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 Church resembles little what it once was. 

  I suppose an arm's length of reasons could be given for the withering away of The Lord's fully biblical churches.  The Lord tells us in the Bible that after a while He will look away from unfaithful people, in Church or not.  His exact words say that He will "turn them over to their own way".  When God departs, the Church fades into little more than a social club, becoming just a hollow shell of what its founders once built.

  Across the country, many towns still hold on to their biblical or Christian names, and roads continue to bear Church names from a time when politicians and everyday people were genuine, faithful, practicing Christians. Without a doubt, they reflected the spirit of America’s Founding Fathers, and yes, America was founded as a Christian Nation. There is an aluminum plaque on the nose of the Washington Monument that says “Laus Deo”, meaning “Praise be to God.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    The Bible teaches that pastors will be accountable not only for their own personal disobedience to God’s complete Word but also for the disobedience of their Church on the day of personal judgment. Do not try convincing yourself otherwise, for thus saith The Lord.  Deacons and all those in positions of Church leadership will ultimately answer to our Heavenly Father for standing by and allowing His Church to be led astray.  Ignorance of His Bible will not be excused. (Ezekiel 3:18, Romans 1:17-21, 2 Timothy 2:15)

   Much disobedience to the Bible is in a horrendous number of churches today including the idea of the pastoral office being open to “anyone”, which is influenced by contemporary and cultural perspectives, so The Lord allows once-grand churches to wither away on a once vibrant and growing vine.  The sin of disobedience sets up shop, the whole of the Bible gets brushed aside, our Heavenly Father leaves the Church, and it slowly dies.  To make ends meet, the Church relies on old money, insurance policies and the buildings become a Daycare Center or a Social Event venue, etc.

  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.  Parts of the Bible are hurtful only because its words are meant to help us to live for the entire Word of God, your creator.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    The Lord Jesus Christ forgave me of my sin and saved me from The Devil's Hell 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 by not living a lie.  The repentant person will also have a desire to tell somebody about the new life they have if they truly have it.

  If the repentance is real, the Christian will 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. If our conversion to Christianity is fake and we still continually sinning and wallow around in the filthy lifestyle of an unconverted, unsaved person our conversion may not have been genuine.                                                                                                                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    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?  Being a new start-up Church, MSC 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. The last church where I preached, I literally had to stop and wipe the dirt from my feet before entering onto the highway. (Matthew 10:14)

  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 the pulpit and 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 speakers and pastorships take a single verse out of context in any given 66 Books of the Bible by not including the preceding and subsequent paragraphs and or verses with their verse of choice, you are being deceived.                

  Ill-read Church-going people do not know the difference between truthful heartfelt biblical preaching and rehearsed preaching downloaded from the internet, printed out and read to them on any given Sunday Morning.  It hasn't been too many years ago that I heard with my own ears a trained and educated well-paid "Pastor" in a huge mainline denomination Church give credit to Timothy for the writing of 1st and 2nd Timothy.  In many instances, that my friends are where many churches are today. (The informed Christian knows Timothy(s) was written by the Apostle Paul.)   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    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 a person would feel to die unforgiven by Jesus Christ and end up in Hell eternally, only to have children or grandchildren arrive there decades later and then realize that these children are with me in Hell now FOREVER and because I alone had failed them spiritually.  Oh, the pain it would cause.  Whew!  Think about the misery that would cause.  Jesus taught extensively about Heaven and Hell in the Gospels not to just hear himself talk.  Again, as a biblical Pastor, I'll see an obituary and often my first thought is I wonder where they are.

   The faith we have in the first Christmas baby, and our Christmas celebrations had better be real because if not, the future is of the bleakest.

  Whether we ever see you in MSC or not, get off your tail on Sunday Mornings and get it into a well-rounded full gospel educating Church, otherwise you're just Marking Time.  If you're young and able, don't just park yourself in front of a T.V. Preacher.  You will grow better as a Christian if you fellowship with other Christians at Church.  For example:  If your fellowship is with the Jack Daniels Bar and Beer Club, you will abuse alcohol and maybe get buzzed often, leading to bad, unhealthy long-term family memories.

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 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 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 cultic deceptions called Purgatory and or Soul Sleep. 

  Heaven is a gentle place described in the Bible, and I don't what to tell you about it other than these verses:  1 Corinthians 2:9 "But as it is written, the things which eye hath not seen, neither ear hath heard, neither came into man’s heart, are, which God hath prepared for them that love him" and Revelation chapters 4, 21 and 22.