The Secular Captivity of the American Church

The Secular Anthropomorphism of the Church

WWII left large portions of Asia and Europe in utter ruin with an unfathomable amount of people dead, cities and infrastructure obliterated, and falling victim to the heavy yoke of communism. Despite being on the victorious side, Great Britain became a shadow of its former self losing its empire and global economic significance not long after the war. Africa and South America had yet to meaningfully industrialize, which left the United States as the last nation standing with a powerful industrial base and global influence. The rapid growth in prosperity in post-war United States is truly unprecedented as no other nation was capable at competing economically. Between 1948 and 1970, average annual economic growth in the U.S. was double the rate as it has been between the years 2000 and 2023. Global demand for U.S. goods and innovation drove up high salaries and wages for the average American worker creating a prosperous post-war nation. This is reflected in the high purchasing power of the typical American household that in 1954 median sales price of a home was 1.9 times the median household income. Compare this to the same multiple averaging 5 times median household income in the years 2000 to 2024. Never have Americans had it better than the last 25 years following WWII.

Between the widespread prosperity and rapid technological advancement came a dramatic cultural change. The focus shifted away from duty, sacrifice, and communal well-being to the pursuit of personal happiness and self-fulfillment. The self-made individual became a cultural ideal focusing on material success, comfort, and individualism determining their own moral standards and purpose. As the collective mindset changed, divorces increased rapidly while marriages decreased. The post-war period of 1946 to 1970 had an average divorce to marriage ratio 64.2% higher than the two decades preceding WWII in the United States. The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale became a bestseller in 1952. Films and music began celebrating individual rebellion, self-expression, and non-conformity. Political and social movements exploded focusing on individual freedoms, such as civil rights, feminism, and homosexual recognition. This new age of ideas took over every aspect of the American life.

The wonderful new technology, easy success, peace, and overall prosperity made people pursue the fundamental sin that resulted in us cut off from the presence of God—autonomy. Moral standards grounded in God's Word of self-denial, holiness, and sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) became less appealing and were replaced by self-determined values. People began to see themselves as good enough to provide their own provision and timing to life with their own endeavors. Thus, secular philosophies began to replace religious teachings as guiding principles. 

Secularism presented itself as a liberating force allowing for the individual to create their own meaning and purpose in accordance with their own preferences. As this individualism grew, a corresponding decline in the authority of the church over people's lives began. If this was true, then why did church membership rate within the nation stay steady around 73% in post-war United States? The Church evolved to accommodate this rise of individualism in attempts to stay relevant. People began to reinterpret Christianity according to modern cultural values rather than grounding their faith in the historic moral framework of the Church upheld by previous generations. American Christianity began to emphasize practical life applications over traditional doctrinal teachings. Instead of focusing on the transformation power of the Spirit of God away from the evil inside us, softer messages aimed at personal fulfillment and self-help became favorable. Sunday worship takes on a therapeutic approach in forms ranging from charismatic to scholarly.

This is the secular anthropomorphism of the Church. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. By taking post-modern human secular mode of thought and apply it to Christ's church, you get a human-centered experience. The primary concern becomes individual well-being, success, and personal fulfillment, rather than glorifying God and bringing His kingdom on earth. Salvation may not be compromised, but the mission is. Protestant Americans staunchly agree it is by faith alone we are saved through God’s grace and not by works, but they fail to carry this same attitude over to our progressive sanctification. Doctrinally they will agree progressive sanctification is solely done by the grace of God, but their actions do not follow. Instead of a worshipful mindset set on glorifying God in deep humility, an attitude of a personal fulfillment dominates congregations. We are not just talking about the radical progressive congregations, but most Bible-preaching Churches as well. 

