When Christians bring the lost home, what happens to them? Where will they go to? Will they go to a spiritual church, where Jesus is the center and they speak His words and the believers are fed in the righteousness and the will of God, so that they grow up into mature sons of God (this applies to both males and females), who live holy and resist sin and fight and stand in the spiritual warfare? Or will they go to a carnal church, where man is the center and it all revolves around the experience, and they speak words that focuses on the flesh and respond to the feelings, desires, and will of people and the people don’t change, but keep doing the works of the flesh? Are souls saved, fed and tended in the church?
The Church is the Body of Christ
And He is the Head of the Body, the Church: Who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence (Colossians 1:18)
The Church, the assembly of born-again believers, is the Body of Christ. This means that Jesus is the Head. Jesus decides what His Body; the Church does (Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:18).
In the Church of Christ, Jesus is in charge. His will is the center. And the believers are expected to obey and do His will (the will of the Father).
As Jesus is de Good Shepherd, the servants, who are appointed in the Church, should also be good shepherds of His flock. They shouldn’t be as the religious leaders of God’s people in the Old Covenant, and leave the sheep to their fate and mislead, scatter, and destroy them. (Read also: Bring the lost home!)
As Jesus stood in the service of His Father and obeyed Him and was led by the Holy Spirit and spoke the words of His Father and did His works, the shepherds of the Church stand in the service of Jesus and should obey Him and be led by the Holy Spirit and speak the words of Jesus and do His works.
Because only by the preaching of the unadulterated words of God, shall souls saved and fed.
Has the mission of the church changed?
The disciples of Jesus, who together were the first church, laid down their own lives and yielded their will to the will of Christ. They were faithful and had a listening ear and were obedient to the words of Jesus. They spoke and did what Jesus commanded them to speak and do. (Read also: He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit say to the churches).
Through their preaching of the gospel and the call to repentance, many people repented and turned to Christ and got saved.
Through the gospel, salvation came first to those, who belonged to the house of Israel. Then to the Gentiles, who by faith and regeneration in Christ also became fellow heirs, members of the same Body, and fellow partakers of His promise in Christ (a.o. Romans 15:27, Ephesians 3:6).
The vision and mission of the Church was (and is) the saving of souls and feeding of souls through the preaching of the gospel and the preaching of the Truth.
But gradually something happened that caused a change in the vision and mission of the church and the words and behavior of believers. The church has undergone both an outward and an inward transformation and a slow transition from the spirit to the flesh has taken place.
The transition of the church
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:1-2).
The focus in most churches is no longer on (the things of) the Kingdom, the redemptive work and the preaching of Jesus Christ, the cross, the blood, the saving of lost souls, and sanctification.
The leaders and members of the church have become lukewarm and indifferent. They no longer care about the fate of their fellow man. It doesn’t matter to them, if people live as prisoners in the power of the devil and sin and death in darkness and never shall see the Light.
Through the influence of the world and the deceptive spirits of darkness, the false prophets, and the wolves in sheep’s clothing, many have gone astray and have become world-like and are focused on the flesh. (Read also: Who are the wolves in sheep clothing who wreak havoc?).
Through this transition, they are no longer spiritual, but carnal. They have taken the words of God out of context and after mixing them with their own words, they have used them for the flesh, to fulfill the will, lusts, and desires of the flesh.
They don’t stand in the truth, but they stand in the lie. Therefore, they preach lies.
The gospel, as the gospel should be preached, is no longer preached. Because of that many souls wander and deviate from the truth of God and walk in lies, which lead to sin and destruction.
Are souls saved?
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21)
The church no longer focuses on saving souls and sanctification. Instead, the church focuses on growth, power, prosperity, success, wealth, and fulfilling the lusts and desires of the flesh.
Instead of saving souls through the unadulterated word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit and believers are raised in the righteousness and the will of God, the church leaders try to attract as many new church members as possible and keep them, by responding to their emotional state, feelings, desires, and needs.
They no longer preach God’s vision. But they preach their own vision and their interpretation of the gospel, whereby they preach a self-made gospel, that derives from their feelings and carnal mind and opposes the gospel of the Word.
Are souls fed and tended in the church?
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not (2 Peter 2:1-3)
In this false gospel, the will of God has been replaced by the will of man, since the leaders don’t want to please God anymore but people. They want to be accepted and loved by people instead of God. Therefore they don’t speak the words of God that are inspired by the Holy Spirit, but the words of man that are inspired by the world. They don’t want to speak words that are hard and confrontational, offend people, hurt someone’s feelings, and call for a change. They only want to speak positive, kind, and motivational words that boost people’s egos. Because of this behavior, the sermons are humanized and the works of the flesh (sin) are accepted and tolerated in the church,
In many churches it has become very normal when Christians lie, commit fraud (including tax evasion), serve other gods and get engaged with strange religions and philosophies and their practices, live together unmarried, have sexual relationship(s), have a sexual relationship with someone of their own gender, break the marriage covenant by getting a divorce, commit abortion, euthanasia or suicide, are getting drunk, and so on.
All these works, which God has condemned, are done by many Christians, who claim to be children of God.
The works of the flesh are not considered evil
They don’t consider these works as wicked works from the darkness, which the children of the devil do. It is no longer considered as sin; rebellion and disobedience to God and His Word and His Holy Spirit. But all these works are tolerated through the admission and submission of people to the evil spirits of darkness that have misled them through their lies, which contain a partial truth, but are lies .(Read also: False doctrines that are an insult to God).
A sensory experience
The gospel has become a sensory experience that revolves around people’s feelings. By using natural elements and entertainment, they stimulate the senses, whereby pleasant feelings arouse. Through motivational sermons and speaking manipulating words that focuses on the carnal desires, prosperity, and wealth of people, they play on people’s feelings and emotions.
They think, that by adjusting the gospel a little bit, and modernizing the church, and making the sermons contemporary and positive, for the sake of the visitor’s experience, they attract more (lost) souls. But is that true?
Perhaps, they will attract more members to the church. But they won’t save souls for Jesus Christ
Instead of winning more souls by compromising the gospel and focusing on outward appearances and experiences and the senses and feelings of the people, the church is losing precious souls.
Souls, who could have been saved, fed, and tended, if the church leaders had been faithful to Jesus; the Head and relied on God and stood on the Word, and kept preaching sound doctrine within the framework of the Bible, despite the change of time and the pressure, resistance and persecution of the world, but are lost because of a compromised gospel
And so many souls wander in ways that don’t lead to righteousness and eternal life, but to sin and eternal death.
Let the church return to Christ and save souls and feed the souls
Let the church repent and return to the Head and no longer rely on human knowledge, wisdom, ability, and natural means and power. But let the church rely on the knowledge and wisdom of God and His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit and pray and preach the unadulterated Word, to save souls and feed the souls.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
