Why The Church

The Church in Decline

Church attendance and involvement continues to decline in America.  Once a mandate of family tradition; the church has lost it draw with those 60 years of age and under.  With each younger generation, there seems to be a weaker tie to the church.  Liberalism has not drawn more people; in fact, it has had an opposite effect.  Expect less and you will get less and it become a cycle with a downward spiral.  In the 1990s, people started dropping out of churches that “watered down doctrine,” because the church should be different from the world and should make a difference.  “Why go to church if it is just like the world?” was the question asked by many.  As main stream Protestant Christianity battled over homosexuality acceptance among the clergy; membership was in decline.  The churches; that were in a growth curve, were those that upheld the Bible’s doctrine of morality and family values.

In a Quest For Answers

Today in 2011, religion is still big business.  People still are in quest for the meaning of life.  As the world becomes a more dangerous place; not just in violence, crime and war; but in natural disasters, famine and disease, the all too clear signs of the “End Times;” seem to be ever increasingly coming to pass.  There is unrest every time mass numbers of people are killed by earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, etc.  People don’t know where to turn for answers.  The majority of Christendom is not talking about the End Time.  Too many false prophets have set dates that pass and this doctrine of the Bible becomes more and more a myth to many people and breaks down credibility of those who are seeking to prepare for the Kingdom of God and the return of Jesus Christ.

The Church: Called Out Ones

The word church in the New Testament comes from the Greek word, ekklēsia; which means:  a calling out or called out ones.  Jesus chose those to be His Church by calling them out of the world to be separate.  The Church is a sanctified body of believers, a spiritual organism built by Jesus Christ and inhabited by the Holy Ghost, God’s presence and power; not a man made organization.  Being separate from the world brings on persecution from the world; just as people who get drunk at a party hate the one sober person who does not get high.  Worldliness repels the righteousness of God.

John 15:19 KJV If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 KJV And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  (17)  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,  (18)  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

The Church:  Woman, Mother and Bride

A traditional hymn by Samuel Wesley, The Church’s One Foundation, was sung by most Christians until the 1960s.  The song identifies the Church as a woman, a mother and a bride.  Feminists, homosexuals and lesbians took issue with the Church being personified in a traditional woman, mother and bride role and the words of the hymn were altered to be politically correct.  Below are the original words.

The Church’s one foundation

Is Jesus Christ her Lord,

She is His new creation

By water and the Word.

From heaven He came and sought her

To be His holy bride;

With His own blood He bought her

And for her life He died.

The Church is referred to as being a woman in the book of Revelation.  The role of a woman was created by God to be a nurturing mother.  In this passage, a prophecy that could apply to the birth of Christ, still needs to be fulfilled in the End Time.  Many prophecies are fulfilled twice; i.e. John the Baptist was a type of Elijah proclaiming Christ’s first coming and there will be an Elijah sent to warn before Christ’s second coming.  The devil will have but a short time before Christ returns.  The Church will be persecuted at that time; but God will intervene and rescue the Church on the wings of Eagles (Symbolic of a divine intervention and taking away of the Church) and take her to a place of safety; a place of final training and preparation for 3 ½ years.  She will be nourished. 

Revelation 12:12-17 KJV Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.  (13)  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.  (14)  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.  (15)  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.  (16)  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.  (17)  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

From the Garden of Eden, woman was created for man and we human beings were created for Jesus Christ.  Just as we seek a spouse from among many people, Jesus Christ is choosing His spouse, a bride from among many.

Matthew 22:14 KJV For many are called, but few are chosen.

It has been my personal belief that Jesus is choosing His bride from among the called out ones, from the church.  That bride will sit with Him on His throne.  The many called will be the subjects of the King of kings in His kingdom, but the chosen will be His bride.  More discussion about this bride will be in tomorrow’s post.