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, minister of Westminster Chapel in London, laments this secularization of the Church in a 1959 sermon, “Revival Sermon: Diagnosing the Need”. He makes the keen observation that those of the Church had turned their worship into spectators sitting on the bleachers watching other people do the work to bring about the kingdom of God. Church became no different than a sports game or watching TV. Dr. Lloyd-Jones was not merely criticizing churches with entertaining displays, rather the whole spiritual approach and mindset of Western Christianity. Communion had turned inward instead of outward. Those who pursue duty in the Church task themselves with mere activity believing in just doing something matters. 

In "Revival Sermon: Dead Orthodoxy", Dr. Lloyd-Jones continues illustrating the whole mindset of evangelicals had turned into negativity and defensiveness building a wall of apologetics around their little kingdom of truth. The appalling danger of smug contentment formed behind the defensive wall clutching the truth in selfishness. Dr. Lloyd-Jones witnessed the systematic failure of Christians to be filled with the power of our living God and do His will. The beliefs were there, but the crucial vitality was lost. 

John Calvin explored the history of the Church in Treatise on Relics to find what went wrong to create the need of the Reformation. Calvin found the integration of pagan concepts was the cause for gradual decay of Christianity until it reached the depths of complete apostasy in Roman Catholicism in the High Middle Ages. This pagan anthropomorphism brought in relics, saint worship, monkish asceticism, monasticism, image worship, and prayers for the dead. Alongside these practices came false doctrines of purgatory, indulgences, human intercession, papal infallibility, synergistic salvation, etc. The Church compromised with the pagans integrating imagery worship bringing God down to human intellect instead of raising man towards God. While we look back comparing ourselves to these old erroneous practices and beliefs thinking we are doing well, we fail to see what form of humanism we already have integrated on the front end of the Church today. The appearance is different from the past errors, but functionally the same mistake. 

Characteristics of the Secular Anthropomorphic Church

Faith is not merely the strength of belief, but the actual depth of the relationship with God and understanding His will. Living faith with true vitality is one that ends in thanksgiving and praise empowered in the love and glory of God. A believer should be reaching out longing and thirsting for more in the knowledge, grace, and love of the almighty God. The constant meditation and thorough self-examination with the Word of God is on their heart. The whole Bible illustrates experiences of God, which should be occurring in a believer's life and not merely just believing. Experiences should not be the focus, but a fruit of such a state witnessing the fullness of God. A believer filled with the vitality of faith cries out "Woe is me!", like the prophet Isaiah at the depth of understanding in their depravity and sin knowing it is only through the power of God for sanctification. They are troubled deep in their hearts of those who do not turn to God, just as the prophet Jeremiah.

The state of the Church today is a very superficial knowledge and relationship with God, while failing to see we are powerless. Actual meditation and serious self-examination are all but disappeared. Far too many merely read the Word with hurried prayer and call it a day. The result is a false notion of sanctification looking at the surface without seeing the actual depth. Many lack any serious notion of self-examination. Others look inwards of their unworthiness and become so self-conscious of their sin that they never do anything. Their whole time is taken up by their own souls that they do not seek out a greater knowledge of God to bring on depth of relationship. They are paralyzed. The remaining often get caught up in their own activity going round and round, but never reaching forward. Everything on the surface looks great, but they fail to see the actual depth of what is needed. 

These are the symptoms of what is occurring. Evangelical Christians are very much suffering these same ailments as any other type of churches. What is the diagnosis causing these symptoms, then? The decades of adding secular human elements to the Church. The biggest culprit is how we train men in ministerial roles. We remove these men from their Christian communities sending them through years-long programs that mirror secular institutions. They are conformed to the dogmatic system rather than to Christ. We think we have cracked the code on how to systematically obtain knowledge and understanding of God as if it were an assembly line building a car one piece at a time with human hands. Knowledge and understanding of God cannot be obtained by works but by the humble desire to know God.

