THE OSTRICH SYNDROME, PART 2 - THE PROOF (TWO YEAR SURVEY OF SHAME)

WHY AMERICAN PASTORS STAY SILENT IN FACE OF ......(New Barna Survey)

We laid out the theory, backed by allegorical evidence of the Ostrich Syndrome in the previous discussion of this self-inflicted malady afflicting the western church. (Click here to read THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS). Well now we have definitive proof, and it is a lot worse than first thought.

Christian researcher George Barna spent two years to discover where self-proclaimed Biblically-sound American pastors and other church leaders were theologically, in practice. Specifically, the survey team wanted to know about the silence of the church on the great issues of our time. The results were shocking, absolutely absurd and horrifying for both these pastors personally on Judgment day and for the Body of Christ, general.

Here is what Barna said about these preachers, when he appeared on American Family Radio recently to discuss his findings on their "TODAY's ISSUES" program. This research was done on behalf of the American Culture and Faith Institute. George Barna said "What we're finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?--and the numbers drop...to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it. When researchers ask those pastors what else they are willing to do to get their people active in the political process, Barna said ‘it's almost nothing.’ (Emphasis mine)

Did you catch that?! Less than 10% are even willing to preach what the Bible says about anything- morality, sin, marriage, raising children...what about that is offensive to these preachers?! Why are they even in the pulpit, frankly, is the question? They swear to represent the God of the Bible and who wrote the Scriptures, through men, but they are worse than King Asa, because these modern versions of Asa, know better, have tasted of the riches of Jesus Christ. Then Barna said the pastors are willing to do ALMOST NOTHING to get their people involved in "the political process". Now the "political process" is not about campaigning for candidates, but being aware of what politicians and their activists are doing, and how it relates to Biblical Christian living. That is all it is. It is about living what you say you believe. It is also about voting according to Biblical principles. Most Christian people do not realize God will hold them accountable for whom they vote! The mess in America today is due to Christians who voted for it, or did not participate. Here is another consequence of the survey findings.

Just look at that photo above for the evidence of why God's under-shepherd, America's pastors - from Osteen to Warren to Andy Stanley to...name them remain silent in the face of societal and global evil. To be sure, there are local pastors who are standing for the Truth and not just in their prayer meetings. In almost Dietrich Bonhoeffer-like boldness, the local Lutheran preacher but up a bold sign to pray for "Iraqi Christians", on a major route which sees thousands of cars drive by it, each day! Several of my preacher friends shout it from the pulpit top when they can and nationally, men like Franklin Graham, David Wilkerson's ministry and others are standing up for the Body of Christ, on the global level.

The latest Barna survey is horrifying on so many levels. George Barna did this survey over a period of two years, so it is not fly-by-night political poll. He put a lot of work and thought into this....and it is worse than we thought. Here are the TOP FIVE REASONS WHY AMERICAN PASTORS WOULD NOT SPEAK OUT AGAINST ANYTHING UNGODLY, ANYWHERE:
- ATTENDANCE
- GIVING
- NUMBER OF PROGRAMS
- NUMBER OF STAFF
- SQUARE FOOTAGE

While this sort of result was suspected for a while, it is stunning to see it confirmed with Barna's Survey numbers! Now the average attendance of the American church is not what we see or think we know - hundreds or even thousands. The average church in the US runs between 60-90 every Sunday! I am sure a lot of these smaller congregations still fall into the same trap as their medium and large church sisters who gave us this terrible confirmation.

A lot of the larger megachurches have become country clubs and would not speak out against sin, the culture or take a biblical stand on "gay marriage". They will speak out about partial- birth abortion or a pro-life issue on a Sunday, maybe once a year. But they will NOT go any further, being fearful of losing numbers to their "services". Even after Bill Hybels admitted that his and Rick Warren's "seeker-sensitive" movement was a miserable failure that failed to produce Disciples, America's megachurches are doubling-down on water-down "cultural Christianity".

You have a guy in Houston who refuses to preach on sin, because it is not cool or positive enough. You have the prosperity clowns with their private jets, multi-million dollar homes, multi-media empires etc. You have another preacher in Dallas appearing on stage with boats and expensive beds, along with his expensive foreign car, telling people "they are Ferrari"....and more and more of this garbage. On some TV network, there is spectacle called "PREACHERS OF LA", about five uber-rich prosperity gospel speakers and their typical southern California lifestyle, which is an absolute incredible piece of heresy.

