Who Will Be a Man of God in This Generation?
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It reminds me of what it was like playing sandlot baseball as a kid growing up in Spokane, Washington.
Rarely did we have a new baseball for the games, they were well-used and the stitching was loose. Each game we played more of the stitching was slowly come apart at the seams.
Sound familiar?
I am certain that you are as stunned and concerned as I have been over the last two weeks, watching our nation slowly coming apart like one of those baseballs we used in the sandlot.
I know our nation has faced dark days in her history and she has overcome victoriously and gloriously. There was a significant difference in those days.
A good number of people knew where to look for the answers and wholeheartedly believed in the absolute truth of the infallible Word of God.
Who Will Be a Man of God in This Generation?
Recent surveys, such as Lifeways Research and the Barna Group have discovered that far less than half of those who say they are Christian and attend church regularly read their Bible regularly.
One in five give affirmation to reading their Bible every day.
My wife is a children’s pastor. She has taught Sunday school, children’s church and kid’s clubs every week since she was fifteen years old.
There is a growing trend that has troubled her greatly over the last twenty-five years.
Children coming from families who are active in the church and attend on a regular basis do not know the most basic Bible stories.
- Noah and the Ark
- Jonah and the Whale
- David and Goliath
And other stories from the Holy Scripture that were the staples of all children’s literature and Bible lessons for the children of previous generations are not being passed on to the children of this generation.
The mothers and fathers in families that are active and regular attenders in church are not fairing any better.
The basics of the Christian faith and biblical world view are not being grasped by this generation of adults. They certainly are not being lived out in the majority of those who are in worship on Sunday morning.
When the basic truths that were the foundation in the building of this nation are no longer the foundation of individual’s lives, where will they turn for answers to the great issues that are facing every one of us every single day?
They are not simple issues
- Deception
- Distortion and disinformation in the media
- The level of violence in our culture
- Immigration and boarder security
- The mental health and opioid crises
- Moral decadence and same-sex relationships
Pragmatism, rationalism, and tolerance will not lead to solutions only further distortion and disinformation.
The American Medical Association; the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology; science research, judicial activism, and the Department of Education will not resolve this crisis.
Junk science, dishonest reporting, redefining terms, and revisionism have the fox guarding the hen house.
In other words, the natural outcome of post-modernism has come to full bloom in the American culture and it has invaded the house of the Lord.
Only one answer will suffice.
It is the same solution God has sent to mankind throughout the ages of time.
“So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel… When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers… Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them… the Lord was with the judge and deliver them out of the hand of their enemies…” (Judges 2:7, 10-11, 16, 18 NKJV my emphasis).
After the judges, God sent them prophets; Samuel, Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, and all the other men of God who spoke the infallible truth of God to a generation who may or may not have wanted to hear it.
When the priests and the prophets chose to revise the truth; redefine right and wrong; compromise the moral values of God; blend the church with the culture and politically correct stance of the day, the results were disastrous.
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, say to her: “You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation. The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they had devoured people; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things: They have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean: and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them…”’ Her prophets plastered them with untampered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken… So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezekiel 22:23-26, 28, 30 NKJV).
The description God gave of the spiritual leadership in Israel at that time may very well fit on the Christian media of today.
The results were horrifying. “’Therefore, I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,’ says the Lord God” (Ezekiel 22:31 NKJV).
When men of God would hear the call of God, stand in the gap (make a wall against the forces of darkness), and proclaim the uncompromised Word of God, revival was always the result.
This has been the history of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as well.
John Wycliffe, John Hus, Savonarola, Martin Luther, John Wesley, George Whitfield, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, Smith Wigglesworth, and the street and coffee shop preachers of the Jesus People Movement.
These are only a few of a long list; men of God who heard the call and gave their life to build a wall against the powers of darkness and raised their voice with the word of Truth in their generation.
Who will be that man of God in this generation?
Who will give their life to build a wall of truth against the lies of darkness and will raise their voice to proclaim truth that the people might be set free?
Read more content like this below:
Does It Matter What We Believe?
What Happens When the Church Chooses Deception?