Everything is concerned about order and conformity that it quenches the Holy Spirit in the Church. We do not ask the question if we are giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to speak by confining sermons to rigid schedules. We do not have great speakers anymore, because of the cold and controlled approach so worried about emotionalism. Preaching is now so casual. Post-war intellectualism took over believing we are better than those old styles of preaching and stifled the passion. However, a more accurate description of what has occurred is pseudo-intellectualism. These kinds of ministers produce a powerful impression upon the senses and imagination to those who believe but fail to stir up passion for God in their hearts. The sermon may be smart structured in an expository way, but the congregants walk away merely informed instead of transformed by the mighty power of God. We are losing theological depth and serious reduction of doctrinal understanding. Our ability for evangelism is ruined with superficial understanding of scripture. We have lost the awe and mystery of God.

Far too many expository styles descend into a secular approach to sermons with banal contemporary scholarship and avoiding emotionalism. Popular long-series format covering one or two verses a week quickly lose momentum and the big picture. The tendencies of micro-analysis on Paul's exhortations turn Sundays into therapeutic moralism. These sermons fail to reconcile us with God. The critical deepening our faith and understanding of God is missing. We just go in circles with superficial perspectives of sanctification. Christians need stop using the Bible as a book of personal medicine to be rid of our sins and ailments. This leads to a moralistic and therapeutic approach to Christianity, which misses the deeper, relational purpose of Scripture: to reveal God, His character, His purposes, and to draw people into deeper communion with Him. We need to deepen our relationship with God and understand His ways to allow the transformative power of God to change us. We do this not for our own desires of becoming a better person, rather we do it for the love of our almighty God. Using the Bible as daily medicine–a happy devotional to start our day–is a selfish approach that trivializes God's redemptive mission. We read to know God.

These selfish approaches to the Word and superficial perspectives of sanctification have turned Protestant Christianity into a works-based faith. An example of such a claim can be found at The Master's Seminary with their guest speaker, Dr. Andrew David Naselli, giving a Sunday chapel sermon in January 2024 called, "Brothers, Work Hard for God's Approval". Dr. Naselli has PhD's from Bob Jones University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is an associate professor of systematic theology and New Testament at Bethlehem College & Seminary, lead pastor at Christ the King Church, and involved in nearly two dozen Christian book publications. One could say Dr. Naselli is a highly esteemed modern Christian theologian we can use as a gauge of where the headspace of the Church is at. 

The sermon Dr. Naselli gave has a primary focus on pastoral diligence and working hard to handle God's Word rightly. The emphasis is largely framed in terms of duty and effort encouraging the measuring the pastor's faithfulness by their hard work. Not much notion is given to the relational aspect of knowing God or encouraging pastors to grow in intimacy with God through Christ. Instead, technical aspects of ministry are the focus–handling Scripture accurately by studying Greek and Hebrew and working hard for reward. This sermon reeks of modern secular academia promoting a self-effort-based approach to ministry in a moralistic style. Not only can this advice lead to burnout and sense of failure for pastors, but it also brings out the secular mindset that has infected the Church that we are good enough to make our own progress.

After this sermon, Dr. Naselli participated in a panel with other prominent men in the academic circle of The Master's Seminary and did a series on the Epistle to the Romans there, as well. This affectionate inclusion and speaking time to the seminary students illustrates how highly they see Dr. Naselli. One can go on The Master's Seminary YouTube channel and watch sermon after sermon of this moralistic style with some notable exceptions. The pseudo-intellectual side of Christianity driving the modern ministry is cold and mechanical lacking relational depth and spiritual vitality. This type of thinking creates an impression that only those with formal seminary education are truly equipped to handle God's word properly. In other words, it is compartmentalizing the knowledge and wisdom of God to manmade institutions.

