More and more we hear of out-of-church Christians who have left the IC (institutional church) because they believe it’s “the end of the Church Age”.

One of the biggest proponents behind this teaching is Harold Camping who claims the Church Age has ended.  Camping teaches that Christians should stop going to church and ”depart from churches.”   The teaching, however, has spread far and wide beyond Harold Camping and is rapidly gaining traction.  Many people have done exactly as Camping and others have told them to do and are now called “out-of-church Christians”.

As I’ve observed the phenomenon over the years I’ve noticed a striking lack of discernment among many who have “left church”.  The assumption is, of course, that GOD lead them out and told them to depart- that He is doing a “new thing” and that they are simply “getting in the flow” of what God is doing.  Maybe it’s time we started asking some hard questions:

1. What if God is NOT the one who told you to leave?
2. What if you’re being lead astray?
3. Could this be a counterfeit from the enemy of your soul to bring you into a place where you are away from God’s people?”

God’s Word tells us to “Test everything.  Hold on to the good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

The failure to follow this simple admonition is why so many have fallen to the seduction of bad teaching.  Over and over again scripture warns us:

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3)

I have followed the trend of out-of-church Christians very closely because I believe God is bringing change to the church, but I am also aware that we have an enemy who is cunning and lays the snare of counterfeits.

I have no desire to find myself led astray, deceived, or walking in a counterfeit work of the enemy!  God tells me to “Test everything”, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do!

Something strange is going on here!

I’ve paid especially close attention to the out-of-church movement because I’ve written songs that address apostasy and lukewarmness in the church.  This is something I’ve thought about for a very long time- I wrote “Whatever Happened To Jesus” in 1987 and “Nice Little Church” in 1996.  I only recently recorded them and made them available to the public.  I couldn’t help but notice that the timing of the release of these songs coincided with the ”Out-Of-Church movement”, the “Emergent Church movement” and the “End of the Church Age” trend that we are seeing… but with one vital difference- I have arrived at VERY different conclusions than all of these movements!

It is very obvious change is in the air, and as far as I can see, a fair amount of deception is accompanying whatever legitimate things God may be doing.

I believe God is bringing change to the church, (as He has often done throughout church history through periods of revival).  As history has shown, this change has most often occurred outside of the mainstream church, so it would not surprise me if that is again the case.  I have noticed one startling difference, however, between some of the current “movements” and past legitimate “moves of God” that is alarming to me- past moves of God have always revolved around His Word and restoring to the church the truth and person of Jesus Christ according to the bible.  Many of the present day “moves” that are supposedly from God actually downplay the Word of God, or twist it in imaginative ways to make it say things that it never says!

Is the Church Age over?  Did Jesus put an end to “church”?  Are we to stop gathering with Christians?

An excellent example of distorting and twisting God’s Word is found in the claim that the Church Age is over.  Many Christians have believed the lie, stopped gathering with other Christians, and think they’re actually better off sitting home alone than gathering with God’s people! 

The deception behind the claim that the Church Age is over should be as obvious as the noon day sun:  The church in the Word of God is referred to as the Ekklesia- the “called out ones”- in other words, the church is God’s people.  We are being told that the Church Age is over while the church is still here!  I keep hearing from Christians that the Church Age is over and recently I was online talking about the subject: 

“You keep saying it’s “the end of the church age”.  Please give me scripture to support your claims.  The church- the ekklesia- is still here!  The church age has not ended.  We are still in a time of grace, people are still getting saved, the Body of Christ is still on planet earth.  Jesus is still standing at the door and knocking, he is still saying, “Be earnest and repent!”  He hasn’t left the scene or walked away from His people- “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:19-20)

You are still here, I am still here, the church is still here- the church age has not ended.

If you’re going to continue to make the claim that the church age has ended, please show us from the Word of God why you believe this to be true.”

You see, there is no reasonable explanation that can be found in God’s Word to give validity to the claim that the Church Age is over.  In fact, the bible tells us that the church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (The Rapture)- so consider the evidence that is before us- the church is still here, the rapture has not yet happened, the Church Age cannot be over while the church is still on planet earth!

