it, learned it and weren't rejecting it.  Their preachers would later earn the title of Bible Thumper and Fanatic, disparagingly, from inside and from outside of the Church as America's spiritual respect and decline began taking shape.

    Many towns from coast to coast still retain their biblical or Christian name and roadways still bear Church names given in an era when politicians and the people at large were the real thing; genuine, faithful and practicing Christians.  They were a reflection of America's Founding Fathers without a doubt.

   It’s often noted that Jesus spoke more about Hell than Heaven. Some parts of the Bible may feel harsh, but the purpose is to guide us toward living by the whole Word of God for our own good. The Lord allows churches to wither on the vine for the sin thriving in people inside of churches.  Many of our nation's churches have fallen so far into sin I often find myself comparing them to the fallen state of affairs of ancient Israel living in the Will of God and out of the Will of God more times than I care to think about.  The Bible teaches us that a national tragedy was what was required for repentance to bring Israel back into alignment with His Will.  

    Martin Luther, John Wesley, Alexander Mack, Francis Makemie and more would be disheartened to see the degree their original churches have splintered and drifted from those churches they each established.  Today, older independent churches too reflect only a little of their founder's commitment to the whole of Scripture.                                                                                

    (Matthew 21:12-13) The same “filthy lucre” mentioned in Titus 1:7 is being gathered in our days through Church fees for public suppers, public raffles, public bingo, using churches as public daycares, public apartment spaces, and other public social functions with a portion of the public's money sent to Church Headquarters, Inc. nationwide.  This, in turn, supports other unbiblical causes, not to mention steep payrolls, and retirement plans, and again, the heart of Jesus is grieved. 

    The Bible says pastors will have to answer for their church’s disobedience, as well as their own personal disobedience to God’s complete Word on our personal Judgment Day.  Deacons and each and every other one in positions of Church leadership will all answer to our Holy Father who art in Heaven for standing by and allowing His Church to be led astray.  Ignorance of His Bible will not be excused. (Romans 1:17-21)

   Hebrews 4:12 reminds us to embrace all aspects of the Bible, whether we feel inclined to or not. "For the word of God is lively, and mighty in operation, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and entereth through, even unto the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit, and of the joints, and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts, and the intents of the heart."  That's powerful enough to cause each of us to look inside ourselves for our motives or lifestyles; and often the motives are selfishness or money in one way or another, in Church and elsewhere.

   

    The Lord has chosen to work through women in many remarkable ways in churches, though not as pastors, and no offense is intended by this humble Bible messenger.  The pastorship of well-meaning, sweet, kind and loving women is out of the Will of God according to the Bible and is therefore an ongoing sin in the Church and in the life of the female Pastor.  There are numerous inspiring women in the Bible we all can learn from, but not as Pastors.  Again, I'm just His forgiven messenger.   

    Unbiblical lgbtq people today are living in continuous grievous sin to our Heavenly Father and some while serving as Pastors in once great churches and The Lord continues to vomit (spew) and leave the Church to wither away.  (Revelation 3:16) Jesus' very own words.  In Revelation 3, The Lord Jesus is speaking of hot churches that are doing much for Him and cold churches that do very little serious Church worship.  If one wants a hot beverage, it should not be lukewarm, if a cold beverage, not lukewarm.  The Lord is saying that He prefers a Church that is doing much for Him or doing nothing at all for Him than a Church that is lukewarm.

    Some lgbtq pastors marry each other today as we have heard or read.  It is true that separate parts may be placed together to equal a marriage of two parts.  (It is nothing more than matching teeth on a gear together or putting two pieces of a puzzle together.) They lead their flock astray in what might have been a once great Church that withered away long ago as sin was allowed to live and flourish within the Church doors.  Next, the original Church name gets hijacked, there's a split, the first Christmas Baby weeps and Satan laughs about it all.  (Job 1:7; 1 Peter 5:8) I'm here to tell you Satan is still walking to and fro in the Earth, is evil and real and when we drop our guard, is the destroyer of good and truth.

    Parts of the Bible are hurtful only because its words are meant to help us to live for the entire Word of God.  Lgbtq unions will never be the definition of Holy Matrimony sanctioned by God whom the seraphim called Holy, Holy, Holy in Isaiah 6.  Two people of the same gender who roll around under the sheets together will never be Holy in the eyes of a Holy God nor in the eyes of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

    The idea of the pastoral office being open to “anyone” is influenced by contemporary and cultural perspectives, so The Lord continues to have once-grand churches wither away.  The sin of disobedience sets up shop, the whole of the Bible gets brushed aside, and our Heavenly Father leaves the Church, and it slowly dies.  Men have failed to step up as Pastors in great number since the 1950s, and it deeply grieves the heart of my Savior.  

   

    He forgave me of my sin on 9-6-81 and continues to forgive me to this day because "If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9), but we must sincerely mean it, not live a lie, and we must conform to 2 Corinthians 5:17.  "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, let him be a new creature. Old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new."  We should all reflect on whether there’s been a change in our lives that aligns with Jesus Christ.  If we’ve truly become one of God’s children through confessing our sins and having our faith in Him the change will be evident.

   So, what might be one solution to guide churches in ways equal to God's Word in stopping the withering away of Church membership?   Who am I to talk?  MSC hasn't any members yet and this attempt to reach the lost and dying world just might fizzle out, but we must try, but at the same time, MSC is a fully biblical Church, and honestly, a lot of society and "Church" people do not want that.

   For long-established churches struggling to grow again, hire men who preach the whole word of God, when the people want to hear it and if they don't.  "in season and out of season" (2 Timothy 4:2) also, it might be helpful if, when female pastors retire or step down, they first share the full Word of God with their congregation and encourage the men of the Church to embrace their God-given responsibilities by returning to full biblical obedience by stepping up and Pastor their Church. (1 Timothy 2:11-12, 3:1-7; Titus 1:6, etc.) Take note of all the incontrovertible, irrefutable and indisputable nouns and pronouns in those Bible verses.  Whenever the promoters of female pastorships take a single verse out of context by not including the preceding and subsequent paragraphs and or verses with the verse of choice, you are being deceived.

    One doesn't need a Seminary Degree to be effective in reaching lost, worldly people; what is needed is the desire.  Men, act before it’s too late.  To put it plainly, Fathers, Mothers, Grandmothers, and Grandfathers should admit their spiritual mistakes to their children and grandchildren.  It’s a good place to start, even if it’s not easy.  The everlasting, eternal well-being of yourself and of your family is on the line.  Likely you can remember where you ate for your last Christmas Dinner.  Likely you have an idea where your career will be in a year from now.  Though each is a whole year away in one direction or another, those twelve months are but a drop in the bucket compared to an endless eternity.

    As a Pastor, I’ve often imagined the deep eternal regret I or others would feel to die in sin and end up in Hell for all eternity, only to have children arrive there years later because a parent hadn’t shared with them the truth about Jesus Christ and His plan for salvation into Heaven as opposed to an eternity in Hell.  Whew!  

    Think about the misery that would cause. The Bible describes Hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, as in Luke 13:27-29 and 16:19-31.  Gnashing of teeth means grinding them together in anger, and in this case, that anger will be directed toward our Heavenly Father, "who art in Heaven", and He will no longer be listening for our pleas.  

    

    Heaven and Hell are the only two places where our Father in Heaven allows people to spend eternity.  There are no Bible verses in the 1599 Geneva Bible, etcetera mentioning the deceptions called Purgatory and or Soul Sleep.