Is the Glory Gone?                                         Jan. 23, 2005

"I-chabod...The glory is departed..." In one of my previous articles I mentioned a radio preacher here is California who teaches that God is through with the church. I do not agree, if we are speaking collectively of the true Church; but do, if referring to some local churches. What is interesting is that this man has such a large following of Christians who agree with him. And among his followers there are not a few diligent Bible students.

Many today, as an old friend wrote to me recently, are on the verge of giving up on the church. You may dismiss this Ichabod theory, if you will, but I believe it will be to your own detriment. It is a fact that scores of believers are leaving churches, and not all of them can be written off, nonchalantly, as "backsliders." Some of them are spiritual people who, in good conscience, can no longer keep their families in a dead orthodox church that resembles a graveyard with its lifeless corpses more than it does a lively body.

There are all types of church services, and to this I say, to each his own. But there is one characteristic that each should have: Spirit-filled believer's hearts should burn within them as the Word of God is proclaimed. This, and this alone, can make a sad saint glad.