NO ONE LOVES A PROPHET

Giovanni Papine has written, "... The prophet is a troublesome ... voice, hated by the church's leaders and out of favor with the church's members. Like a wild, ragged, unkempt coyote scenting from afar the smell of carrion, like a raven always croaking out the same cry, like a ... wolf howling on the mountain top, the prophet travels throughout the church ... followed by suspicion and hatred... "He is ... a man who sees with a troubled heart - but with clear eyes - the compromises the church is making with the world today, and the consequences that will accrue to it tomorrow ... as a result. "Like all truthtellers who disturb the slumbering majority and who unsettle the peace of the church's leadership, he is avoided like a leper, persecuted like an enemy and those with a reputation in the church for ‘being somebody' detest him. "The prophet is an accuser, but today's Christians do not want to admit their guilt. He is an intercessor, but Christians do not want to be shown their error ... He is an announcer, but Christians do not want to hear ..."1

WEALTH LEADS TO BLINDNESS

And why is this so? - because Christians - especially Christians living in America - are more in love with their material wealth and more concerned with their personal comfort than they are with the truth of God's Word. Their wealth has blinded them. America, with only six percent of the world's population, consumes nearly one-fourth of the world's gross product. There are fifty-five times more goods and services available per person in the United States than in India. If one were to divide the world into a rich one-third (the United States and her vassals (i.e., Western Europe, Japan, etc.) and a poor two-thirds (the rest of the world), the rich one-third would claim an astounding 87 percent of the world's gross product. Americans consume more than twice as much energy per person as their counterparts in other industrialized countries like Germany and England; they use 351 times as much as the average Ethiopian, and they consume five times as much grain per person as do people in the developing world.

FORTRESS AMERICA

To protect this wealth, Americans have erected a wall around themselves great and high, and are in the process of welding the gates shut to protect themselves from the overwhelming tide of Haitians, Mexicans, Vietnamese, etc. who - in their effort to escape the grinding poverty in which they find themselves - threaten to batter down the walls America has erected against them. The most powerful army in the world stands guard at her portals. Her fleets dominate the seas; twelve Herculean naval battle groups prowl the oceans, each dominated by incalculably powerful "supercariers" - oceanic "battle stars" of immeasurable dread. Trident submarines larger than the battleships of World War II lie in wait beneath the seas, ready to unleash their horror and violence on anyone foolish enough to challenge her preeminence. Her air force overspreads the world with its shadow and makes the nations of the world tremble with fear. America's presence fills the world like some mighty colossus. She stands as a giant in a world filled with dwarfs. Her existence shatters the pretense of all those who have gone before her - of Egypt, Assyria, Persia, even of ancient Rome - and she inhabits and diffuses the earth with her omnipotence and Titan-like bearing.

And within the walls of this magnificent, brilliant, sparkling palace, the dazzling party whirls on, oblivious to the presence of the barefoot beggars, the wretched poor and the diseased masses which crowd around the walls and gates, hungering for the scraps that from time to time are thrown over the ramparts. Possessed with a greed and arrogance unheard of in this or any other era, Americans (especially American Christians) believe they hold this wealth as a result of some kind of divine mandate. Thinking they are wise, they have become fools in their own conceit, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served their money more than the God who gave it to them. (Rom. 1:25) The Bible warns:

"... (Because they have chosen to forget me, so then I have chosen to forget them) let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare (i.e., their wealth), let it become a trap (to them). Let their eyes be darkened that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thy indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their tents." (Psalm 69:22-25)

PROPHECY TELLS US WHICH WAY TO GO Prophecy is like a road sign saying: "Slow down, sharp right hand turn ahead!" But if we fail to heed the sign, if we fail to slow down before we get to the turn, it will be too late to brake once we finally get there, and we will surely slide off the road and crash. Like a road sign, prophecy tells us things before they happen so that we can take evasive action before events catch up with us. If we wait until they finally overtake us, it will be too late to do anything - we will crash! Watch, therefore, for the "signs of the times," and don't wait to take action. You may wait too long! Jesus said, "... When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be foul weather today: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" (Matt. 16:2-3) And Paul warns us, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober." (I Thess. 5:4-6)

THE LAITY IS NOT WITHOUT BLAME

And if this curse eventually falls on us, it's not just the leadership of the church that will be to blame, it's us in the so-called "laity" that will have to bear much of the blame as well. The fact is that while the church's leadership is an easy target, blaming the condition of today's church solely on our leadership is nothing more than a convenient "cop-out" for us. In the end, it won't wash - at least in America [where there has never been such a thing as a "national church" which is supported out of the state's coffers regardless of the real popularity it enjoys from its membership (such as is the case with the Anglican Church in England or the Lutheran and Catholic churches in Germany - even today)]. Such an excuse by American evangelicals is farcical. The churches in America are supported exclusively by the money they receive from their membership, and if those who constitute that membership feel their particular church is not "performing up to standard," they are free to withdraw their support, leave and go to another church more to their liking - or even form one of their own. In such circumstances, to indict the church's leadership is to indict the church's membership. The truth is, in America the church's membership is demonstrably more responsible for the leadership's behavior than anywhere else in the world. As members of the so-called "laity," the difficult reality we must all face is that the membership of today's evangelical church has in fact supported much of the direction the church has taken in recent years! - from the rapprochement with the Catholics, to the "hokus pokus" that goes on in many of today's Pentecostal and charismatic bodies, to the political relationships many church leaders have established with the Moonies, to the participation of many church leaders (i.e., Cubie Ward, Larry Lea, Pat Robertson, etc.) with "death squad" activity in Central and South America, etc. All this hasn't been necessarily foisted on an unsuspecting church membership, and when evangelical "lay-people" fail to speak out against what is happening, they are acquiescing to what's going on - no matter what the reason they give for not speaking out.

