The 'Invisible church' is all the redeemed of Jesus Christ....the number of which and identities of whom only God knows. The 'Visible church' is that which and who we see all around us that are identified as Christian.
There's another term that I would like to use here and that is 'remnant'....and I want to use it first as to a remnant left in America....redeemed and unredeemed alike....who remember a God-fearing American people and an American creed....and they want....and work....for that to return. The term that I would use for the rest is 'postmoderns'....those whose beliefs and ideology....if they have one....were formed not by American education that dominated American life for hundreds of years....but John Dewey's new education....theories that even the early Soviets patterned their education system. Truth to them is like a smart phone....you just buy the one that you want....or you choose not to own one at all.
There is also a remnant within the church....the invisible church....that utterly refuses to follow the course set by this new society. This remnant was not taken in by Donald Trump. They knew from the beginning that there was something seriously wrong here. They could see greed and power and deception and revenge. He spoke....but his words did not resonate with them. This remnant within the invisible church can see a fast approaching storm. There is a winnowing coming to the church along with this storm....and politics may be the sieve....as Evangelicals realize that they have been duped.
An hour ago I was walking through our town.....stopping once to say hello to friends who were enjoying their dinner on an outside table. I returned home and sat down....booted my web page up....and then the storm came in suddenly. I walked around the house to check and see if the gutters were draining properly....as the torrent of rain was pouring over them as a spillway. I knew that the storm was coming in for I had checked the hourly weather report....and it came in right on time. Folks....there is a storm coming to America. I checked the reports from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God's Doppler radar shows it approaching. I've been following it for years....even decades....along with many others.
My wife and I spent one full day on the beach a few days ago while traveling. I walked the boardwalk and sat under an umbrella in the sand for five hours....reading a book about how Christians in the Middle East suffer for their faith. A green flag undulated gently in the sweltering heat....indicating that it was safe to swim. Have you ever been to Ocean City, New Jersey? It's a trip back into the past of beautiful two and three-story wooden framed houses on quiet streets with families everywhere....and no bars. I did not hear one F-bomb while there. It is my favorite beach getaway....and I built my short novel....Isaac Crockett....around it....but there is a hurricane coming in...multiple storms.....everywhere in America....each one named after a garden that we gave up weeding decades ago.
It's time to hit the markets early before the shelves are bare.....to buy that plywood.....and nails....water....and essentials. It's time to plead with God to keep us through the storm that He has told us for many decades that was coming. It's time to thank Him for all the blessings that He has given this nation....and all the good that came to the world because it existed....but it's well past time to begin to read the weather reports.
God gave two great gifts in the nineteenth century from London to Christians all around the world....right up to today! They both were pastors and preachers and teachers.' Their names were Charles Haddon Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle. The Reverend Ryle gave an interesting interpretation in one of his commentaries on Jesus casting out a deaf and dumb spirit. (Luke 11:14-20) He likened that demon to our refusal to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ! It's as if we cannot speak....for Ryle asks the reader....."What shall we say of those who never speak of God." He added...."The 'dumb devil' is not yet extinct"....and that Satan continues to "despoil....in the truest use of the tongue"...but...."Thanks be to God, that same Jesus still lives, who can make the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak!"
Ryle exhorts us to consider the previous passage (Luke 11:5-13) about a man who pleaded with with his neighbor for three loaves of bread that were all of a sudden needed. Ryle points out that the neighbor was too lazy to get up in the middle of the night....but he relented just to end the man's pleading. He likened this to prayer...."if importunity succeeds so well between man and man, how much more may we expect to obtain mercies when used in prayer to God." Folks....ask God about what is going on today....plead with Him....then ask of Him to open up your mouth to proclaim His coming in great power and glory....and the offer of kinship with His Son.....a safe harbor in that storm....and for all eternity!
