Are There Any Men Out There In The Pulpits....Men Who Have Attained Some Sort Of Gravitas....Who Will Tell The Church What It Needs To Hear?

              I feel that I need to return to this topic.....but let me expand a little on the recollections. We can go back ten years to get but a glimpse....but let's go back thirty years instead....to get more of a full-orbed view of the blessing.
              My wife and I owned and operated a Christian bookstore....about a quarter mile from our home where I am typing this...and there were at least six other Christian bookstores within a twenty minute drive. The Christian bookstore in America was a great supply line....and evangelistic tool....(I was one of its captives)....in the wonderful movement of mercy and blessing that God had given America in the 70s and 80s and 90s. There may be a few of those bookstores left....a very few....and I would now have to travel two hours to visit one....but effectively the concept is dead.....and consequently that supply line....cut off!
              We have no real effective information Christian theology source today for the uninitiated....or the seeker. No one is going to be wandering through a mall and possibly stop in a store where God's glorious truths will catch them. Christians today are no longer able to walk into a Christian bookstore....looking for a religious birthday or anniversary or sympathy card....and walk out with John MacArthur's....Ashamed Of The Gospel....or R. C. Sproul's....Knowing Scripture....or Josh McDowell's....Evidence That Demands A Verdict....or a book by David Wells or Iain Murray or Hank Hanegraaff....or a hundred others.
               Thirty years ago Billy Graham was still saturating America with his crusades...and writing his books that warned us. John MacArthur was at the peak of his influence. R. C. Sproul and his Ligonier Ministries were a solid store of knowledge. Pat Robertson's voice was strong....still shouting from the rooftops.....probably to more believers than MacArthur and Sproul combined. David Wilkerson was there for those who already knew that God's judgment was absolutely imminent. Tim Keller was there for balance. These were tried and true generals in this war. They had gravitas....and the courage to address the issues....and now they are all gone! God has....in His perfect design....removed them all....leaving us temporarily alone. There are others out there....but will they stand up?
                Christian Nationalism has devoured the church. We defend the constitution more than God's Word. Biblical illiteracy is rampant. We are recruited today without being converted....and if converted....are hardly able to share the need to be born again. Maranatha was once a Christian household word. Does anyone today even know what it means? We are an idolatrous people....and the church is not immune. False prophets are literally everywhere....one is even in the White House. We do not want Jesus to return in judgment....in fact we close our ears and run from the prophetic voice....that this generation so greatly blessed in those 70s and 80s and 90s....is the generation that will see His coming!
                 A sifting of the grain from the chaff is ahead....and it will be unpleasant....but then finally having a unity even with our theological differences will be a blessing that we have never really had....the closest being that time period of the 70s and 80s and 90s.
                  My prayer....as always....is that God will....shake the timbers....in our synods and conferences and worship services....and even our Bible studies....that veils will fall off of our eyes as when...."something like scales fell from Saul's eyes"....(Acts 9:18)....that we will see the idolatry that has us in bondage....that I will see the idolatry that weakens my already feeble efforts! May all of this be to God's glory alone! Maranatha...Come Lord Jesus!