Christian Living

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Gabriel’s voice was loud and clear: “I am sending three of you this coming Saturday and Sunday to visit Australian churches and report on how much of the Lord’s instructions are being carried out. These three will be angels 550697, 10268, and 109. You will report on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, whether demons are cast out, the sick healed, and what effort the church is making to go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Angel 550697 wandered into the Rest-on-Saturday Church. He wore an old pair of jeans with a hole in the knee, and a tatty sweater. One or two smiled at him as he sat down, but some stared questioningly. He thumbed through the newsletter and saw that under the heading “Let’s Pig-out, BYO Meat”, a church barbecue was scheduled for Sunday morning. After that, the youth would be taken to the local swimming pool - with a picnic lunch to follow, but there was no mention of evangelism. The pastor’s lengthy sermon was on how important Saturday is, being the Sabbath, and that they were doing as the Bible says. After the meeting, the angel chose his moment and asked the pastor: “Do you have any program for taking the gospel outside the church?” “Oh we’ve thought about it. It’s in the pipeline, but everyone is so busy, you know.” When asked about the spiritual gifts he said they left that to the Pentecostals. The angel sadly wrote he saw no healing, no demons cast out. Though he was obviously a visitor, there was no salvation message - and no call for unsaved people to repent.

Visit No. 2

Entering the vast Got-It-All Assembly, Angel 10268 took his seat and scanned the newsletter. It listed all the church happenings but evangelism was not among them. Those present were mostly young, faces lit by the flashing coloured lights. Drums and electric guitars boomed from the platform microphones whilst dancers gyrated. After worship time there was silence and the pastor asked if anyone had a “word from the Lord.” Two spoke out, then the pastor asked everyone to pray in tongues, but there was no interpretation. A young man came and shouted the prayers. The angel felt like telling them all God is not deaf.

The pastor then took three minutes to inform everyone the building fund had reached two million but three was needed. Then he spoke on how “fantastic” the guest speaker was - a young woman with short hair and wearing long trousers. Her topic was “How to Get More from God.” They cheered as she told them even more blessings were on the way if they gave more to the church, and a great revival would soon sweep the nation, and it would begin here. In such a huge crowd there had to be visitors, but there was no salvation message and no request for sick people to come forward for healing. After the meeting the angel asked some young people if there was any teaching on identifying the individual spiritual gifts. They all said no. The angel had to write that he saw nothing of the ministry of the Lord or Early Church.

Visit No. 3

Angel 109 looked up at the sign, R-U-Dipped Community Church. Inside, he saw what looked like a happy crowd, and many smiled at him. The pastor came up, and when the angel asked about evangelistic ministries the reply was: “Oh well, we have a craft group at the church once a week, and we build bridges there. Friendship evangelism is all the go, you see.” When asked about healing, he said it wasn’t for today. The angel thought it pointless to mention demons. “What about the gifts of the Holy Spirit?” he said. The pastor smiled. “Oh, if I taught that, half the people would leave and then I’d be out of a job.”

The worship songs were without continuity; scattered among announcements, a children’s story, and communion. The pastor spoke on “The Cross” but there was no mention of sin, eternal death or repentance. At the end he apologized for going five minutes over the usual time. Then he said: “If anyone wants to follow Jesus and join our merry fellowship, just raise your hand.”

The angel left, and sat on a nearby park bench. He reflected on how different it all was from the days in Philippi and Ephesus when he had ministered with Paul, Silas, Barnaby and Peter. With troubled heart the angel began to write. He knew the Lord would not be pleased.

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