So there is no wonder those people care more about attendance (and therefore the money attendees to their churches give). If they lose some of their "congregation", there go the money folks, and especially the rich ones....and how else are these guys and their trophy wives going to afford the $100 slim cut jeans, Starbucks daily and four or five bodyguards, on the way to the next pop psychology conference?

These top five items are what we get when we have people losing sight of what the mission of any church is. There is nothing in these serious and deadly revelations which glorify the One Person, which these pastors are supposed to be representing - Jesus Christ. These spoiled fat-cats cannot hold a candle to men like John Knox, of whom Mary, Queen of Scots once said "I fear the prayers of John Knox than all the armies of Europe combined". They cannot hold a candle to men like Bob Warren, or Jim Elliott, or the Moravians or Peter Muhlenberg of the American Revolution. They cannot hold a candle to men like Pastor Saeed who has led 30 people to the Lord in prison in the past year, while the muslims in Iran are merciless in their torture.

If anyone is wondering why there is no national religious (re: Christian) leader calling for Repentance, Return to Righteousness and Prayer for the Persecuted (except Franklin Graham and a couple others), just look at the five reasons all US pastors told Barna, in general. Judgment Day for them will be really interesting. What should concern the rest of us lowly folks is this - we should be very sure of our own actions. Let us not be caught up in that snare, but let us be resolved to do what we can, in our own small way. These people will answer for their massive sins of omission. In our own walk, we must be careful to pray, stay humble and to love others.

Our Agape Love should be so strong, that we care more about their eternal destiny than what they can do for us. Our Godly concern for the lost and hurting and hopeless should inspire us to reach out in unconditional caring and compassion. This is what the Word of God - our Bible - calls us to do and what our own Lord and Savior strongly desires. His Desire is our calling to action. Let's not just speak out in our own circles, but look up - pray up and stand up....stand up, for Jesus. Amen.

HIS FAITHFULNESS IS TO ALL GENERATIONS

Remember your word to your servant,

    in which you have made me hope.

50 

This is my comfort in my affliction,

    that your promise gives me life.

51 

The insolent utterly deride me,

    but I do not turn away from your law.

52 

When I think of your rules from of old,

    I take comfort, O Lord.

53 

Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,

    who forsake your law.

54 

Your statutes have been my songs

    in the house of my sojourning.

55 

I remember your name in the night, O Lord,

    and keep your law.

56 

This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts

Psalm 119:49-56 (ESV)

These are horrible times for the Faithful - the true Children of God, and those who are called by His Name. We see the product of the tolerance of demonic cults, where Christians (and Kurds etc) are being literally wiped out by islamic hordes in northern Iraq, the Biblical region of Nineveh and in the ancient mountains of Syria. The latter used to house the last remnants of those who spoke the biblical language of Aramaic.

While persecution has always been with the followers of Christ: from the original eleven disciples and Apostle Paul, to the early church fathers and those who bucked the Roman system until the Reformation of the Middle Ages, down to present, the vile nature of the current genocide is staggering. The west and western pastors/church leaders - from the American prosperity and purpose-driven proponents to the majority of liberal mainline apostates - are so silent (to their shame on day) that even the secularists are asking them about their silence. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said "'Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.".  But it is not enough to point out these things, Our part is to encourage the saints, pray for the persecuted and make sure that we are also in the Word and found in Him.

Psalm 119 in its entirety is such a wondrous ode to the Word of God and His Commands. But in these time of pain, persecution and peril, Verses 49-56 speak to us loudly, about the Promises and True Purposes Driven by God. He is the God of all Truth, Compassion, Comfort and Care and His mercies never fail. Great is His Faithfulness to us, to all generations. 

In the verses above, the Word says "when I think of Your rules of old, I take comfort, O Lord" and "Your statutes (Your Living Word) have been my songs...." Psalm 30:5 says "though weeping may last for a night, Joy cometh in the Morning". For many of our brothers and sisters, this does seem like the longest night and their earthly tomorrow may never come. But the Good News, which their persecutors cannot say is that the Saved of the Lord  - the True Christians - wake up on the other side of Glory, in the Presence of the Savior. As the old saying goes "this is as good as it is going to get for those in the world, this is as bad as it will get for the people of God"

Let not your heart be troubled, our Lord and Savior has gone ahead to prepare a place for us. For now, let's pray and support wherever and whenever we can. In Jesus' Name, amen.

