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From
the Pastor’s Heart...
Do you believe in God?
Not long ago I came across some statistics on the Internet
about people who believe in God. Amazingly enough, it was reported that there is
a percentage of Protestants, Catholics and Jews who don't believe in God.
According to the data, there are those who even refer to themselves as
Christians, but they don't necessarily believe in God! How in the world can that
be? (I know not to believe everything that comes rambling across the Internet
but this statistic got me to thinking.)
Our family had the wonderful privilege of being in the
former Soviet Union country of Belarus from 1994-1999. We learned many things
from our dear Belarusian brothers and sisters. When we arrived in Belarus the
church was enjoying freedom as they
had never known. Schools were open to evangelism, one could preach from the
street corner and hold church meetings anywhere you desired. There was freedom,
so the churches began doing all kinds of evangelistic work. Then all of a sudden
we began to hear from the church leaders the difficulties in discerning who was
real and who was just playing church. This was a rather new phenomena for them.
In the past, when it cost people something to be a Christian, you could assume
that people were not pretending. But now people were coming to church, wanting
to be baptized and becoming church members without being truly born again by the
Spirit of God. Some of the leaders felt that with freedom came an erosion of
godliness in the church.
Now, lets return back to America. When was the last time
Christians faced persecution? I don't recall
studying any wide spread movement that caused Christians great harm.
There were pockets of difficulties for some. For example, during
the war years, those who were non-resistant and refused to fight were
sometimes treated severely. (Some actually lost their lives from the punishment
by the U.S. Army.) But by and large, as a whole, the Christian church in America
has been able to exist without harm.
There have been many blessings because of the freedoms
we have in America. Over the years there have been waves of revivals spread
throughout this land. Generations of godly people have been free to serve the
Lord openly. Churches are scattered across the country with nearly a church in
every single town and many have more than one. Another effect has been the many
missionaries that American churches have sent to other nations along with
material and monetary aid. Christian organizations continue to “pop up” and
there is also much Christian literature produced. We have an enormous wealth of
information available, including Christian colleges and seminaries that one can
study at. The list goes on of the many things that we have in America because of
our freedoms.
But now I'm wondering about the statistics that were
mentioned earlier in this article. Have we become “social Christians”
getting baptized and joining church because it seems like a good thing rather
than finding and knowing Jesus as our Savior? Can it be that many grace the
benches of our churches with nary a clue of what it means to serve the God
almighty with all their heart, mind, soul and strength? Could it be that one may
say that he is a Christian and not even know what it means to commune with Jesus
through the Holy Spirit? This is probably an occurrence more common in countries
that experience religious freedoms than in countries where Christians are
persecuted for their faith. So what is the answer? Is it persecution that we
need? I hope not. We do however, need renewal and revival. I pray for it in my
own life and in our church. Whether we live with religious freedoms or
persecution, Jesus’ words echo in my ears from Luke 9:23-26, (NKJV)
Then He said to them all, “If anyone
desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and
follow Me. For whoever desires to
save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is
himself destroyed or lost? For
whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed
when He comes in His own glory, and in His Fathers, and of the holy angels.”
By
Tim Kennell
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