Preface: I was going to use the following as a preface to the post below this....Paul Shook The Pillars....And So Must We....but because of the length decided to make this a post in itself and bring that other post back below it.
"FIRE!"
I had over the years attended a number of Christian conferences....and enjoyed all of them....but over time I wondered if they were putting us to sleep rather than waking us up? I say this because typically we might look forward to a conference that was six months or a year away....then for those few days listen to wonderful messages....and maybe buy a book or two at the book tables....and then go home thinking that we had done something....when really we only satisfied our own needs. I also over time....decades actually....would read the reports of the various yearly synods of the denomination that I was in....as leadership from every congregation would gather to supposedly tackle the great questions of the day....only what I saw was that those great question and difficulties were not being addressed. I would read the report and be frustrated that these men were essentially putting their heads in the sand. This world is literally disintegrating before us....with violence all over the place....the Lord of Glory obviously and hopefully at the very door....and all that the synods were discussing were technical theological details and church polity.
There was a joke that many years ago circulated among Presbyterians....a ministerium of pastors from many denominations were gathered together for a meeting....and a fire broke out in the auditorium. A Baptist minister jumped up and yelled...."FIRE!"....and a Methodist minister jumped up and yelled...."WATER!".....and then a Presbyterian minister jumped up and shouted...."ORDER!" Order is fine....but will someone have the courage and discernment to stand up in these synods and shout out what is going on in this world?
Yes there would be difficulties....and order might break down for a time....but God might shake these pillars that need shaken. He might startle us out of our doldrums. He might put fire back in our hearts. We are living in fear that if we should even open our mouth on something that was not already on the syllabus....that we might make a mistake. May God restore our trust in Him that we might put our reputations to risk....to defend His glory....that we might step out in faith....all to His glory....and that we might leave our defense up to the One who has promised to keep us throughout the storms that we will have to pass through!