It's for this reason that the onus for the sorry condition of today's evangelical church must fall primarily on the so-called "laity." The fact is, that if a sufficient number of them in any given church spoke out and demanded a change - a return to the old-fashioned evangelicalism of D.L. Moody, Harry Ironside, Donald Barnhouse, etc. - than the leadership would undoubtedly go along, whether they wanted to or not. After all, their pay checks are dependent on the tithes and "offerings" of the "lay-people," and if enough of them left, they (i.e., the church's leaders) would be out on the street. This is, after all, not the 16th century, and American evangelicals are not confronting some omniscient, all-powerful church which can call upon the state to put guns to the heads of those who - for the sake of conscience - want to leave.

While we admit that leaving one's "church home" is easy to suggest, but difficult to do - still, it's not an impossible task, at least not now and not in America. Indeed, the contention by some well-meaning Christians that in confronting the errors of our leadership, we as evangelicals are facing the same difficulties the Reformers faced 500 years ago is beneath contempt. American evangelicals are not in danger of losing their lives when they confront the power of their leadership; they're not in danger of having their property confiscated; they're not in danger of torture for speaking out. The most they face is ostracism, and if they can't face that, then they have no right to call themselves "Christian." Jesus said,

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matt. 10:34-39)

FEAR OF OSTRACISM

The fact is, however, evangelical lay people do fear losing the respect of their families and friends, even for the sake of conscience - and this, more than anything else, explains why they refuse to speak out. They care more for the love and respect that their friends and families offer than they care for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear of ostracism does more to explain the feckless acquiescence of evangelicals to their church's rapprochement with the Catholics than anything else. It's not that they don't know better! It's not that they are not familiar with the Gospel. It's not that they really fear the church leadership when it threatens those "who refuse to go along" with the judgment of "hell-fire" for "rebellion against the Lord's anointed." Most evangelicals don't really believe that! - these are just contrivances, excuses that they give for not speaking out! What evangelical "lay people" really fear is not the danger of "hell-fire," but the danger of losing their families and friends. Unfortunately, what they are really demonstrating by this fear is their "unworthiness" for citizenship in the "Kingdom of Heaven" - their unworthiness of being called disciples of Christ! Isn't this what Jesus said? Isn't this what He meant when He said, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me?" - surely it is! By "going along to get along," by worshipping at the feet of "unity at any cost," "lay evangelicals" are - by their deeds, if not their words - demonstrating the fact that they are not worthy to be called "evangelical."

Heretics (for that's what evangelicals of years gone by would have called anyone who countenanced a relationship with the Church of Rome) have seized control of the church using "unity" as their battle cry and threatening ostracism against anyone who speaks out against what they are doing. The fear by the "lay-people" of losing family and friends is the basis of the power these heretics wield over the church. Of course, compared to what the Reformers faced, this power is empty of any real substance - and the failure of American Christians to confront it is a testimony of how little they really love the Lord Jesus Christ, and how little they honor His Word.

"Don't pity the poor soldier who has tried and failed; save your pity for the sucker who has never had the guts to even try." -Pete Seeger

THE FAILURE OF THE SHEPHERDS TO LEAD

All this, of course, does not abrogate the church's leadership from its responsibility for what has occurred. The failure of countless numbers of pastors to LEAD - even in the face of a loss of income and the loss of their ministry - bespeaks a cowardliness rarely exhibited in the history of the church. Indeed, one of the most reprehensible faults of pastors today is their failure to accept personal responsibility for what has occurred. Church leaders who should know better vie with one another to blame what has happened on anyone but themselves. A church leader, however, cannot abrogate the responsibility to lead - even if that means that his entire congregation leaves him - and this responsibility of leadership is recognized by secularists and Christians alike; for example, take Louis XV of France; he clearly recognized this responsibility when - after the disastrous battle of Tournay - he led the dauphin, who had been responsible for France's defeat, onto the field of slaughter and told him,

"... Here behold the victims you sacrificed (because of your timidity and failure to lead) ... Preserve this in mind, that you may not sport with the lives of your subjects, and be prodigal to their blood ..."

In the light of this, what will the leadership of today's evangelical church do when at last they - like the dauphin of France - are brought to the "field of battle" by their Lord and confronted with the loss of their congregations to heretics because of their failure to take a stand against those who led them astray? Pastors would do well to remember that while it is a fearful thing to lose their paychecks and ministries for the sake of speaking out, it is a much more fearful thing to be called onto the carpet by Him to whom they must someday give account. They can be sure that on THAT DAY, the necessity of preserving their paychecks and ministries will not loom quite as large as it does now. Concerning those shepherds who fail to take responsibility for the flock over which they have been given charge, the Bible says:

"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds ... and say ... Woe be to the shepherds ... As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field ... Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand ..." (Ezek. 34:2, 7-10)

The church's shepherds should bear in mind that in today's church, a church leader seeks office; he is neither born in or driven to it. A pastor, the head of a ministry, a teacher, an instructor at a Bible school or seminary, etc. wants to hold his office. In turn, the church's membership supports him, enhances his position with privileges and perquisites, and endows him with honor not normally given to the "rank-in-file." But, in return, the church's membership is entitled to expect honesty and spiritual courage from their leaders - honesty and courage enough to tell them not necessarily what they want to hear, but what they need to hear, even if it means sacrificing themselves and their families - after all, do they think they are somehow better than Christ who sacrificed Himself for them?

1. Giovanni Papini, Life of Christ. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1923, pg. 46

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