Did God really tell you to stop gathering with other Christians?

Ekklesia means “called out ones” but it also has the meaning of an assembly or congregation.

1 Corinthians 14:26: “What shall we say, brothers?  WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation…” etc.

Notice what is said… “When you come together…”  The Apostle Paul assumes the church will come together- it’s a given.

1 Corinthians 14:26 makes no sense outside of the context of the church gathering together- We cannot do the things this verse is talking about if we’re sitting at home alone!

We are the “Body of Christ”, we are brothers and sisters in Christ- FAMILY!  What kind of healthy family doesn’t get together if they’re able?

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”  (1 John 1:3)

The early church was one big family, do you mean to tell me that God is now telling us not to gather and fellowship together with our brothers and sisters in Christ, our family in the Lord?

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”  (Acts 2: 42-47)

Again, if you stop to think about it, the truth should be so obvious and the deception so clear, that no one would fall for being told not to gather with other Christians!

Finally, the scripture has warned us in advance to be careful! 

There are many people, saying many things, going about telling us what to believe and do; the scriptures warned us this would happen:

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1)

I hope you will make your source of truth the Word of God, and that you will “test everything” as the scripture tells you to do, so that you will not be taken in by deception.  The Church Age is not over, and you will not be able to find anyone who can prove it is by using the bible- unless they go to great lengths to twist and manipulate scripture in their efforts to try and prove their point- and that should be the first sign that something’s not quite right with what they’re teaching!

If the church is lukewarm, we need go no further than ourselves to ask why.  What’s the point in talking about the church at large if we’ve failed to address our own lukewarmness?  Revival of the church begins with the individual: 

“Will you not revive us again: that your people may rejoice in you?”  -Psalm 85:6

What is true revival in the biblical sense?  Is it not God pouring forth His Spirit because we have declined and wandered from Him?  Throughout the history of the church God has called  His people back to Himself through times and seasons of revival.  These periods are usually marked by a great number within the church being impacted by the outpouring of God’s Spirit.  But is it a faceless mass on which God moves by His Spirit?  Hardly!  Revival comes as one by one, we are awakened and respond.

There’s no revival without repentance

No true revival ever comes without repentance.  Read through Revelation 2-3 and notice how many times the church is called to repent!  Spend time in Acts and the same message is clear: repentance is key to spiritual life.

One of my favorite scriptures is, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…”  Acts 3:19

The scriptural order is: first comes repentance and turning back to the Lord, then comes refreshing!

Living in Laodicea; or seated in heavenly places? 

Are you inclined to think that since we are living in an apostate time in church history there’s nothing more that can be done?  Have you resigned yourself to the status quo?  We may be living in the days of Laodicea, but there’s no excuse for Laodicea to be living in us.  Early in my Christian walk I traveled as an itinerant singer/evangelist.  Money was often scarce and living conditions weren’t always great by worldly standards.  But God always provided and I had a roof over my head.  On one occasion I was offered living quarters by a brother in the Lord who owned a very run down piece of property.  I rented a small room along with 3 other Christian brothers.  Frankly, the house was a dump!  Unfortunately, a couple of the guys I lived with decided to treat it as a dump and live like it was a dump.  On one occasion the owner of the house came home to find it in an ill treated condition.  I will never forget what He said… “Just because the house is a pigsty, doesn’t mean you have to live like pigs!”  Absolutely!  Conditions do not make us what we are, we can chose to live above them.  The Christian life is a call to “come higher”. 

Is the church in the land of Laodicea?  Understand then that “here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”  (Hebrews 13:14)  Put on your heavenly garments and live like a child of God though everything around you is decay!  You are called to come higher, to press toward the goal, that you may win the prize, for which God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus!

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…”  (Acts 3:19)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on what it means to be spiritually blind.  This was the condition of the lukewarm Church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) and certainly would seem to apply to us today.  The question is, “How can you make a blind man see?”

