I not do it!

“Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper” (Proverbs 28:13)

When I heard the crash and ran into the living room, I found the Christmas tree lying sideways on the floor with our youngest (Christopher) next to it.  Near Chris stood his older brother (Keith).  The minute I entered the room, Keith pointed at his little brother and said to me, “Him do it!  I not do it!  Him do it!”  After I picked Chris up off the floor, as well as the Christmas tree, I began to question little brother about what happened.  To which he pointed to his big brother and said, “Him told me to do it!”  The entire incident turned out to be an attempt by a couple of small boys to climb the evergreen. 

The “point the finger game” was first deployed in the Garden of Eden.  It has taken on new life and grown into quite a contest between humans since then.  Seems no one wants to take responsibility for anything anymore.  That brings me to where America is today.  We are a nation who has turned from God.  We are allowing sin that I never thought America would condone, yet alone promote.  And we all want someone to blame.  So, we are quick to assign responsibility for all that is wrong to a multitude of resources.  We blame world leaders, foreign nations, political leaders, political parties, our cities, our states.  And I agree, much of the responsibility falls on the shoulders of these individuals.    

But there is one other entity that I am of the opinion needs to bear some responsibility for the condition America is in.  That is the church.  I have watched the church slowly slip down the drain over my years in ministry.  Fifty years ago, the church was focused on sharing Jesus Christ with the lost world, worshiping God with pure hearts, bible study, and prayer.  However, a recent George Barna poll tells us that only 37 percent of pastors in America hold a biblical worldview.  How sad is that?  That statistic represents pastors.  What do you suppose their congregations are thinking?  I have watched the church over the last several decades squabble over styles of music, whether we sit in pews or chairs, the color of the carpet in the auditorium, the kind of instruments we use for worship, who our favorite pastor is, should women teach or should they stay in the kitchen and bake casseroles.  We have put aside our bibles and depended more and more on “how to” publications.  We listen to men and women who sell the most books, rather than speak the most truth.  We copy ministries from other churches, trying to become the mega church they are.  We compete with one another, trying to reach the top.  Money has become more important than mentoring.  We listen to pastors who share prosperity, feel good messages with the masses.  We have built opulent places of worship that have very little worship in them.  We have set aside prayer, because we are too busy doing God’s work to spend time talking to him.  We sweep the sin of pastors and church members under the carpet.  Shame, shame, shame on us!  Perhaps the reason our nation has turned from God is because the church has turned from God. 

Now I realize that not every church is like what I have just described.  And if you are in a church that is committed to Christ, you need to be very grateful to God and your leadership for that.  I know I am mine.  But Peter warned us in I Peter 4:7, “For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household.”  It is time for the church to repent before God’s judgment begins.  “I not do it” isn’t going to fly with God.    

                                                     Darlene