Christ Said Go, but the Modern Church Preaches and Teaches - Come.

The emotional state of churches today has become nearly anathema to the Gospel of Christ. Shakespeare understood the 'mercy' found in the Word of God and realized that compassion that did not blossom into mercy was worthless. He wrote several short pieces upon mercy that would put many pulpits to shame by their ignorance as to how mercy should have reign in a believer's life.

There was a recent post on social media of a passionate outpouring for the derelicts, the outcasts and the world-weary of this world, needing to be drawn into churches where they can find compassion. This was followed by over one hundred and counting saying amen, hitting the like button, etc. A brilliant display of social media compassion at its worst as it opened up another can of worms. More in a moment.

Nothing is wrong with compassion, but without mercy it is very akin to seeing a picture of starving children on their social media, being emotionally moved and not being able to do anything about it. Mercy therefore is compassion in action. Christ's compassion was never without mercy all the way to the cross. He is our example and when our compassion is moved within our sphere of influence; it is our calling to provide mercy in whatever form that may take. Do they need sustenance, comfort, an ear to listen or testimony of your redemption in Christ? Give them what they need whether it be physical, spiritual or both; that is compassion in action which is mercy. As Matthew 5:7 states in Shakespeare's words: mercy given is mercy received.

The word ‘come’ out of our Lord’s mouth when either directed towards His apostles, His disciples or the lost and heavy laden of this world, was to come to Him alone. The rich young ruler’s call was to follow Him and not the ways of the world. Peter was told to not look at John and his relationship to Jesus but to follow Him, found in John 21:22. If you are a legitimate child of the King, you have been called to follow Him alone. If the teaching or preaching is true, you will be a follower of our Lord and no one else.

What have the churches become? Followers of the doctrines of men, church creeds and denominational teachings, in other words, a religious institution. Who needs mercy when you have a gathering that exudes compassion and offers to do the work of its members when it comes to the salvation of the non-members. They seem to have bypassed the message of coming to Christ and replaced it with ‘come to church’ to find relief from your current wretched state of affairs. We will help you clean up your act, give you some go-to scriptures and then release you upon your sphere of influence to bring more like you into the church. Being religious has some great societal benefits as to appearance, health, social behavior along with a new set of morality. The church then becomes an organization that meets regularly, very akin to AA and other help groups, and is now an end in itself. Therein lies a major problem.

The questionable worship services are now polluted with the unsaved. The message of these churches has to be toned down to the level of their hearers and should a real born-again believer be in their midst; the instructions in righteousness have to be shelved so as to not offend the unsaved. It is not good for continued business and church treasuries would suffer along with those who require said funds for their needs. The new gospel has worked very hard to remove the Gospel from where you and I live to inside the four walls of a building.

The bottom line is that the real believers are starved and remain immature as to the Word for a season. My personal witness is that those who taste the meat of the Word, soon come to realize that they have been starved and will look elsewhere for the Truth. These will disappear from these churches and no one will hardly notice that they are gone, while at times the leadership are glad that they are gone … too many questions. The Church belongs to God alone and He will move His own at the time He chooses as many are realizing this in these perilous times. After we ‘come’ unto Him, we are called to go.

Why, why is it that the word 'go' has been replaced by church goers with 'come to my church' and the leaders of those same churches now teach 'bring them to us'?

In essence, the new gospel, which again is not new but a lie from the beginning, teaches their sheep that they are to bring the people to the church and WE will get them saved. This exudes an arrogance on the part of the leadership and dishonors the laity as being ineffective in attaining their church or denomination’s goals for attendance to support their self-conceived ministry.

Matthew 28:19 - a command given to the apostles that is to be echoed by God’s faithful servants, the pastors and teachers of the flock of the living God. 2 Peter 3:2 states those who call themselves pastor or teacher are to be mindful of words of the holy prophets spoken prior to the apostles (Old Testament) and to the commandments of the apostles (New Testament). Many call themselves pastors and teachers but when they do it for hire, they are no longer a gift to the church but have become a burden to the Gospel.

• Go - Gr. aorist participle, akin to the future tense but does not define time. This is not a command but it is an action that needs to take place prior to the command of ‘teach’.

• Teach - Gr. imperative, a command. Pastors and teachers are commanded to teach the flock; instruction in righteousness and the goal of Gospel, to reach lives within the sphere of their influence: family first, friends, neighbors, co-workers and every day acquaintances.

• Teaching what? - To observe ALL things whatsoever Christ commanded. The Holy Spirit made sure every apostle, the twelve, would recall every teaching of Christ while in His presence. John 16:13

What did Christ command the Church NOT to do? We are not to have holy fellowship with the unsaved of the world - 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, but are commanded to come out from among them and be SEPARATE … verse 17.

Do you find it odd that the only known congregation in the New Testament that met in a building other than meeting in homes was Ephesus which became loveless, legalistic and self-centered which resulted in God removing their ‘light’ for the Gospel?

Why do we meet? Hebrews 10:24 - To encourage one another in love and to good works. The New Gospel either doesn’t care about your works, attendance and tithing is fine or has laid down the law as to what now constitutes good works in the eyes of the local church; usually attendance and tithing are the priority of the day. The needs of those in your world are secondary to the requirements of the church.

How are we to meet? Hebrews 10:25 - often, especially as the days grow more wicked and dangerous we will need each other all the more. Matthew 18:20 spoken by Jesus: where two or three are gathered, He will be there. Hmmm … have you ever noticed when there is a social gathering whether it be friends, neighbors or family, you see that people naturally flock to one another in SMALL groups of like-minded people. It is the natural tendency of every human to seek out others in which they can be more intimate. This is the Church: like-minded born-again believers seeking to be more intimately close to Christ and each other. Those who seek the crowds have little interest in being intimate but rather remaining somewhat anonymous. If you want to know the spiritual health of your congregation, just note the topic of conversation before or after the service and at larger church social gatherings. Mainly it will be kids, family, homes, cars, sports, politics, finances, etc. and a couple of weirdos in the corner talking about the scriptures. What are we to conclude?

Romans 3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Today’s churches have changed the fear of God to ‘reverence’ and made the congregation more fearful of the wrath of the leadership according to their doctrines and creeds. In turn the leadership has made it easier for the people to serve the church rather than God; leave the work of the ministry to us and you do what we tell you must be done. These are days of God’s hatred of false pastors among His people just as in the days of Jeremiah 23 and as the Word states, there is nothing new under the sun. If His people will not come out from among willingly; He will drive them out. These wicked days are worsening and God’s sheep will seek God’s shepherds, for they will find no comfort in a worldly church. We will then find out the true definition of the Few versus the MANY.