The Future Of The Christian Church?

The Future Of The Christian Church? by Randolph Jason for Gospel News Network

We have been watching this trend develop since 2014, so it’s not a new thing for us to comment. There was a program on the History Channel titled “Revelation” about the end of the days. Well done, stayed close to a more realistic version of what we may experience during the rapture, tribulation and the 2nd Coming of Christ.

In this program there is a small group of Christians that are strictly following the Bible. This is during a time when Christians are being hunted (sound familiar?) like animals and treated like the worst criminals society has ever produced. What happened for me was the fact this group of Christians were following Christ and attempting to live a Godly life as spelled out in the Gospel. While there isn’t any specific reference to the LGBT+P for pedophilia crowd, there is a sense this a part of the separation. This group of Christians are in hiding throughout the entire program. Small groups of families, couples and individuals praying, reading the Bible and living through this very bizarre situation.

The idea of Christians being separated from society is beginning to happen right now. For those paying attention the signs are all around us – the war on Christmas, the unreported global genocide of Christians and the unstoppable slaughter of Christians by radical islamic terrorist, along with, China issuing a bounty for Christians that are arrested. This is to say nothing of the ongoing verbal abuse and physical attacks happening here in the U.S.

Now we see a separation within the church. We are witnessing the transformation of the church, Christianity and what is and isn’t in the Bible. What is the interpretation of “love thy neighbor as thy self”? This is the very essence of Christianity but it runs contrary, in many Christians view, of the very teachings of Christianity. To say that it is creating a lot of confusion would be the understate of the millennium.

Today we see the Methodist Church is actually splitting into two different factions based on sexual orientation. One faction will serve all aspects of the LGBT+P for pedophilia and the other will is flat out rejecting it at every level.

Leaders of the United Methodist church – America’s second-largest Protestant denomination – have announced plans to split the church in two after years of division over same-sex marriage.

The plan, if approved at the church’s worldwide conference in Minneapolis in May, would divide the denomination into two branches: a traditionalist branch that opposes gay marriage and the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clergy, and a more tolerant branch that will allow same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ clergy.

The split would affect the denomination globally, church leaders said. The United Methodist church lists more than 13 million members in the United States and 80 million worldwide.

The US supreme court legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country in 2015, but that decision applies only to civil, not religious, services. Some denominations, including the Episcopal church and certain branches of Judaism, have sanctified same-sex unions, while others including the Roman Catholic church and Southern Baptist Convention, have declined to do so.

A council of Methodist bishops in Washington DC called Friday’s move the “best means to resolve our differences”.

The New York Conference Bishop Thomas Bickerton, part of the group that drafted the plan, said this was a way to reach an amicable separation.

“The protocol provides a pathway that acknowledges our differences, respects everyone in the process, and graciously allows us to continue to live out the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ,” he said. Source

This subject has created within me a great deal of confusion. On the one hand there is the “acceptance is not approval” approach and the other hand there is the out right rejection of Biblical sexual deviance. The Bible seems to be pretty clear about sexual deviance, but when there are people you know, love and care about that are either living this lifestyle or have family that are living this lifestyle everything changes. It has created in me a sense of separation or abandonment or confusion that is, obviously, not easily defined.

The fact that the Methodist church is splitting over this issue, in my opinion, says a lot about the climate this subject is creating. People on a much larger scale than is recognized is beginning to rip at the very heart of Christianity and beginning to divide, not only churches, but is dividing families and communities as well. If the church doesn’t step up and address this situation, on a much larger scale and have that message spread throughout the church we are going to see more churches split.

When the Nashville Statement was published in 2017 it addressed, from a Biblical perspective, this subject along with several key elements that our society is dealing with today. It seems to be very clear about the direction corporate church should be moving. This doctrine, in my opinion, should be brought to the fore at least annually at every church that is associated with the organizations that created this document. These churches, obviously, approve on some level the beliefs that have been codified, otherwise, it would only make sense those churches would no longer associate with such a doctrine.

It seems we are coming into a time of unity and a time of division. Not speaking for anyone just attempting to figure out how best to serve God, live more like Jesus Christ and be filled with the Holy Spirit on a regular basis. The secular world is, once again, stepping in and running roughshod over everything beautiful, loving and grounded in love. The enemy knows exactly where to attack, when to attack and what to attack. If ever there were time we needed Jesus Christ to fight our battle it is now.