Had a disturbing dream last night. I was touring a church in obvious disrepair. The paint was peeling, windows cracked, rubbish around the property. But oddly enough there were precious expensive things on display that were being sold at a fraction of their real value.There was a smell of mildew and decay throughout the place but there were squatters living amidst the clutter.I asked why didn’t the people make them leave and the person giving the tour shrugged and said, They don’t really care.I finally blurted out, This can be turned around. Where are the people who were here?The response, They found other things more important to them to hold their attention.I woke up with an aching heart. I arose and went to the living room, drank some cold water, and prayed about the dream.The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, This is the great falling away. But many of my people are in denial and ignoring it.Needless to say that dream broke my heart________________
Thanks my friend. This is a lot to think about. I can only imagine you feelings when waking.Love from North Carolina________________Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/
“ They found other things more important to them to hold their attention. Nothing describes the present state of the church better than this statement. Just tonight we had a well advertised gospel concert featuring a very well known singer. The attendance was pitiful to say the least. When I expressed my disappointment to someone their response was “God’s people no longer care”. I could not agree more________________“Hell will be filled with people that didn’t cuss, didn’t drink, and may even have been baptized. Why? Because none of those things makes someone a Christian.”
Still pressing on my heart and mind________________
Roughrider said: The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, This is the great falling away. But many of my people are in denial and ignoring it.Needless to say that dream broke my heart.Roughrider, I strongly believe you heard clearly from God and your heart is broken because you have His heart. It may sound strange but I was encouraged to read this post and know others are feeling like I do. Most Christians I know will acknowledge that they are not as excited about prayer, studying the Bible and evangelism as in their earlier days. In NA or AA the first step is realizing one is an alcoholic or drug addict and needs to make changes. Until the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change most people will not take the next step.I do not have all of the answers but a couple of things I feel I can do is increase my intercessory prayer life while challenging our congregation to do the same thing through preaching-teaching, personal conversations and leading by example at prayer meetings. I am also really laying out the challenge to grow spiritually through convicting messages that include addressing what pleases and does not please God (sin) without the fear of offending or losing people. If a football team was getting hammered by their rival and losing by more and more each year they would take drastic measures to change things including firing the coach. Since I see the body of Christ on a continual downhill trend I want my leader Jesus to reward me for preaching the truth to my own hurt in the natural rather than being disqualified for running the race without following the rules-sound doctrine with Biblical truths.