Gospel Lures and Largess

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

I don’t think there’s a soul in America who hasn’t heard the name of Jesus Christ, and I think that’s the problem we’re facing today as the Sun of righteousness appears to be setting here in the west. For almost 400 years, our country has proclaimed and spread the Word of God to not only those who settled here, but we sent missionaries who carried the blessed Gospel to the four corners of the world. Now, from what I am hearing, most Bible-teaching and carrying churches are in decline and fewer and fewer still are truly saved that were lost. Oh, America has its so-called mega-churches where the pastors instruct their parishioners not to carry a Bible. Such would only turn away the ‘seekers’ whom they want to catch and bring onto shore to see if they have any money in their mouths in order for the church to pay its tax. Oxymoronic I say. What is a person seeking if it is not found in the Bible? Worse yet, the Bible tells us that no one seeks God; no, not one. (Rom. 3:11) Besides, Jesus didn’t say, ‘For the Son of man is come to be found and to save that which was lost.’ No, Christ came to seek, and that commission was given to us, but somehow that has changed today in America’s theology.

No, I’d say the majority of American churches have ‘rebranded;’ by upgrading the ‘Gospel lures’ they cast when fishing; most of the shiny material used is fool’s gold. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m a Christian. Christ in me defines the meaning of the word. I am called to love the Lord my God with all of my heart, soul, mind and might, and my neighbor as myself. I am Bible-toting and unashamed. Although foretold in the Bible; which most do not read; let alone carry, it still is sad that a tsunami of sin and wickedness has overflowed the visible church. This has left many of the lost sitting in the ironically named ‘pews:’ Seated before the stench of its false preachers, teachers, elders and deacons. All the while, the greater pool of the lost in America widens and deepens as everyone seems to have a story of known sexual liberties, financial fraud, and other sins that they observed or heard about within the church. While they are without excuse themselves and will be accountable for their own sin, can anyone say that the church today in America does not show itself to be the white-washed sepulcher that Jesus found in the Pharisees?

God forgive us; have mercy on us, and if it is Thy will, revive us that we might repent of our sin and be yet about our Father’s business.