Would You Stand Up For Jesus?

I happened to catch a discussion on TV the other day that resonated with me.  The discussion was about the number of churches in America today and the number of people who attend those churches.

One of the points alluded to but not really discussed was that many of the churches today are not really Christian churches; they are not committed to Jesus Christ.  They are allowing or embracing with open arms distortion of or complete avoidance of God's Word, the Bible.  In my opinion, you cannot be a Christian if you do not embrace God's Word.

On the other hand, there are many excellent Christian churches who understand that God's Word is ALL important.  As someone has coined:  BIBLE = Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

Some time ago I read a book called "The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun" by Brother Yun with Paul Hattaway.  Brother Yun details how he came to Christ in China in the 1970's and worked tirelessly to spread the truth of Jesus Christ through home churches, etc.  Brother Yun was imprisoned and tortured numerous times and finally left China with his family.  The book is eye opening and well worth reading.

One thing that struck me near the end of the book is Brother Yun's comments about Western churches.  Some of his comments follow:

"Before I traveled to the West I had absolutely no idea that so many churches were spiritually asleep."


"On some occasions I've struggled while speaking in Western churches.  There seems to be something missing that leaves me feeling terrible inside.  Many meetings are cold and lack the fire and presence of God that we have in China.


"In the West many Christians have an abundance of material possessions, yet they live in a backslidden state."


"The first thing needed for revival to return to your churches is the Word of the Lord.  God's Word is missing."


"Not only is knowledge of God's Word missing, but obedience to that Word.  There's not much action taking place."


"If you truly want to see God move, the two main things you must do is learn the Word of God and have the obedience to do what God tells you to do."

I would greatly like to believe that Brother Yun only visited those churches deemed part of the "Emergent Church Movement" but sadly I'm guessing that is not the case.  Some churches today are alive and vibrant because they teach the Word and focus on living it.  We need more of those but I'm afraid many of our churches are going in the other direction and ignoring the Word or changing its meaning to suit their own purposes.  Two excellent books about what a faithful church and the emergent church look like are "This Little Church Went to Market: The Church in the Age of Entertainment" and "This Little Church Stayed Home: A Faithful Church in Deceptive Times," both by Gary Gilley.    

I think we each need to ask ourselves the following question.  If you can honestly answer yes, I believe you belong to God.  If you cannot answer yes, please consider learning more about Jesus and what it means to become saved.

Question:  If someone with a gun walked into the room and said "I'm here to kill Christians.  Stand up if you are a Christian?"  Would you stand up for Jesus?

Think about it.  

As a side note, China eased up on Christian churches for a while but the last I heard they were again cracking down.  We need to pray for Chinese Christians both current and future.

Blessings,

Mary