Pollution...

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:23-25 NKJV The Church in America is dying a slow and painful death at the hands of the very people who are supposed to be loving and caring for her. Christians, much like non-Christians, have sold out to the idols of money & materialism. It is hard to tell one from the other these days. I've often stated the fact that the world is having far more of an effect on the church than the church is on the world. In our quest to be more "seeker-friendly", we (the church) have become very carnal in nature. We've compromised our values & traditional morals and beliefs by accepting too much of the current culture as the norm, rather than standing on what GOD says to be the norm for Christian behavior. I'm reminded of the story of Jesus turning over the money changers' tables in the temple & essentially beating them out of the temple with a whip. See Matthew 21, Mark 11, & John 2. He wasn't amused that they were using the church for personal business purposes to solicit gain for themselves. The world is a dark place. but darkness is simply the absence of light and we are called to be the "light of the world" (Matthew 5:13-16) and represent Jesus by the way we live. Part of that process is that we join together in fellowship with like-minded believers. that we consider one another instead of being so "me-oriented" and easily offended by everything, that we stir one another to action in showing love in word and deed to those who are hurting and in need. The church doesn't need more programs and pizzazz, it doesn't need to tolerate sin. It needs a fresh infusion of the Power and Presence of GOD's Holy Spirit and to love the sinner without condoning sin itself. It needs to get back to the basics, to teach the Gospel, to preach of Heaven and hell as real places that await us all, to speak against sin while loving unconditionally--like Jesus. After all, He is The One we are supposed to imitate... Blessings!