Who is Returning?

Drifting and fallen churches are not returning to their original holiness; these don’t return, they just keep drifting and falling. They also change their names in order to become more relevant. “Crossroads” and “Community” are popular names that are often used together. Long-established congregations in various denominations are using these names while still affiliated with their respective denominations. It’s as if they no longer wish to be recognized as Baptist, Church of God etc., but prefer to go with the contemporary flow, supposing that this, being more popular, will gain them members. And with the change in name comes the change in doctrine and practice. Preachers are preaching contemporary topical sermons rather than biblical expository sermons. In “Bible Study” the Bible is replaced with booklets from their home publishing house. Progressive theology is spreading like a plague and progressive denomination are proud to be “emerging.” They never know just when they left the Lord; they only know that they are “progressing.”

But individuals are returning to the Lord and to the holiness of the early saints. I have been attending a large Bible Class of seniors, in which there are people from various backgrounds with their Bibles open to Romans and their hearts open to the Holy Spirit. This time I am studying Romans, not only to learn new truths but also to have new experiences. Others are doing the same. This is a double blessing for me: I am learning and having new experiences and also seeing others discover the meaning of Romans for the first time. Our lives will never be the same.

I remember an occasion in which a Christian College professor was speaking about our need to broaden our vision, look deeper into biblical subjects and gain spiritual experiences from Scriptures as we study them. He said, “It is as if a Bible teacher is standing before his classes with a wall of cubbyholes behind him, a compartment for each verse of the Bible. As he moves from verse to verse he asks, “What does this verse mean?” Then he takes the accumulated meanings of the verse being studied from its respective cubbyholes and read them. There are meanings written in previous generations, by our favorite commentaries and what we decided the verse meant the last time we studied it. “That’s all we have on this verse,” he says as he moves to the next cubbyhole. Most preachers are cubbyhole preachers rather than biblical expositors. We have asked for a lifetime, “What does this verse mean?” And for a lifetime we get the same reply, “It means what it says and says what it means!” But that’s not good enough. We must study the context, understand the meaning of the words, rely on other verses for help, and pray for spiritual understanding. Then the light will shine and we will understand what we read in the Bible. Millions will return to holiness if they can just see this light.

Many churches that do well in their first generation cool off in their second generation and die off in their third generation. If they do not die they exist as a vegetative spectacle in their communities; but they never return to their original zeal and holiness. If there is anything in a community more destructive than a dead church, it is a dying church. This is where sincere souls are disappointed, deceived and destroyed as they leave their first love. When I was a much younger preacher, I spoke to an older preacher about the indifference and deadness I was encountering in my churches. I must have supposed that he, being more experienced, would give me some magic formulae by which I could preach new life into my church. He listened to my plaintive appeal and that responded, “You won’t change them brother.” Another experienced Christian said, “It is easier to have a baby that it is to raise the dead.”