Once a week the two men that manage Rapture Ready write an article. It is the Nearing Midnight section and I would suggest checking it out each Monday. Here is what Todd wrote this week. I love the prayer that he quotes in the middle of the article. Oh if all of us could be so bold to speak the Truth. I think it has inspired me to add that to my daily prayer list.
Link to the Full article: The Church Needs to Make a Stand Now or Never
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Aug 16, 2010
The Church Needs to Make a Stand Now or Never
The church of Jesus Christ has clearly lost sight of its mission for this world. In the last few years, there has been a sudden decline in the church’s ability to influence society. The devil is winning on every front, and believers are totally inept at standing up for biblical principles.
It’s not like the church has lost all its members. Over 80 percent of U.S. citizens claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, with 45 percent saying they’ve had a born-again experience. In every city I visit, I see huge numbers of churches. Where I live–in Saline County, Arkansas–we have more than 120 churches. By comparison, there are only three McDonald’s in the county.
Rather than just cite endless examples of the lack of boldness on the part of the church, I thought it would be good to show you an example of a true Christian leader. The following prayer was given in the Kansas House of Representatives. When Pastor Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, “Woe to those who call evil good,” but that is exactly what we have done…
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and call it “pluralism.”
We have exploited the poor and called it the “lottery.”
We have rewarded laziness and called it “welfare.”
We have killed our unborn and called it “choice.”
We have shot abortionists and called it “justifiable.”
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it “building self esteem.”
We have abused power and called it “politics.”
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it “ambition.”
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it “freedom of expression.”
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it “enlightenment.”
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!
This event happened over fourteen years ago. Pastor Wright has since retired from the church he represented. Yet there is such a drought of spiritual bravery in America, you can still find numerous recent references to the speech on the Internet. There is general praise for Pastor Joe Wright’s prayer, but few people want to copy his example.
Today, the ministries that offer the inoffensive sermons are the most successful. It’s common knowledge that standing for biblical values is bad for business. One Ohio church has been causing trouble for the Foxhole Strip Club. Members of the church have gone to the club armed with bullhorns, signs, and video cameras for posting customers’ license plate numbers online. The owner of the club has started protesting at the church by having his dancers picket the church during Sunday services.
There is a desperate need for the body of Christ to examine its priority list. In the battle between good and evil, there is no such thing as a standoff. When the devil perceives that he has the upper hand, he keeps pressing on the attack.
I see a church that is so unprepared for battle, I fear the coming months are going to show how quickly Satan can take advantage of our weakness. In a few short years, we may find ourselves reduced to second-class citizens in our own so-called “Christian nation.”
Last week, eight Christian medical workers were murdered in Afghanistan. Before we blame the missionaries for intentionally going into harm’s way and getting themselves killed, we need to realize that our duty is to take the Good News to every nation on earth. The travesty here is how ready people are to accept Islamic terrorists’ right to kill peace-loving Christians at will.
It would be a shame for the church to be raptured out of here, with the world barely noticing our absence. If we are doing what the Lord commanded us, the refrain should be, “Thank goodness those crazy Christians are gone.”
— Todd
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