Preface: In chapter 23....Jeremiah gave a prophecy against both the prophets....(those who claimed to speak for God).....of Samaria....and of Judah and Jerusalem....in which God said that the prophets of Samaria...."prophesied by Baal".....(that would be the liberal men and women in our pulpits today.) God also spoke against those in Judah and Jerusalem in this...."They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from wickedness." That speaks today to the men who supposedly speak for God....in strengthening the hands of one Donald Trump. They essentially put in office....ignored who he turned out to be....kept him through impeachments and investigations that were not 'fake'....and incredibly....in spite of his continuous false prophecies....and one long continuous lie since coming down that escalator in June of 2015....and in essence keeping the church from admitting our own culpability in what our nation has become...and then looking alone to Christ....they want him to return!
The ministry of Charles Spurgeon lasted only about forty years. He died on the last day of January 1892....at 57 years of age. It is said that when he died he left his wife only a moderate amount of money....when he would have made millions. He was the pastor of an established church at nineteen....and the newly built Metropolitan Tabernacle at twenty years of age. He was the biggest part of a revival that London experienced from 1859 to 1865.
By the mid-1880s that revival was not only long over but Christianity was losing the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the early twentieth century it has been said that it was only a shell rather than a kernal of the faith....and today only about a quarter of the people even identify with evangelicalism....and less that half even assent to the Christian faith.
I can see the difference in Spurgeon's sermons in the last decade of his life. They were more strengthening what remains of the church. They were more mature....and stronger....but more somber also. The joy was more defined....but it was more meat than milk. The number of major church ministries that Spurgeon started and maintained is striking. Monies were given everywhere that would help the gospel and its ministers.
Christianity may have waned in England....but Spurgeon's worldwide ministry has stayed strong. America experienced it's latest revival....similar to England's....about a half century ago. Billy Graham was our Spurgeon....and like Spurgeon....Graham saw the church deteriorating....and even more than Spurgeon.....he saw Jesus Christ at the very doorstep.
Spurgeon himself is long gone....Billy Graham has been gone for five years. Sproul is gone....and John MacArthur preached one sermon since he took ill on January 1....and it was not the John MacArthur of old. Christian bookstores are essentially gone. No longer can an American just walk the shopping center concourse as I did in 1982....and stumble across a Christian bookstore....walk in just out of curiosity....and walk out with a book that would change their life. Everything is politics today in the church. If people are being born again they are keeping it to themselves.
Update: John MacArthur did preach on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The messages were wonderful....and he sounded....healthwise....better....but still a little bit weak.