The book I was reading on the beach is Standing In The Fire...Courageous Christians Living In Frightening Times.....by Tom Doyle
J. C. Ryle's commentary is Luke...Vol 2....Expository Thoughts On The Gospels
There's another term that I would like to use here and that is 'remnant'....and I want to use it first as to a remnant left in America....redeemed and unredeemed alike....who remember a God-fearing American people and an American creed....and they want....and work....for that to return. The term that I would use for the rest is 'postmoderns'....those whose beliefs and ideology....if they have one....were formed not by American education that dominated American life for hundreds of years....but John Dewey's new education....theories that even the early Soviets patterned their education system. Truth to them is like a smart phone....you just buy the one that you want....or you choose not to own one at all.
There is also a remnant within the church....the invisible church....that utterly refuses to follow the course set by this new society. This remnant was not taken in by Donald Trump. They knew from the beginning that there was something seriously wrong here. They could see greed and power and deception and revenge. He spoke....but his words did not resonate with them. This remnant within the invisible church can see a fast approaching storm. There is a winnowing coming to the church along with this storm....and politics may be the sieve....as Evangelicals realize that they have been duped.
An hour ago I was walking through our town.....stopping once to say hello to friends who were enjoying their dinner on an outside table. I returned home and sat down....booted my web page up....and then the storm came in suddenly. I walked around the house to check and see if the gutters were draining properly....as the torrent of rain was pouring over them as a spillway. I knew that the storm was coming in for I had checked the hourly weather report....and it came in right on time. Folks....there is a storm coming to America. I checked the reports from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. God's Doppler radar shows it approaching. I've been following it for years....even decades....along with many others.
My wife and I spent one full day on the beach a few days ago while traveling. I walked the boardwalk and sat under an umbrella in the sand for five hours....reading a book about how Christians in the Middle East suffer for their faith. A green flag undulated gently in the sweltering heat....indicating that it was safe to swim. Have you ever been to Ocean City, New Jersey? It's a trip back into the past of beautiful two and three-story wooden framed houses on quiet streets with families everywhere....and no bars. I did not hear one F-bomb while there. It is my favorite beach getaway....and I built my short novel....Isaac Crockett....around it....but there is a hurricane coming in...multiple storms.....everywhere in America....each one named after a garden that we gave up weeding decades ago.
It's time to hit the markets early before the shelves are bare.....to buy that plywood.....and nails....water....and essentials. It's time to plead with God to keep us through the storm that He has told us for many decades that was coming. It's time to thank Him for all the blessings that He has given this nation....and all the good that came to the world because it existed....but it's well past time to begin to read the weather reports.
God gave two great gifts in the nineteenth century from London to Christians all around the world....right up to today! They both were pastors and preachers and teachers.' Their names were Charles Haddon Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle. The Reverend Ryle gave an interesting interpretation in one of his commentaries on Jesus casting out a deaf and dumb spirit. (Luke 11:14-20) He likened that demon to our refusal to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ! It's as if we cannot speak....for Ryle asks the reader....."What shall we say of those who never speak of God." He added...."The 'dumb devil' is not yet extinct"....and that Satan continues to "despoil....in the truest use of the tongue"...but...."Thanks be to God, that same Jesus still lives, who can make the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak!"
Ryle exhorts us to consider the previous passage (Luke 11:5-13) about a man who pleaded with with his neighbor for three loaves of bread that were all of a sudden needed. Ryle points out that the neighbor was too lazy to get up in the middle of the night....but he relented just to end the man's pleading. He likened this to prayer...."if importunity succeeds so well between man and man, how much more may we expect to obtain mercies when used in prayer to God." Folks....ask God about what is going on today....plead with Him....then ask of Him to open up your mouth to proclaim His coming in great power and glory....and the offer of kinship with His Son.....a safe harbor in that storm....and for all eternity!
The book I was reading on the beach is Standing In The Fire...Courageous Christians Living In Frightening Times.....by Tom Doyle
J. C. Ryle's commentary is Luke...Vol 2....Expository Thoughts On The Gospels
