Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Are We Ready?

I was talking with a friend last night about the future of the Church in America and how we will be doing church in the coming decades. It was obvious to both of us that the time would be coming when Bible believing churches would not be able to gather under one roof to worship and share. I think we concluded that many churches would after a time have to break up into house churches. The immediate reasons for this should be obvious. Culturally, in the US, we have moved to an 'anything goes' lifestyle where if you disagree with something someone else is doing or refuse to play along, you get censured.

The most glaring example is the same sex marriage issue. Evangelical churches are not going to bend the knee to the Supreme Court and marry same sex people if they show up with a license. We just are not going to do that. We disagree with the marital union of a man and a man or a woman and a woman. It is not what God intended and yes, it is sinful whether inside or outside of wedlock.

More to the point, I am not here to debate that question. You have your opinion. I have mine. I'm sorry that you feel the need to force everyone to agree with you, but it is what it is.

What I am getting at here is that, since we are not going to do these things, it will probably mean that our churches will lose their tax exempt status.

Fine. I can deal with that. Maybe we should have been paying taxes all along. Jesus said to render unto to Caesar what is his and to God what is His. I am right on board with the whole concept. The problem is that the middle class church in America has built these modern day temples to meet in that they can barely afford. The added burden of taxes could well end that practice and I do mean quickly.

Think about it Christian. In a world eager to punish us for our politically incorrect free speech practices, there may also be a desire to punish through taxation. It will not be called that of course, but that might well be the purpose of any such legal action.

Are we ready for that? Is there a plan B?

I am thinking not.

We need to be prepared to move and do so quickly. We can not wait around. Changes like this can happen very quickly. even overnight. Ask any Jew that lived in Germany in the late 1930's - if you can find one.

This is how Fascists and Socialists work.

We need a plan. We need to be prepared to break up into small groups, to meet in homes and to come together in public places. Nothing beats the fellowship of a small group and meeting in a public place just might just annoy the hell out of the authorities if you know what I am saying.

And consider this. The money we stop spending on suburban temples can be used in the fight against our spiritual enemy. The Church in American might actually enjoy a growth spurt the likes of which have not been seen since the Great Awakening.

If you are in the leadership of a church, please give my words some consideration. We need to be ready. Our brethren in Asia are already doing this. They have to. We have time to plan for it.