While out praying this morning, one conclusion I came to, is that if a man is blind, me holding a poster in front of his face will do absolutely no good!  Paul talks about this in his letter to the Galatians, “…before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.”  (Galatians 3.1)  And yet they were spiritually blind to it!

Think of it this way… I could take a great big poster board with a drawing of the crucifixion and HUGE letters saying “Jesus died for your sins!”, and if you’re physically blind, what good would it do?  You wouldn’t be able to see it! 

I could write the best song telling of the glories of Jesus and how He left heaven for us, but if you were physically deaf, would good would it be to you?  You’d never hear a note or word, all would be silent.

And THAT is precisely the trouble we have reaching the lukewarm church!  God’s Word tells us that part of the “lukewarm condition” is that of BLINDNESS.  You see the trouble?  “How do you make a blind man see?”

I wrote a song and did a video called “Nice Little Church” that talks about the lukewarm church.  It pictures to the eyes, and speaks to the ears about being lukewarm, but it has no power unless God opens the eyes, and unstops the ears!  That is why in all the letters to the churches of Revelation 2-3 we read this phrase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”. 

Our condition of spiritual blindness requires a spiritual remedy.  I can listen to 10,000 messages on “the lukewarm church” and never really “hear”.  I am DEAF!  I can watch videos and movies and never see.  I am BLIND! 

The point is, we need a move of God’s Spirit.  Jesus is the only one who can open blind eyes and deaf ears.  When he does, suddenly we see and hear!  You whose eyes have been opened… pray!  Pray for the eyes of God’s people to see.  Pray for the outpouring of the Spirit of God.   Pray that God would give His people “ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches”!   Our great need is for revival.  We need God to come down. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!” (Isaiah 64.1)

Our human effort amounts to nothing more than holding a poster in front of a blind man’s eyes.  We need Jesus to heal the blind man!

The defining word for the Church in Laodicea was, “you do not realize…”  And in the list of things they didn’t realize?  That they were blind… they were totally BLIND to the fact that they were blind!  They would have thought God’s rebuke was for someone else, but the rebuke was NOT for someone else, the rebuke was for them!

My song “Nice Little Church” talks about the lukewarm church.  When I wrote it 13 years ago I guess I thought it was for someone else.  But God started to show me, “Mike, it’s about you too!”  Rebuked by my own song!  I started thinking, “What would the church be like if I had lived more for Jesus these last 25 years?  If I hadn’t compromised, been cold and lukewarm, been in love with the world, toyed with sin?  How would I have impacted my family, the church and the world around me?  When we backslide, drift, and lose our first love we’re often totally blind to just how far we’ve wandered away from the Lord.  Our compromise can actually begin to feel normal, until God opens our eyes to see Him as He really is.

You know what Isaiah said to the Lord when he saw Him as He really is?  “Woe is me!  I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”  (Isaiah 6:5)

It wasn’t just the people that had a problem, Isaiah had a problem and it became perfectly clear to him:  Isaiah was a man of unclean lips and he lived among a people of unclean lips…. He identified himself as part of the problem.  The church isn’t lukewarm because there’s just a couple of lukewarm Christians out there.  The church is lukewarm because of me, and most likely many, many of you.  How long will we stay blind to that?  Do we even see at all that we’re part of the problem?  What part are we playing in the church being lukewarm?

I was laying in bed last night thinking about Casting Crowns, Keith Green, Leonard Ravenhill, A. W. Tozer and the like.  These are people who have given very strong messages to address the condition of the lukewarm church.  What strikes me is how little it all seems to matter!  Casting Crowns has sold millions of albums and have had some very strong things to say to the church.  Keith Green is regarded as a modern day musical prophet.  He’s lauded for the stands he took and his strong convictions.  He’s held up by the Christian music community as the ultimate example to follow.  But do we follow?  Or do we just listen, agree, and go on our way?

