Yeshua Explored
16th May 2022
Possibilities – part 2
Is the Church under judgement?
(This series of articles was written a year after the first lockdown in March/April 2021)
Previous articles are still available on the Premier Christian radio website – https://www.premierchristianradio.com/Blogs2/Yeshua-Explored – (until they finally pull the plug!)
What should the CHURCH have learned in the past 12 months? (Part 2)
- That one clear voice is impossible for a multi-faceted Church
It has been stated earlier just how many different expressions there are of our faith, running into the multi-thousands. Whereas most of them would have stayed under the radar before, physically tending only to its own “flock”, the gates have now been opened thanks to the rise of the virtual Church and we are bombarded by alternatives from every continent, from every tradition and denomination. Is this freedom, or is it madness? Now we can ‘channel hop’, as we have done with the plethora of TV and Satellite channels and cruise the Web for a church or teaching that suits us, or even just ‘tickles us’. Too much choice can be faith deadening for those without discernment or who are inclined towards the ‘entertainment’ end of the spectrum. This is not going to get any easier.
Flockdown.church is our initiative to counter this, though it has one major requirement. You will need to trust us! If we are to be the curators of your Christian digital input, then you need assurance that you are getting the ‘good stuff’ and not being led astray! More of this later on.
- That we could have met up more, if only we demonstrated some creativity
There is a church near to where we live that has been a bit of a beacon of hope among the restrictions, cages, exclusions and fear. They had looked at the constantly changing rules and regulations and said to themselves, how can we operate as normal as possible without causing consternation within the community or falling foul of the Covid Marshalls? In the midst of the third lockdown they held a prayer walk in a local field for an hour or so every Sunday. On some trees they had attached signs to be read aloud as prayers. They are clear to add that the walks are done in 2’s and social distancing is constantly being practiced. In January they were featured on BBC’s Songs of Praise.
Surely we can think of other creative ways of ‘bringing the Church to the people’. Inasmuch as most draconian prohibitions were focussed on meeting inside, surely the Church would actually benefit from being seen outside of the buildings as the visible Church? This could actually be one of the unforeseen ‘gifts’ of the pandemic and we will investigate this further later on.
- That there can be new ways of doing old things
It could have been seen as a proper reset, a restart, a new beginning. Consider the first church. They met in each others’ homes. They may have not operated within the strictures of a pandemic, but Roman society at that time was not positively inclined towards them. Yet they operated in faith and power, thousands were added to their number (just in one small region of Israel), miracles were witnessed, people were healed. As already mentioned, perhaps we could have done more. Thanks to Zoom and the virtual environment, the Church was able to meet freely and exercise all gifts as well as grow together in knowledge and wisdom. History, I fear, is going to ask questions of our current Church. Did we do all that we could have done? Were we too intent on preserving the hierarchies and structures rather than concentrate on the Great Commission? This leads us to …
- That we either adapt or die
The Church has never stopped moving, it has moved with the times, which has not always been positive, particularly when the central message has been tampered with. Unfortunately, most developments in the Church have been man-led, reflecting the changing culture or a strong “new direction” from a charismatic leader. In terms of adapting, this needs to be retrograde, looking backwards to when God was truly at the centre of His church, rather than looking for the “new” in order to remain “relevant” to our changing times. We must refrain from being tickled …
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:3)
It is time we stopped scratching! It is time we return to God’s word rather than “new“ words from men. So the Church must adapt by jettisoning everything that takes us away from the central message of the Gospel, the work of Jesus Christ, pure and simple. If this doesn’t happen then it will die and it is better that churches die than continue to promote a false gospel.