Were not the apostles of Christ unlearned men from the backwaters of Israel (Acts 4:13)? To deny that God cannot train and provide understanding through His divine power alone flies in the face of Scripture. The modern mindset of compartmentalizing God's providence to then that does not happen now is arbitrary and ridiculous. In fact, it is an appalling sin that our efforts play a role in the outcome of understanding. These apostles struggled to understand all of Christ's teachings and Scripture until the Spirit came upon them granting them understanding after Christ had ascended into heaven (Luke 24:45). They had literal conversations with Jesus Christ, God manifested in the flesh, for over three years and still failed to understand. Why then do we think our ridiculous scholarly institutions is the superior place for understanding of God and Scripture when it is all God's doing regardless of the path and background? Are we to just grind through a ministerial degree and turn around expecting God's enabling power to follow, because we did the work? Did we ever stop to ask God what His will is of what we should learn rather than begging God to grant success in our NT 604 Greek Exegesis II class? While God may use this type of rigid coursework to gain a real deep relationship and understanding for His purpose, we cannot expect all, and likely the majority, who attend to be immediately transformed by the Holy Spirit in understanding. What do seminaries and Bible schools do, then? They tell you what to believe to make you feel like you succeeded in some way. Otherwise, who would be willing to spend that much money at time go to a seminary or Bible college if success is highly relative? Telling you what to believe may not be always explicit, but each coursework is systematically funneling you to a predetermined place, where you receive the reward of a passing grade.

When Paul taught in the lecture hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus (Acts 19:9), I highly doubt Paul had it structured in the secular way we do today with grades, tuition, diplomas, licensing, rigid courses, soul-crushing assignments, bureaucracy, academic exclusivity, self-aggrandizing prestige, demanding donors, and accreditations. Paul had one objective only–to do the will of God. Can these Christian schools say the same, while they turn the institution into a form of business at the same time? Truly, it is impossible to not let avarice cloud the framework of the school curriculum when it is a form of business.

The result of systematizing our pastors brings in the culture of secularism resulting in spiritual decay. We can see the spiritual decay of the Church today all around us and feel something is wrong. Pastors, both high profile and local leaders, frequently falling into immorality, liberalism commandeering congregants' morals, unproductive schisms breaking apart denominations, multiple generations systematically turning away from God, ministerial burnout, Christians pathetically wallowing in their sin and depression, erroneous hermeneutics of one-dimensional literalism; the Church is no longer strong anymore. We clutch our secular tools of apologetics, archeology, tracks, programs, meetings, publications, and advertisements. Many congregants sit back and watch in worship, while everything is done for them as if it were a sports game. Those who do participate task themselves with mere activity to do something believing our works matter. Busy with the day-to-day activities of the world and their part in it. Marking off the checklist of what a modern church should achieve.

Our secular anthropomorphic Church is making the same mistakes of the past that resulted in apostacy brought on by Roman Catholicism. We are losing sight of the vitality of faith and replacing it with things that entertain imagery in the mind. God is brought down to our intellect instead of transforming us up to God. The awe and wonder of our powerful God, the understanding of our utter deprivation and helpless state, the humble submission to Christ and His glorious propitiation of our sins, the conquering of death to live again and sing praises of His grace forever more; all reduced to "Brothers, Work Hard for God's Approval". Cold. Mechanical. Moralistic. The approval of God only comes through the blood of Christ. 

What have we done? Where is the vitality? Where is the strength and boldness of Christians? We sold it all to make a bargain with the secular world. To blend in and appease society to make them comfortable in their individualism. Instead of relying on God, we relied on our pride of the ages that we are good enough to achieve in our own efforts. However, our efforts made people disbelieve, because they saw man driving the Church instead of God. The need for a revival in the Church and among unbelievers is desperate. Yet, how many believers today actually pray for revival instead of being caught up in their own souls and activities? No true revival can come from human craft. Revivals are a providential outpouring the Holy Spirit into an area that overflows from Christians to others. We do not need some bureaucratized system to manage it or some clever programs to send struggling souls through. We need members of the Church to realize their need for depth of a relationship with God and to know Him.

