There is a trend I’m picking up and it’s grieving my soul. The most religious (Christian or otherwise) societies in the world, are it’s poorest and most underdeveloped. The cities that pack millions into auditoriums are the ones that don’t have any representation in other aspects of human influence. It’s seems like an inversion of everything that I have learnt, that light should give illumination, that spiritual enlightenment should lead to economic, social, governmental and whole revival. Thorough analysis however reveals, that the opposite is true.
Why, you may wonder? Don’t waste your wonder, it’s not far fetched. The church needs to regain it’s saltiness, and the people of God their light. We have replaced the gospel of the kingdom with the gospel of salvation. We have left the discipling of nations, for the leadership of individuals. We have wondered off the biblical world view into being spiritual. Hear this and hear it clear, any spiritual activity that does not elevate a man into a higher realm in all the areas of influence on earth, is a mere and empty religion!
“The gospel that does not deal with the issues of the day is not a gospel at all” – Martin Luther
In South Korea, as at a few years ago (Before Africa -Nigeria started challenging the numbers), when the biggest churches in the world were in South Korea, when there were churches that had over 1 million members and many more close to those kind of numbers. It was amazing that while the ranked highest in number of churches or population of churches, they had no standard company from South Korea that was one of the top 500 companies in the world. A similar study in America shows that the most Christianized city in America is Dallas Texas. This was so based on number of people in church per capita on sunday. When analyzed based on core services however, the city was the lowest ranking city in the nation. Indices like crime rate, job availability, abuse, homelessness e.t.c.
There are two broad ways to look at this, one we can choose to see it as religion being the opium of the masses – meaning that poor people search for something to believe in. Or we can look at this the way I’m seeing it, that there is a lot of brain drain in society as gifted hands and minds feel that to serve God they need to be very involved in a church. The Church which is meant to have a biblical worldview of Religion being only one of the segments, now has become the source of brain drain of the other segments. Haven given up authority for education, governance, family, media, entertainment and business to the world, the earth is in chaos. What however amazes me the most about the Dallas analysis, is what the Dallas Pastor was credited to have said – “Those things do not concern us, we are spiritual leaders”. I again affirm in the words of Martin Luther, the gospel that does not deal with the issues of the day is not a gospel at all!
We need to ensure that we are relevant, not just on Sunday’s but all week though. We need to find out our own mountains and conquer them for God. There is a lot of Junk going on in Media today, a lot of lies, misrepresentations, and falsehood. Why? Because, light is not there, and the people of light rather than taking their lights to the world are comfortable with shining it into their own eyes and confusing one another. The Entertainment industry has become one giant manufacturing industry with only one product – sex! Education is in crisis, family values are fast eroding. The government is in the hands of charlatans, crooks and thieves, our lives are shaped by those who cannot mould their families. Where are you and I in the midst of all this mess?
I have only 3 questions for you, think about them and let your answers be correct.
1. Will your community notice (positively) if your local church shuts it’s doors tomorrow?
2. Would your workplace notice if you were no longer there?
3. Is your industry different because of you?
Let’s stop fooling ourselves, if your answers are No, you have to make them yes this year!
