John Bradshaw - Lukewarm
The research has been cited, again and again, showing that numbers of Christian believers are rapidly declining in the United States; in most Western countries, Christianity doesn't have much further to sink.
140 years ago, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said 'God is dead', not expired, but that society had moved on past God, that God was essentially dead to European society. But without wanting to assume the role of the Holy Spirit, what's perhaps equally as concerning is the state of what's left of Christianity.
How few people actually take it seriously, the gospel is intended by God to be a living force to transform the life, but for many, many people Christianity is just a thing, maybe a cultural thing, a way to identify even, politically.
Jesus has seen this before, and 2,000 years ago, he saw our day; that's why he said to the Church of Laodicea, "So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth," Revelation 3:16.
Apathy in matters of faith is one of the deadliest things that exist and the devil knows that if he can get someone to identify as a Christian without actually being a Christian, that's a major victory for the power of darkness.
Simply having your name on the church role isn't Christianity and really who would want that? What God offers is a closeness with him that Jesus described as being like a branch connected to a vine, if you're cooling off spiritually, revive your prayer life, read the Bible believing God is speaking to you. Claim his promises, tell God you expect to be filled with his spirit and let him know you're willing to grow into exactly what he wants you to be.
There's not a lot of time left if what we read in the Bible is real, so at the moments God extends to us now we want to use them as close to God as we possibly can. I'm John Bradshaw for It Is Written.