The Need of an Apostolic Method of Revival

The Church is rampant with practical legalists, which is a disconnect between doctrine and practice. These believers theologically affirm sanctification (both positional and progressive) is by God's grace alone and not by our own works. However, this is not done in practice. Christians may not intentionally teach a works-based sanctification, but their actions and focus reveals an underlying struggle to fully rely on the sufficiency of Christ's work that portrays a deeper reliance on self. Small comments or how they phrase questions often exposes this self-reliance; such as, "If you use this simple method to Scripture, you can understand it just like the pastor." Spiritual growth and understanding do not depend on your own effort to follow rules, self-discipline, or moral achievements. This type of growth only comes by faith alone John 6:26-29 :

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

Jesus exhorts the Jews to redirect their efforts away from the temporal focus and to shift it to the spiritual life that He freely offers. They then ask Jesus what kind of effort and works they must do to receive this bread of life that gives this spiritual growth and understanding. The only thing we can do is believe. To have faith in the Son whom the Father has sent to us. The idea of faith has become misunderstood and trivialized today that many will see this Scripture passage and say, "I believe and always have since I was saved, but why am I not receiving what is promised and staying stagnant?" I am sure the Jews speaking with Jesus had similar questions in their minds. 

I will restate again–faith is not merely the strength of belief, but the actual depth of the relationship with God and understanding His will. How do we see God and enter a realm witnessing His presence around us? By being poor in the spirit and pure in the heart (Matthew 5:3; 5:8). A humble and internal recognition and acceptance that we are cut off from the fountain of life that is all things good. We are in a desperate need of Christ to save our shipwrecked soul and even our daily actions and thoughts. A pure of heart is not done by our own means, either. This kind of outcome can only be done when we crawl to the alter in tears and setting our heart upon it crying out to God in trust to take it and accept it. That we cannot change it. Only then can our hearts be made pure when we let go of our self-reliance at the deepest level. That is the work God desires in John 6:29 and nothing else. 

This must happen not only on an individual level, but also at a Church level. We must let go of our reliance on institutions that instruct us on how to do this and that with certain subjects and age groups. We must let go of the reliance on our organization running around doing activity believing that if they are busy tremendous things are happening. Look at the current state of the Church today after we have superimposed our will thinking God approves and follows along blessing it. In fact, a great delusion has come over the minds of believers. They do not realize imposing their own will is what they are doing, and lament as their children fall away unimpressed at the pathetic human design of the contemporary Church unable to see God in it.

If Jesus is fully God co-equal with the Father of the same substance, then why did Jesus pray? While there is an exhaustive list one could make on this observation, one crucial reason is so Jesus could continually align Himself with the will of the Father. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). Prayer is a way for us to actively seek God's will to be done in the world, inviting us to participate in God's plan and purposes. Jesus was never doing the work of His own, rather Jesus was always doing the will of the Father (John 5:19). 1 John 5:14-15 illustrates the whole purpose of prayer even further :

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Prayer is a relational dynamic. A harmony with the Father. We ask God for the proper requests, and He lifts us up towards His will resulting in witnessing His divine providence through prayer. God does not need us to do His will but has chosen to work through prayer as part of His providential plan. However, this does not mean we can bend God's will to ours, like we do so much in the Church. When was the last time your congregation openly prayed in humility asking God what it is that they as a body needs and what it is that they should be doing? No projections of organizational or personal agendas, just flat out asked the Father what His will is for the Church. God promises to answer such an inquiry (James 1:5), so why are we not doing it? Too much have we been using prayer to bend the will of God. Just because we pursue a Biblical endeavor within our organizational needs does not mean it is a worthy objective, especially if it is a temporal need. Doing so we find ourselves as the Samaritan woman in John 4 asking Jesus so much on temporal things at the well–cultural customs, physical water, tools to extract the water. Jesus fully acknowledges those things and the importance, but He responds asking us if we fully realize how much in spiritual need we are. We got caught up in our organizational activity and structure that we failed to realize how severely dehydrated we are of the living water. 

