“The chief danger of the 20th century will be religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.”  - General William Booth

Does this sound just a little too familiar? It should. William Boothe, the founder of The Salvation Army, was right on in his prediction of what was to be in the years to come.

When I heard this quote, today, I couldn’t get it out of my head. He saw things so clearly then what so many of us cannot see today, even though we are living right in the midst of his ‘prophesy’.

We are living in a time where churches intently avoid the work of the Holy Spirit and rely solely upon their own strength and power to build the church.

They mention the name ‘Jesus’ but avoid Him altogether, using His words out of context and make excuses about His miracles, explaining them away as natural, not supernatural.

They don’t mention the word ’sin’. That word may offend someone and hurt their feelings.

They teach that salvation already lives within you. You just need to find it within yourself.

They believe in seperation of church and state. Keep the church out of the state. It’s okay for the state to be busy about the church’s business though.

They teach that everybody is going to heaven, since there is no hell for anybody to go to.

Here are some quotes from church leaders today…

“”When people use the word hell, what do they mean? They mean a place, an event, a situation absent of how God desires things to be. Famine, debt, oppression, loneliness, despair, death, slaughter–they are all hell on earth. Jesus’ desire for his followers is that they live in such a way that they bring heaven to earth. What’s disturbing is when people talk more about hell after this life than they do about Hell here and now. As a Christian, I want to do what I can to resist hell coming to earth.”   Rob Bell, Emergent Church Leader

“Well, I don’t know if I believe they [other religions] (are)wrong. I believe here’s what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person’s heart. … I don’t know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don’t know. I’ve seen their sincerity. So I don’t know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.” Joel Osteen, Lakewood Church

“Who’s the man of peace in any village–or it might be a woman of peace - who has the most respect, they’re open and they’re influential? They don’t have to be a Christian. In fact, they could be a Muslim, but they’re open and they’re influential and you work with them to attack the five giants. And that’s going to bring the second Reformation.” Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

“The cross is a distraction…” Brian McClaren, Emergent Church leader

I pray for revival. I pray that God’s people can put distractions aside and let the Holy Spirit make His word real in our lives and change the heart of the church.

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