Читать книгу Into the Silence - Dennis Psy.D. Cummins - Страница 3

“Most of those who attend a church do not see any significant reason for knowing God.”

During the 1900’s, the Church experienced several facets of the Spirit of God. In the early part of the century the Church experienced Pentecost. In the 40’s and 50’s healing revivals swept the nation. The charismatic renewal was during the 60’s, and in the 70’s Christian television came on the scene. During the moves of the Spirit of God, there were also counterfeit “moves of the spirit.” Some were the works of the devil, and others were nothing more than a work of the flesh. It didn’t matter what type of move it was, people would still categorize it as “God ”Doing a new thing” in the Church.” People would run to different revivals or chase down high-powered evangelists to get a new experience or a “Word” from God. After their experience, they would come back to church and tell everyone, “God is doing a new thing.” They were certain that for others to experience what they had, they would have to go to where they had gone to get it; as though a church or evangelist had some type of monopoly on the Spirit of God.

On the other side, we would hear about damaging waves flowing through the Church, coined as a “move of God’s Spirit.” These waves were nothing but carnal or sensual experiences with God’s name attached to it. People would shake their heads in disbelief and say the Devil launched a new attack against the Church. The sad part is that most people didn’t realize that since the inception of the Church in Acts, there hasn’t been anything new happening in the Church—good or evil, spiritual or carnal. It may be a new experience to an individual, but certainly not to the Church. Ecclesiastes 1:9(New International Reader's Version)“Everything that has ever been will come back again. Everything that has ever been done will be done again. Nothing is new on earth.” God is still God and the Devil is still the Devil. Neither of their natures has changed. God said he doesn’t change and Lucifer is not going to be asking for his job back anytime soon. God is still trying to save people, and the Devil is still trying to destroy people.

The nature of people has not changed either. We are still people who are born into sin in need of a Savior. Without a Savior, sinners deserve eternal punishment in hell. This statement is not “hell and brimstone” preaching, it is simply the truth according to God’s Word. The truth does not change, regardless of its acceptance. This is where we can see the work of the Devil manifested in the church. This is in direct contrast to humanism which is being taught in the Church today. Humanism conveys that we are basically good people. It is a belief system that is based on the values, characteristics and behavior that are believed to be best in human beings, rather than on any supernatural authority. This is not a new attack from the Devil, but an old one that has been repackaged. People who buy into this doctrine are the people who merely breeze into church to fulfill some type of moral duty. They listen through their humanistic filters brushing away anything that might deal with conviction of sin or personal sacrifice.

Many may question the validity of my observations of the Church, but consider these statistics from a recent study performed by the Barna Research Group. George Barna notes that only seven percent of church-goers identified spiritual wholeness and development as the factor that will produce a successful life. “The Christian faith commends sacrifice, servant hood and sharing as the means to significance,” he noted. “How is it possible to have more than 120 million adults attending Christian churches on a regular basis, but only 15 million who grasp the message that success is not about personal accomplishment or material possessions” I believe this is a direct reflection of the church today. This is why the church at large in America has become highly ineffective. Most of those who attend a church do not see any significant reason for knowing God. They feel they can get along just fine without Him. A person who believes he is basically good has no need for God. What an amazing realization about our current culture. Only seven out of every 100 people see a direct benefit of knowing God. These factors relate directly to the lack of passion and involvement in the local church, and the lack of repentance and Godly sorrow. Our American-Christian culture tends to view church as nothing more than a place to get a “pick me up” for the week or a place to instill some quality values in our children. Church has become somewhat like a retail store—only going to church when you need something. People who are not willing to serve or get involved in church are the ones who don’t see any direct benefit in knowing God. They only know of a god that somebody has told them about, but they do not know God personally.