We are no longer in harmony with the Father. Yes, we have the Word of God with excellent systematic theology understanding between the doctrines. The Church has packed libraries full of impressive scholarly works to help those who seek. Yet, we are in serious spiritual decay. A great thermometer of our spirituality one can objectively observe is with our prayers and see how anthropomorphic they have become. The practice has become this mixture of asking for God's divine wisdom when it is convenient for us and everything else a channeling of providence for an objective–some good and others bad. This has made prayer confusing and ambiguous. Christians read passages, like Hannah's story in 1 Samuel 1-2 and interpret it like they can pray to "get" something, because of their positional standing with God. Hannah's prayer was deeper than asking for a child. The prayer was that of submission to God. She was not bending God's will to meet her desires, rather her prayer reflected a trust in God's character and ability to act according to His perfect will. Hannah prayed out her need, which is perfectly acceptable to do, but vowed to give the child back to God showing her submission to whatever plan He had.  

The fact that Hannah's name in Hebrew means grace highlights the story is fundamentally about God's undeserved favor. She did not earn her answered prayer in efforts of piety. The prayer played a part in the larger picture of God's redemptive plan. This is how we should fundamentally view prayer and reshape our approach. Our prayers are not isolated events but are a part of God's unfolding story of redemption. Hannah's alignment with the Father is an illustrative example of how crucial it is to practice prayer in a deep sense of faith. Yet, Hannah experienced God's providential power not only through prayer, but her desire to know God as well.

Believers gauge the success of their Christian life on their mere activity. However, this lifestyle is truly about depth. So much about love is preached and imprinted on cards, signs, and themes at Church that we have forgotten depth is the focus. Yes, love is certainly important and a worthy exhortation to preach in a world so full of hate. However, love has been pushed so much to the point of a feminization of the Church and has become borderline legalistic in an ironic way. The fundamental problem with having love in our hearts as the focus is that we are not worthy enough to do it. How can we follow the royal law of Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," as outlined in James 2:8?

The knowledge of God is the true test of a Christian, not his or her activity. We are not talking about mere intellectual understanding, which significantly pollutes the Church in its vain speculations. We are talking about a deep, personal knowledge of God through Jesus Christ, which transforms and shapes all of one's actions Colossians 1:9-10 :

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord

Studying, meditating, praying on the Word of God in all manners that the Holy Spirit teaches you to do. This is vital for our daily walk and Christian life to be worthy of the Lord. To illustrate even further 1 John 4:7-8 :

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

To fulfill the royal law, which has been anthropomorphized into a platitude within the Church, is by turning yourself to God and getting to know Him. Putting your heart on the alter and letting go. Applying James 1:5 and asking God how you get to know Him and what should you do. If the Church truly internalized this principle that it is a knowledge of God that brings an outpouring of God's transformative power in our character, we would be abandoning our elective worldly affairs throughout the week and be pushing to have true vigorous and exciting studies and discussions. Our sermons would no longer be casual, humorous, and light-hearted. We would set aside banal preaching topics and passages. No longer would people care about ridiculous rigid Church schedules, so congregants can comfortably return to their temporal affairs on a weekend. We would realize that we are at war with the evil inside ourselves and throughout the world around us. We would rally believers together worshipping our holy God in desperation to know God so we can fulfill the royal law. Realization would set in that all congregants need to dedicate ourselves to all portions of Scripture, even the most difficult and controversial, in humble prayer for God to give us understanding and the resources. 

This is a revival. A true revival of vitality and not an artificial display or program. A revival can be established when believers internalize the depth desired by God for the true foundational elements of faith, prayer, and knowledge of God. This relationship and harmonization with God allow God's grace to flow into believers and transform them for the purpose of building the kingdom of God. An apostolic method of evangelism within the Church and to the community letting God take control. No human craft or effort can achieve any of this. A revival requires an alignment with the will of the Father and relying on His timing and providence, not a legalistic push of getting the congregants to perform evangelism in their routine lives. Let us heed the mindset and level of spiritual sight Christ was operating at in John 5:19 :

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise."

