The Lord Jesus Christ gave us a very clear sign to watch for that would be characteristic of the end times.Matthew 24:12 (ESV) And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.Some have called this a 'see-saw' verse because the first half of the verse depicts a condition of increase and the second half of the verse depicts a decrease, and the whole verse is causal. In other words, one causes the other.Personally, I believe the timing of that prophecy is during the Tribulation, but we know that the conditions of increased sinfulness and decreased love will reach painful proportions just prior to the Tribulation as birth pangs, and thus the resulting conditions of cold-heartedness, will increase also.One deep Bible study points out that it is about believers growing cold in their love. How could that happen? How does love grow cold? Read Revelation 3:20.Here is something to consider- the downward effects of choosing to get on the seesaw (or choosing to stay on it). Love grows cold because we do not study the Word and thus drift away from Him. (Hebrews 2:1). Or we privately believe the Word is insufficient, and seek carnal means to please God. Either way, we open ourselves up to destructive heresies brought by false pastors, false teachers, false prophets. It's like flies to honey. Or Beelzebub to the unwary.Destructive heresies are a disease. (2 Timothy 2:17). Once infected, we find we like these false teachings (2 Tim 4:3) and so we will clamor for more. Because the people clamor for more, the pastors give us more- poison which tastes good ("Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20). Pretty soon, the parasitic nature of false teachings by the pastor and the carnal acceptance of them by the sheep meld us into this dance of death, and we happily all step onto the broad path. "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." (Matthew 7:13b).You can't have a failing church if you have aware sheep, or a vigilant pastor who feeds them good food. One or the other, or both, must be missing.I immediately thought of all of that today when I read a commentary by Michael Duduit, an Editor for Salem Publishing, who wrote about an all too common problem within Christianity today.Why They Leave The ChurchIn his book Letters to a Young Pastor (David C. Cook), Calvin Miller writes: "The work is hard and the pastoral survival rate is scary. Every year 4,000 churches close their doors forever, compared to just 1,000 new church starts...Each year 2.7 million church members fall into an 'inactive' status."In probing for a reason for this dropout rate, the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development found that these people were leaving because they were 'hurting and wounded victims-of some kind of abuse, disillusionment, or just plain neglect.' The Schaeffer Institute did not comment on why pastors were leaving, but it is probably for 'abuse, disillusionment, or neglect,' also. Since pastors and laity are abandoning the church, we can infer that churches are not just dying; they are dying unhappy."It is this inference that bothers me. Doctrinal differences are not the only thing that is killing evangelicalism. We are dying from a deep infection in our own group dynamics. We don't love each other enough to cling to each other and survive. Forget love; we don't even like each other. That's the core reason we are dying. Into this painful cauldron of ill will we drop young preachers and expect them to save the church. But most soon leave behind the notion of trying to save the church and commit themselves to trying to survive the church."Here are the reasons we give up on Christian ministry. First, we die because we suffer from congregational social schisms that result from huge doses of unforgiveness between jealous, wrangling laypeople. Second, we have too many pastors who compete within their denominations and fire at each other with blitzes of resentment."Third, many preachers who resent each other's success within their city limits participate in sanctimonious name-calling: 'Easy gospel church! Calvinist Mecca! Bible-free preaching! Social gospelers! Modernists!' Most of these churches rarely say these things out loud, but they do say them..."Miller then quotes from Francis Schaeffer's book The Mark of the Christian, which includes this excerpt: "'We are to love all true Christian brothers in a way that the world may observe. This means showing love to our brothers in the midst of our differences-great or small-loving our brothers even when it costs us something, loving them even under times of tremendous emotional tension, loving in the way the world can see. In short we are to practice and exhibit the holiness of God and the love of God, for without this we grieve the Holy Spirit.'"Miller concludes: "Until pastors and churches come to understand this, evangelicalism will continue its decline. When we fail to love each other, there is an empty ache that runs throughout the halls of heaven. And people who wanted more from us and expected more out of us will leave the church hurting, all because we have read the Bible all our lives-even knowing it in Greek and Hebrew-and never caught the connection between John 13:35 and Ephesians 4:30. This is not a truth that can ever be sold on a group basis. You can solve the dilemma only within the singular, narrow place that is your soul."Ouch! But it's so true, isn't it?On the Mount of Olives, Jesus sat with his disciples and answered their questions about the end of the age and the signs of His second coming. He answered in specific detail in Matthew 24 and 25, also Mark 13 and Luke 21. It is the longest answer He gave to any question the disciples asked.End times warnings were given to get our attention. Are we paying attention?Share
