“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.” — Revelation 2: 5
“Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them (those that practice the doctrine of Balaam and the Nicolaitans) with the sword of my mouth.”
— Revelation 2: 16
“Behold, I will cast her (Jezebel v. 20) into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.”
— Revelation 2: 22
“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
— Revelation 3: 3
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
— Revelation 3: 16
All but two of the seven churches — Smyrna and Philadelphia, were given ultimatums by Jesus Christ. His ultimatums to them were either repent of their sin and disobedience or He would judge their sin Himself in some form or other.
When Jesus addresses these churches He holds the members that make up each local church responsible for the state their church is in. He also holds them responsible for changing the state of the church to one that is pleasing to Him through repentance and obedience to His Word.
All of these church were first century churches. Less than a hundred years after the birth of the church at Pentecost the churches had already gone astray. They were told to either have revival in which they would address their sins and repent of them and return to biblical Christianity and holy living or Jesus Christ would bring His judgment upon them.
The state of the modern church is one of worldliness. There is more world, the flesh, and the devil in churches today than there is Jesus Christ. And the church members are responsible for the state of the church because of their compromise of the truth and their tolerance of sin.
And Jesus Christ is calling us to repent to or else. We can judge ourselves and have real revival or Jesus will unleash other forces to chasten us and bring us back to Him.
America is on the brink of revival or revolution. If the church would have revival we could save our nation from having a revolution. But I see no sign of the church having or even seeking revival.
Modern secularism has won in America. And biblical Christianity has lost.
When — I did not say if — socialism and then communism govern our country we will have an atheistic government that will hate Christians and Christianity and like in every communist country persecute the Christians and seek to destroy Christianity.
In communist countries the church has a vibrant faith and in spite of its persecution fervently serves Christ. Will the same thing have to happen in America before the church here returns to God?
James H. Cagle is a Ray City resident who pastored several churches for a total of 11 years. Email him at pastorjameshcagle@ yahoo.c
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