The Church Has Lost Her Testimony

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:7-11 ESV).

I read a quote by A.W. Tozer on Facebook today. This was probably written in the 1940s, for it is similar to other writings of his around the same time period. And as I read this I was amazed at how accurate of a description this is to what is going on within the gatherings of what are called “churches” here in America in 2023, nearly 100 years later. Here is the quote:

“The church has lost her testimony. She has no longer anything to say to the world. Her once robust shout of assurance has faded away to an apologetic whisper. She who one time went out to declare now goes out to inquire. Her dogmatic declaration has become a respectful suggestion, a word of religious advice, given with the understanding that it is after all only an opinion and not meant to sound bigoted. Pure Christianity, instead of being shaped by its culture, actually stands in sharp opposition to it.” Aiden Wilson Tozer

And I shout a heart-felt and passionate AMEN to that quote. For it is truth. And this is where the American church, at large, is today, sad to say. For the church at large (not including every congregation) has been incorporated under the state and has become a business being marketed to the world. Thus the whole meaning of “church” has been altered to cater to the ungodly. As well, the character of God/Christ and of the gospel of Christ have been altered and lessened to appease human flesh and to pacify sin. 

So, instead of the godly church going out into the world with the truth of the gospel of our salvation to turn hearts away from sin to following the Lord Jesus in obedience, they are inviting the world into the gatherings of what are called “church.” And so “the church” is catering their gatherings around the desires of the world to win the world to their gatherings so that the world will feel at home in these gatherings. Do you see what is wrong with this picture? It is all backwards, and it is against God’s plans and purpose.

And the gospel which is largely permeating the American church, at large, is not the gospel that Jesus taught, and it is not the gospel that Paul and the other NT apostles taught, if read in context. But it is a feel-good message which is careful to not offend the people of the world with the truth. And thus many of them don’t even mention sin anymore and they don’t teach biblical repentance, i.e. the forsaking of our sinful practices to follow our Lord in obedience. Or if they mention these, they are more like suggestions.

But the true gospel, the one that Jesus taught, and that his NT apostles taught, insist that, by God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, we deny self, we die daily to sin, and we follow our Lord in obedience to his commands (New Covenant). For if we don’t, and if we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, and not in walks of holiness and in obedience to our Lord, we don’t know God, we are not in fellowship with Christ, we are not born of God, and we don’t have eternal life with God, regardless of what we profess.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

So, we need to look at our present situation through the lens of God’s Word and not through the lens of humans, many of whom do not have the mind of God but who have the mind of the flesh, instead. Now, in my opinion, I believe Tozer was right on target and that he was seeing the situation through God’s spiritual lens and not through the eyes of man, and that the words he spoke were prophetic and are being lived out in our world and church today. But he was still not God. 

But I do believe that everything points to us now living in these final days before our Lord’s return, but I don’t know when he is coming back. Even Peter wrote “the end of all things is at hand” two thousand or less years ago (I didn’t do the math). And Tozer wrote what he wrote maybe 80+ years ago, definitely with an eye to the future. And here we are living in that future today. But no matter what date or time it is, it is always the time to get right with God and to live self-controlled, godly, and upright lives.

And, again, the Lord put this secular song in my mind, which taken from a spiritual perspective can be an appeal (a prayer) to God to save people’s lives from hell, even if our own lives must be sacrificed in the process of sharing the truth with them that will lead them to true salvation and to eternal life with God, if they surrender their lives to the Lord, and if they choose now to walk in obedience to his commands and to forsake their lives of sin and to live holy lives, pleasing to God, from this moment forward.

Bring Him Home

By Alain Boublil / Claude Michel Schonberg / Herbert Kretzmer

God on high

Hear my prayer

In my need

You have always been there..

He's like the son I might have known

If God had granted me a son..

You can take

You can give

Let him be

Let him live

If I die, let me die

Let him live

Bring him home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXnRf3TQcpk

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