THE OSTRICH SYNDROME PART 1 - SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing (Edmund Burke)

Just as the Nazis marked Jews during World War II, with the word "JUDE", their World

War II allies - radical islam - are now the rampaging moslem hordes of ISIS through biblical Iraq/Mesopotamia are marking the homes of Christians with an "N". This N stands for Nazarene, as in Jesus the Nazarene. One of their spiritual fathers was the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini of Jerusalem. (Al-Husseini was appointed by the British and himself supported the execution and persecuted of Christians. He met with Hitler in 1941. Click here for the photo of their meeting and more information).

Before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003,  over 1 million Chaldean Christians have lived in what had been their home for almost 2000 years! Strangely enough, they were protected by Saddam Hussein. Since the persecution began shortly after the liberation, less than 500,000 remained until this current conquering by the Mohammedans of ISIS. The sheer brutality of this mob of dangerous invaders into the ancient land of Abraham is unsurpassed. It is not just enough for them to burn down churches and steal homes and businesses of Christians. They have issued an ultimatum of flee, "convert to Islam" at the point of a gun, or face execution. Most have fled, but as they were fleeing with their meager possessions leaving their homes behind, they are being harassed, robbed and tortured.

While close to a half a million of God's people are persecuted in stunning intensity in Iraq.....while their Syrian brethren are decapitated and run out of their Aramaic-speaking villages...while Coptic Christians were murdered by the muslim brotherhood....and even in Nigeria, while entire Christian villages, schools, pastors, homes and people are being wiped out - American church leaders and most of their flock say and do NOTHING!  Absolutely nothing!

This stunning lack of courage (or caring) has been so bad that US Congressman Frank Wolf called out two well-known American preachers in November 2012, for being silent in the West while their brethren were persecuted in increasing numbers and brutality worldwide. The two preachers he called by name were John Piper and Rick Warren. John Piper is the retired pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota and his Desiring God website does contain messages on the Persecuted Church. However, there is no one speaking out nationally to even ask for a concentrated prayer movement for these saints. No one expects to hear from the big money prosperity gospel preachers like Joel Osteen, Copeland and others of the Word Faith movements. Thank goodness for men like Franklin Graham who just called for Christians to stand for righteousness, truth and Biblical values. Franklin, son of Billy Graham, seems to be the only one of God's men who stands for rightouesness and Jesus Christ in these last days.

Why is this so? Why is the Western church in general, and America's wealthy preachers

silent in the face of evil and loss of religious freedom? Why are they more like a combination of the two churches of Revelation 3 (rich and squishy Laodecia) and Sardis? Jesus said He would vomit the church of Laodecia out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16) due to their safe and comfortable lukewarmth. He said of the church at Sardis in Revelation 3:1b "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." America has had the reputation of being a "Christian nation". Jesus knows us better than that - we are dead. The church in America is navel-gazing and caught up more in self-aggrandizement than intercession, evangelism and even being a Romans 1:16 kind of church. We seem to be more interested in getting along with the world and its pagan religions, cults and culture than the one thing which has eternal consequences - the Truth of the Gospel.

The great Moody Church pastor Erwin Lutzer recounted the testimony of a member of a small German country church during World War II whose conscience led him to repent of participating in "singing louder" as the Nazi trains carrying German Jews to the death camps of the Holocaust, so they could drown out the screams. Week after week, they sang louder and louder. In the West, we don't have to sing louder because the amplified electric guitars are drowning out the screams of the persecuted world wide. All that is left for the comfortable western church to do is to keep their heads firmly planted in the sand.

Associated Press Photo from Google Images.

What's the solution to this "Ostrich Syndrome" where these lambs (as Jesus called His church) and their well-off under-shepherds, ( those pastors and elders who have already gotten their reward on earth)? Well, the remnant should pray...and never let up. Pray and where possible, support Voice of the Martyrs and other such ministries like Gracia Burnham's financially, rather than giving to some organization so a celebrity "worship" leader can buy another $150 pair of jeans to perform on stage on Sunday morning.  This is the very least we can do. When one of our brethren hurts, we, who are turned into the Body and Will of Christ, should hurt and intercede on their behalf.  It is the very least we can do.

(Google Images)