davidbowerkingwood

Christian Leaders on the Attack Against other Christian Leaders

Social media today is filled with articles and comments on the war between Christian leaders; if this strikes you as strange and inappropriate then you have a lot of company. While the issues are clear, to all who are following this war, the timing is unfortunate to say the least. We could very well be living in the climax of the ages and are wasting our time trying to defeat ourselves.

At a time when the church should be on the offensive “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” we are on the offensive against each other!

The Bible clearly describes the last church era, the church of Laodicea, and it seems we find ourselves right in the middle of it!

Reading About it Versus Living in it!

In the Book of Revelation, a book of prophecy, we read of the seven eras of the church. The last one described is called the church of the Laodiceans.

¹⁴ And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

¹⁵ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

¹⁷ Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

¹⁸ I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

²¹ To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

²² He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Revelation 3:14-22 KJV

In an earlier essay, I mentioned my son refers to this as the church of the expectoration, which seems like a rather apt description to me. What is of interest is the absence of any reference to the church after Chapter 3 is concluded; Chapter 4 begins with, what many believe to be, the removal of the church from the earth, aka, the Rapture.

“4 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”

I am convinced we are living in the last church era, the church of Laodicea; this era will be ended by the removal of all born-again believers from the earth and could happen at any time. The sad fact of the matter is the Rapture will leave all too many churches completely unchanged!

Life in Laodicea

Verses 14-20 describe conditions during the last church era; I believe we can look around and see those conditions in abundance around the world today. While reading about the era of Laodicea is interesting, living through it is painful; it saddens me when I see the glorious message of redemption by faith in Jesus Christ being lost in the clamor of discord which is so prevalent in the church today.

We are living in a time when the spiritual war is heating up and instead of fighting this war, we are fighting each other! Neither a house nor a kingdom divided against itself can stand and we’re seeing both the church and our nation terribly divided.

I suspect it brings Satan great joy to see Christians attacking Christians today; at a time when the Church should be united against the forces of Satan in this spiritual struggle, we are so busy trying to undermine and discredit each other to even bother with the enemy. It is no wonder that attendance at church is falling when the image presented by the church is not the image of victorious Christianity, but the image of the world.

People are getting enough of that as they live their lives each day; why go to church to find more of the same? It is well past time for the church to restore its primary mission as described by our Lord:

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.