“My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice.  With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.  Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.”   (Ezekiel 33:31-32)

“Yup, Keith was right about that.”  “Man, that Casting Crowns song is sooooo powerful!”  And on my way I go.

The most common phrase quoted about the church in Laodicea is?  My guess would be, “So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

I wonder why we do that; tell only half the story?  We like to thunder the judgment and forget the mercy!  James tells us that, “Mercy triumphs over judgment”, but you’d never know it by the way we act sometimes.  I used to be very good at proclaiming judgment.  I’d visit a church with thunder and lightning!  I’d always leave wondering why I did that.  I was so aware of my need of mercy, but so hard on others.  Then one day God stopped me in the middle of my message.  I was speaking on “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as they did in the rebellion!”  I was emoting, and pointing my finger, and practically shouting when I heard God’s still small voice say to me, “Is THAT the way I say it?”  No, it wasn’t, he made plain to me.  He was pleading.  His cry was out of a heart of mercy!  He didn’t want to judge, so his warning came as a plea, a cry of love!  By this time I’d started singing the next song while this conversation with God was going on in my head.  Then I heard Him say, “Now tell them how I say it!”  Oh boy, I was instantly humbled.  I stopped my song right in the middle of it all and said, “I need to tell you something…”  I could tell by the expressions on peoples faces that they were puzzled.  I must have looked like quite the double personality up there, swinging from “hell fire and brimstone” to “Jesus loves His little lambs”!  The tone of my voice, the look of my countenance, had all suddenly changed as I told the people what God had just told me… His mercy triumphs over judgment!

You’d think that would have cured me of my “wrath of God” delivery methods.  It didn’t.  But it did make me start thinking, and over time I came to ask myself, “Why do I ask God for mercy when it comes to me, but call down judgment when it comes to others?”  I was so aware of my own need for grace, but sure had a hard time extending it to the lives of others.  I had become a Pharisee!  And a judge!  And I thought I was being a minister of the gospel! 

Now the funny thing is, I learned that people thought that all the shouting, and thundering and such was spiritual!  What????  Yes, many thought my behavior was “anointed”!  I found that out after I decided I wasn’t going to do it anymore.  I explained my decision to some people who I thought would say, “Oh, good!  We’ve been waiting for that!”  But instead I got, “Are you SURE?  It’s so powerful when you speak like that!”

Well, it might have sounded powerful, but I was sure God was telling me it wasn’t spiritual, and I changed my ways.  It all came down to attitude.  (Jeremiah represents the correct attitude: Jeremiah was a “weeping prophet”.  He told the truth, but his heart was filled with mercy.)  In the New Testament we’d called that, “speaking the truth in love”!

Which brings me back to the church of Laodicea.  Why do we always hear just half the story?  Why is it always about Jesus spitting us lukewarm Christians out of His mouth?  Why isn’t it about Him giving us an invitation to dine with Him?  Think about that!  THAT’S in there too!  We have an invitation to dine with Jesus!  How can we just leave that out when we talk about the lukewarm church?  Jesus asks you to have supper or breakfast with Him and you don’t think that’s worth mentioning??

His message to the church in Laodicea is exactly what He explained to me that day when I was thundering my judgment… it’s not about judgment, it’s about mercy… “I want you to dine with me!”  He tells us the reason He’s rebuked us and disciplined us is BECAUSE HE LOVES US!  He goes on to tell us THAT’S the reason we should repent and then GIVES US AN INVITATION TO DINE WITH HIM!

“Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and He with me.”

Yes, that’s right, Jesus wants to have dinner with you!  He wants to hang out and have fellowship!  THAT’S the whole reason for all the other stuff written to the church of Laodicea.  It’s not about Him wanting to judge you, it’s about Him wanting to love you and be with Him!  Revelation 3:20 is often used to call the unsaved to come to eternal life in Christ, but the truth is, in context it’s actually an invitation that God is making to a wayward church!  “Turn from your lukewarm life and come have dinner with me!”  Wow!

Find it at Revelation 3:14-22