- That the world needs God more than ever since WW2
We have spoken about the Church and its need to align itself to God’s Plan A, but, of course, the world has no clue about a Christian narrative. Most people in our society seemed to have their lives mapped out, with a predictable trajectory of birth, marriage (or modern equivalent), family and/or work ambition, possible early retirement, and autumn of hedonism, followed by death. There’s no place for pandemics in this scheme, particularly when there’s a hint of worse to come. The fragility of life has been driven home to all generations following the “golden ones” of blitz years, whether Baby Boomers, X, Y, Z or whatever, who probably felt a sense of immortality, safely cocooned within the safety net of our Western cultures. In the last year we have been exposed to a relentless silent killer that could strike without warning, that didn’t follow the rules of civilised viruses that gave you notice when there was possible exposure to it, that gripped us in fear once that cough took hold, with the savage inevitability of a steady worsening of symptoms, followed by the possibility of far worse.
A virus that drove us apart, that took away our social lives and (sometimes) our very livelihoods, that exposed us to the possibility of a lonely painful death separated from loved ones in an intensive care ward. COVID-19 clearly wasn’t ‘playing the game’. It caught us on the back foot. It confounded the scientists and politicians, who couldn’t find a consensus in this entirely new situation. Thousands died while our leaders deliberated. Thousands also lived through the immense sacrifice of our front-line workers, particularly those in the health service, some who literally gave their lives for others. Also, millions may have been saved through the actions of those who created vaccines in record time, though only time will tell as to their long-term effectiveness.
It exposed our basic helplessness to something unplanned. It showed us that the twin pillars of secular society – politics and science – don’t have the answers, having to revert to the cold lifelessness of numbers and statistics in attempting to guide us out of the crisis. The secular mindset is driven by pragmatism not mercy, guided by charts and graphs above all. This is not a criticism to those in charge – they are not to be envied – but, perhaps, it is a reminder that life is not as controllable as we thought and perhaps there’s another element out there with some answers.
What an opportunity for evangelism. We have the answers but do we have the boldness to declare them?
- That the Church may very well be under judgement
This was posed as a possibility in Flockdown. If God is really in charge of our world and that Satan is kept on a tight leash in terms of what he can achieve, then the narrative is very much to do with the interplay between God and His people. It certainly was in Bible times, when the activities of the Jews in the Hebrew Scriptures and Christians (of course including saved Jews) in the New Covenant. When God brought plagues against the evil Pharaoh, it was the Egyptian people who suffered, although the purpose was to free His people. Arguably many innocent people died throughout Biblical history in order for God to lead His people towards their destiny. How many babies died in the flood? How many innocent Canaanites were slaughtered? God works to His own agenda and we need to have the grace and wisdom not to query His motives, as many have done, particularly those of a liberal persuasion.
This brings us nicely (or not so nicely) to the present day. God may well be judging His church. If so, then He will get His way in this matter until it reaches an inevitable conclusion. This may get more messy and should make us shout from the rooftops, Church, get your act together!
- Where are the true prophets?
There are no shortage of prophets plying their trade in our Christian subculture, often with grand titles and personalised ministry monickers. Where were they a year ago when we saw that something was afoot in Wuhan, China? Many preached peace and prosperity at the start of 2020 … but none of them saw the pandemic coming. The most significant event since World War Two was missed by those who cheerfully spoke of positive prospects for the year, who drew up plans for great gatherings, conferences, worship events, celebrations. All were cancelled with the loss of much of God’s kingdom funds. Some tentatively rebooked events for 2021, only to lose out yet again when spiritual antennae let them down. This is nonsense.
Meanwhile the world watches us. They know that we claim a hotline to Our Creator, yet they also know that the whole thing caught the entire Church unawares. Where were the prophets then?
Many prophets were emboldened by the thought of a second Trump presidential term and prophesised a great victory. Again, they were proved wrong (and incredibly some are still not giving up this absurd notion). Should we be listening to them at all? Where are the prophets who can see into God’s heart during this crisis? Where are the prophets telling us what we should be doing? Where are the prophets telling us whether we need to change our ways?
Where indeed?
This is an extract from the book, Flockdown Church: Back to the drawing board?, available for £5 at https://www.sppublishing.com/flockdown-church-278-p.asp
