Glory Departing? Pt. 1
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
Whatever news source you follow, it is difficult to hear reports from around the world without increasing concern about what lies ahead. While many look to politics for answers to problems that are seemingly insurmountable, others know that our answers to those problems do not lie within the halls of congress, but within the hearts and souls of men.
The telltale signs of the current issues we face have been making themselves known for decades. The shift in politics, our society, education and the media altered the way we viewed what was important in life and the citizens of our country fell into step with the the new norm. Those who could see the dangers of the precipice we were on were mercifully sounding an alarm. Sadly, few listened. The messages were unpopular and the messengers were mocked. The central theme in America was fulfilling our own desires. To this day, nothing has changed.
What is even more striking was at that place in our nation’s history, the church was blind to the fact that we too were walking in step with the world. In His mercy, God sent messengers to warn us of the slope we were on and to call us back to Himself in humble and complete repentance, but most turned a deaf ear. Del Fehsenfeld Jr. was one who heard the call of God and traveled to churches across America asking for Christians to stop sinning and return to their first Love. He wrote an excellent book about the burden of his heart and his experience in those churches, titled “Ablaze with His Glory/A Plea for Revival in Our Time.” His book was published in 1989. The same year God took him to heaven. He was 42. The following is an excerpt from his book.
“When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, they tore it down stone by stone. They wrecked the temple and burned it to the ground, but it did not really matter because God had already departed. God is not the curator of some ancient museum. He is not a collector of old religious shrines. He has allowed the enemies of His people to destroy the tabernacle and two temples to emphasize this point. God is far more concerned about the inner sanctuary of the human heart than He is in any building made with human hands.
“Today’s church is in trouble just as ancient Israel was in trouble. We are reaping many of the same consequences in our own society. We cannot impact society because we are not willing to live holy lives that can convict the godless and draw them compellingly to Christ. We lack great spiritual leaders with the moral vision and spiritual passion to call us to revival.
“Several years ago the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, that great British evangelical pastor, said, ‘I am profoundly convicted that the greatest need in the world today is revival in the church of God.’
“The powerful American preacher Van Havner has said, ‘Only a mighty moving of the Spirit can clear the scandal and strife in the church today.’ In response to the question of whether we were seeing true revival in the churches today, Havner observed that if we were, there would be a spiritual awakening; the divorce rate would drop; pornography, public nudity, and sexual immorality would not be tolerated; lawlessness and crime would decline; and worldliness would be kicked out of the churches. The great problem of our time, Havner observes, is that ‘the world and the professing church first flirted with each other, then fell in love, and now the wedding is upon us.’”
Sue Bendorf
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
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Whatever news source you follow, it is difficult to hear reports from around the world without increasing concern about what lies ahead. While many look to politics for answers to problems that are seemingly insurmountable, others know that our answers to those problems do not lie within the halls of congress, but within the hearts and souls of men.
The telltale signs of the current issues we face have been making themselves known for decades. The shift in politics, our society, education and the media altered the way we viewed what was important in life and the citizens of our country fell into step with the the new norm. Those who could see the dangers of the precipice we were on were mercifully sounding an alarm. Sadly, few listened. The messages were unpopular and the messengers were mocked. The central theme in America was fulfilling our own desires. To this day, nothing has changed.
What is even more striking was at that place in our nation’s history, the church was blind to the fact that we too were walking in step with the world. In His mercy, God sent messengers to warn us of the slope we were on and to call us back to Himself in humble and complete repentance, but most turned a deaf ear. Del Fehsenfeld Jr. was one who heard the call of God and traveled to churches across America asking for Christians to stop sinning and return to their first Love. He wrote an excellent book about the burden of his heart and his experience in those churches, titled “Ablaze with His Glory/A Plea for Revival in Our Time.” His book was published in 1989. The same year God took him to heaven. He was 42. The following is an excerpt from his book.
“When the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, they tore it down stone by stone. They wrecked the temple and burned it to the ground, but it did not really matter because God had already departed. God is not the curator of some ancient museum. He is not a collector of old religious shrines. He has allowed the enemies of His people to destroy the tabernacle and two temples to emphasize this point. God is far more concerned about the inner sanctuary of the human heart than He is in any building made with human hands.
“Today’s church is in trouble just as ancient Israel was in trouble. We are reaping many of the same consequences in our own society. We cannot impact society because we are not willing to live holy lives that can convict the godless and draw them compellingly to Christ. We lack great spiritual leaders with the moral vision and spiritual passion to call us to revival.
“Several years ago the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, that great British evangelical pastor, said, ‘I am profoundly convicted that the greatest need in the world today is revival in the church of God.’
“The powerful American preacher Van Havner has said, ‘Only a mighty moving of the Spirit can clear the scandal and strife in the church today.’ In response to the question of whether we were seeing true revival in the churches today, Havner observed that if we were, there would be a spiritual awakening; the divorce rate would drop; pornography, public nudity, and sexual immorality would not be tolerated; lawlessness and crime would decline; and worldliness would be kicked out of the churches. The great problem of our time, Havner observes, is that ‘the world and the professing church first flirted with each other, then fell in love, and now the wedding is upon us.’”
Sue Bendorf
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
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