I heard on the radio the other day about churches who are looking for other sources of income to stay alive financially. Not all churches have this problem, but Christianity as it has become is dying off. Yes, there are some that are growing and successful financially but that is usually at the cost of other churches losing people to bigger churches who have the programs, worship, preaching and possibly coffee. As of now there are tax breaks for churches who are considered charities. I for one do believe the religious institutions should be paying taxes like any other business but that would be even a bigger problem for churches who are struggling financially. A person said to me, what would happen if overnight a church was removed from the community. The reality as I said to him would be a loss for those who attend but not for the community. The question I have asked is how is the church a charity when most of the people who attend do not need charity, just look at the parking lot and homes they live in.
This is not about the charitable status of the church but about the church not being the true church and having no power. As we see throughout scripture, God will provide, but what we see in the church is not the power of God but human strength and vision which has left the church powerless. Covid really did expose the powerless church and showed just how non-essential the church, as it has come to be, really is. I remember being quite offended by that at first, but as it sunk in, I had to agree. Most were upset that they did not have a place to attend but then many realized that they could get by without actually physically going to church. That is even better than the Saturday evening service that freed up Sundays. The reality is the churches that we see today, even the wealthy ones, are not the church Jesus started. They are not because there is no power.
I finally satisfied my curiosity as to why so many men were gathering at a location down the road from where I live, as parking lots around the building (masjid) are full. After a little research I found that this was a mosque where Muslim men gathered to pray. Gathering to pray is one of the five pillars. “Islam has been built on five [pillars]: testifying that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the salah (prayer), paying the zakat (obligatory charity), making the hajj (pilgrimage) to the House, and fasting in Ramadan. - Prophet Muhammad” This sentence means “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger.” It means to admit and to believe that none deserves to be worshipped except Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger. The entirety of the religion and all of its teachings is built upon the foundation of this belief in God.”
“Muslims are the fastest-growing faith group, followed by the religiously unaffiliated, according to a new Pew Research Center study measuring the evolution of the global religious population between 2010 and 2020.” Think about that statement for a moment. Muslims followed by the religiously unaffiliated are the fasted growing. Many of the unaffiliated are there because they want nothing to do with the church. Actually, the statistics are far worse for Christianity than Pew research is claiming. Just because someone calls themselves a Christian does not mean that they are, and Christianity is not a religion. Due to the rebellion of the church and the desolation that followed, there is only a remnant of the church left which is why religions like Islam is growing. This remnant only exists because of God’s promise to David. Jesus said Matthew 24:22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive.”
Right across the street from this Masjid is a very large church and both are claiming that God is the only God but one says “there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” and the other says Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.” John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Not Muhammad. So, one has men gathering to pray and the other has an empty parking lot most of the time. I don’t know if they had asked but the Majid should ask the church to use their huge parking lot. The question is who is right. If you look at both statistically, you would have to give it to the Majid.
But it is not stats or people gathering that makes one more right than other. Obviously, each thinks the other is wrong as we have seen down through the ages. The crusades had nothing to do with Christianity as Jesus did not come to go to war with humans but with satan. 1 John 3:8 “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Jesus said Matthew 26:53 “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” John 19:9 “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” The disciples had asked Jesus, Acts 1:6 “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” Thinking He was going to take out the Romans, but that was not God’s plan, giving power to the church to defeat satan was the plan.
Many different groups believe in God but when it comes to Jesus that is a different story. James 2:19 “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” God sent His son to save the world from the power of satan. Obviously to do that you need power and authority from God. Jesus was given that power and that power and authority was given to the church at Pentecost. Daniel 7:14 “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Matthew 10:1 “Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.” Luke 10:1 “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” The power and authority Jesus gave the disciples was a preview of the power and authority given to the church that would come at Pentecost.
This was supposed to be the church, but the church turned away from God just as Israel and Judah did. Isaiah 30:9 “For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. 10 They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” Jeremiah 2:11 “Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols. 12 Be appalled at this, you heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. 13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. 27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ 28 Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns.” The church has rejected this spring. John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” Jeremiah 5:2 “Although they say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ still they are swearing falsely. 3 Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain; you crushed them, but they refused correction. They made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent. 30 “A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?” Jeremiah18:11 “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”
The disaster came for Israel and Judah, Jews and the church and the Jews and the church continue to say, “We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’” Today the church is basically just people gathering. If a church does this well, more people gather and follow. This leads to other churches wanting to be like them but in the end, all remain powerless. Power and authority given by God is not the same as man’s power which most call being successful. Having said that, when you think about man’s power, it really is amazing what man has created. Think about the power of a rocket or a car. Think about an athlete like a boxer or sprinter but nothing humans can make compared to the power of God, the creator of everything. As we have talked about before, man is still looking for the Theory of Everything yet refuses to turn to God. Man still cannot cure the common cold, which is among many others that cannot be cured yet man still refuses to turn back to God. The churches who are looking for more finances refuse to turn to the God who provides. Genesis 22:14 “So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Jeremiah 32:26 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”
So when you stand in between the Majid and the large church, the question that has to be asked is not who has the biggest building or who prays the most or who has the most money, but who has the power and authority given by God. No religion will be able to stand against the word of God. Paul said 1 Corinthians 4:18 “Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit?” Acts 19:11 “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.” The problem with this situation is neither have the power and authority given by God, which makes them both wrong. Yes, Islam is wrong for many reasons, but the church is also wrong because the church has rejected and replaced Jesus of whom they say they worship. Paul said the church started following a different Jesus and other gospels even when he was alive. 2 Corinthians 11:4 “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” Galatians 1:6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
Because of this, God turned His face from the church and the church was decimated by the abomination that causes desolation just as we were told would happen. The church became powerless against our enemies. The question about power should be answered with power. James 5:14 “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Jesus responded to John’s disciple’s question, Matthew 11:3 “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” 4 Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: 5 The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 6 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” Matthew 4:23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.” Jesus empowered His disciples to do the same. Luke 9:1 “When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” The church continued in this power and authority. Acts 8:5 "Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.” The church does not look like this.
Don’t be deceived by satan masquerading as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:13 “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” That is not the power we are looking for. Many have been deceived by the nothingness of church. They were told this is what church is, even though people continue to be sick and die and miss out on eternal life. The deception is people are told God no longer does as He did before even though the bible does not say that. Others see false signs and wonders and think this is the power of God, but the power they are seeing is not from God and looks nothing like the power we see in scripture. Matthew 24:24 “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Because very few churches can answer the power question; the answer to the missing power is repentance and turning from wicked ways. Zechariah 1:3 “Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.” The power and authority available to the church cannot be produced by man. Sure, there are some very powerful men and women who have built churches people want to be part of and imitate, but there is no power that was seen in the Gospels and Acts.
The power the church should be looking for is the power that created the universe with a word or the power that destroyed earth with a flood. The power that freed God’s people from Egypt and destroyed the Egyptian army. The power that parted the sea and made a river pile up in a heap and took the land promised to them. The power that defeated armies larger and stronger than them, the power that made them flee before them. The power that raised the dead, healed the sick and cast out demons and the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power available to the church. Ephesians 1:17 “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” Because the word of God has been rejected and replaced, the power that raised Jesus from the dead has been taken from the church.
The good news is that power will return because God promised David there would always be a remnant. The true gospel will once again be confirmed by power and authority and signs and wonders,. Mark 16:15 “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” 19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.” Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
When God turns His face back to the church and the true church goes out in power, there will be no comparison as to who has power or is teaching truth. Isaiah 30:18 “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! 19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!” Isaiah 8:17 “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him.”
