There are decent people wringing their hands trying to come up with a solution to this decline of morals. What is a person to do when the streets aren't safe enough to travel in broad daylight let alone the middle of the night? The church needs to be part of the solution. I find you can't talk to people about the church and the Lord of the church now. Its not that they will hurt you for talking to them, they're just not interested. The number interested seems to be declining by the week. I was in a general conversation with a couple of older ladies at a church we were visiting when one of them lamented that "If you want to preach a Biblical doctrine we may need to go back to house churches." The numbers have dwindled in our congregations so bad that it is a possibility we won't have enough people to support them to keep the doors open and the lights on. We're in such bad shape morally and spiritually in this country we will need to shut the doors of the buildings on the smaller (and maybe some larger) churches that cannot sustain themselves. I'm not going to but mention those congregations that may have brought this on themselves either through neglect of the people by the leaders of the congregation or by letting the teaching lapse into the denominational rhetoric so prevalent today. I have already written about these things and will not repeat myself here. Church leaders are wringing their hands, trying to figure out how they will keep the doors open for the next five years if the decline in attendance continues. The preacher gets a lot of heat for this. Maybe he is to blame for a small portion of this. Maybe he hasn't taught the congregation to evangelize and teach. It is even more likely the congregations have not the stomach for the work of the church and are dragging their feet like I did for a number of years.
    Whatever the cause of the decline in morals and whatever the cause of the decline in spirituality in this country, there needs to be a resolve to try a remedy to "fix" it. The only remedy I know of that will "fix" this country's decline is the doctrine and Gospel of Jesus Christ. It won't get fixed by soft peddling the cure. The dedicated need to be involved in the remedy. Even though prayer is a good start and we expect God to hear our prayers of concern about it, it takes rolling up our sleeves and doing some work. The work is being Christian examples at work or in the group. Live a Christian life then don't be shy about it. That's my problem. I don't open my mouth enough for people to get the idea of what I'm doing for the Lord. After we gain their respect then we need to teach. We can only teach those who will listen and want to learn. We come full circle now back to the original problem. They aren't listening because they aren't interested because they don't think they need to. Don't give up. I hope it doesn't regress to the point as in the times of Noah where the Bible says that eight were saved through water. We hope all will come to repentance and be saved through the water and the blood of Christ. Persecution is looming at "the drop of a hat," so to speak. Either we will be successful in winning the lost world to Jesus Christ or we will need to brace for more persecution. Either way we must remain faithful to the truth of the Gospel and doctrine of Jesus Christ. Without His teaching we would still be sacrificing animals on an altar wondering when the promised Messiah will come to take us out of our drudgery and pain. We would be asking, if we cared to ask; "When would the perfect sacrifice be made so we would be assured of an existence in heaven?" Without the Gospel message and the teaching of Jesus Christ we could only make a guess. I'm hoping the cycle of debauchery, violence and sinfulness is or will be on the decline in this country. You that are reading this article will make a difference because of how you act and what you say when you are with those you work with or the group you associate with. Remember that God works with the remnant. All the rest are going to hell. Be among the remnant.
Jan. 2 2008