A ship that is off course, is in trouble. This is compounded if the captain doesn’t know it is off course. There are so many reefs, contrary currents and other lurking possibilities for disaster that the outcome of the voyage can only result in a bad end.
Religion these days is on a similar perilous voyage. In an editorial in the Dallas Morning News, William Murchison commented on a recent plan by the Episcopal General Convention to put down the priests and bishops who have opposed the appointing of women to be priests. He said that the intended victims won’t go along with it and that the move is inspired by pressure from the feminists. He also said two of the main points on the agenda of the National Council of Churches are feminism and gay rights. Some Episcopal bishops have already begun ordaining gays as Episcopal priests. A sobering statement he made was: “Time was when the churches believed their primary job was to proclaim the gospel.” I thought so too!
The apostle Paul said: “Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.” I Corinthians 11:1. In making this statement, he gives a key to understanding how he could continue to preach amidst the constant difficulty he was undergoing – the beatings, the persecutions, the reviling, the shipwrecks and other travail. His mind was centered on the task of being an imitator of Christ who said, “The Son of Man is come to seek and save that which is lost.” This is why Paul could say elsewhere, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel.”
We could paraphrase that and say, “Woe is us if we preach not the gospel.” There are enough politicians and people with various causes, some of them good causes, to take care of those areas without the intervention of the church. Let the church tend to its own business, preaching the gospel.
Some stands being taken by Religionists today are anti-gospel. “As in all the churches of the saints, let the women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection as also saith the law.” Does that sound like Biblical authorization for appointing women to be priests? I Cor. 14:33-34.
“Know ye not the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither…effeminate or abusers of themselves with men shall inherit the kingdom of God.” I Cor. 6:9. Does this sound like Biblical approval of ordaining gays?
When all is said and done, manmade churches can do as they want. Let us fix our sights on following our Leader and His Word. The primary work of His church is to preach the gospel.