If Christ was continuously seeking harmony and being shown instruction from the Father never doing His own accord, then why do we work and worry so much about our own efforts and secular approaches? Why do we press upon the works of evangelism, both explicitly and implicitly, to members of our Churches when we should be directing their attention to harmonizing their minds with the Father? Contemporary Christianity is prolific with teachings that focus on either our behavior or God's enabling power but fail to combine these truths fully. Christianity is about spiritual surrender not self-improvement or learning methods; it is a life yielded to God's will, where even our smallest actions align with His purposes. This is the depth in which revival of your own soul occurs that overflow into others around you. This is the essence of Jesus' example in John 5:19 and the transformative relationship with God He calls us to.

So far away has the American Church drifted away from this crucial depth and concept of spiritual surrender. Yet, their busyness, smug contentment, and sense of self-piety has blinded them from the realization of their rebellious autonomy in practice within their Church lives. Evangelicals are just as guilty as the rest. Look at the fruit the Church is producing these days. According to a 2022 survey completed by Barna in their resilient pastoral initiative, 41% of pastors have considered quitting full-time ministry with most of them expressing burnout as a major factor. When believers try to "do" Christianity on their own, without full reliance on God's grace, it naturally leads to frustration and burnout. This is what happens when prominent leaders skim the surface of 2 Timothy 2:15 telling future ministers to work for God's approval instead of seeing it as following God's direction transforming us to teach truth with integrity. 

The dramatic rise in sin in the nation should be no surprise at this point. The Church has failed at its primary mission of evangelism and is woefully pathetic at defending itself against the rising evil. We are at great threat of having our lampstand of influence removed, because we have lost that love and deep reliance on God (Revelation 2:4-5). Instead of following the apostolic method of evangelism laid out plainly before us in Scripture, we arbitrarily draw a barrier in our minds believing that level of spiritualism was a unique event that existed back then. We think modern problems require modern solutions, when the diagnosis has never changed in the history of mankind. The heart is the issue. Stop relying on money and programs trying to backfill God's providence pretending the remedy is this war of attrition against secular endeavors. God's enabling power is not confined to money, especially in the face of evangelism.

Secular methods of pragmatism and systematic programs got absorbed into the Church to make people feel like they are being a Christian and fulfilling the mission of evangelism. Believers paved their own way instead of getting to know God and understanding His ways. In doing so, classical Christian literature has been largely considered not applicable. The theologically rich texts of those writing what God has done for them in their time no longer resonates with Christians who are more concerned with present-day applications of faith. Our paths, strategies, approaches, and mindsets are so different than the historical Christian Church, which should be greatly alarming. To get us back to a foundation where an apostolic method of revival can thrive, if God so wills, a theological retrieval of the past is the mode to get us there.

Theological Retrieval of the Past: A Remedy

Johnathan Edwards wrote a letter to Reverend Dr. Colman in 1736 titled Narrative of Surprising Conversions. Edwards made a keen observation during his experience at the epicenter of a great revival across colonial America saying, "When God in so remarkable a manner took the work into his own hands, there was as much done in a day or two, as is done in a year at ordinary times, with all the endeavors that men can use, and with such a blessing as we commonly have." The estimated 300 souls brought to Christ within a period of six months of a town of 200 families came by a collective spiritual surrendering to God. Edwards provides great detail that these conversions did not come by artificial charismatics or by social zeitgeist. No, these conversions were genuine that changed the entire town.

Northampton became a city of God, "All other talk except about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown aside. All the conversation in all the gatherings, and on all occasions, was on these things only, except what was necessary for people to carry on their ordinary secular business. Other discourse than about the things of religion, would scarcely be tolerated in any group. The minds of people were wonderfully taken off the world; that was treated among us as a thing of very little consequence. They seemed to follow their worldly business more as a part of their duty, than from any disposition they had to it. The temptation now seemed to lie on that hand, to neglect worldly affairs too much, and to spend too much time in the immediate exercise of religion."

Did Johnathan Edwards run a creative program of evangelism? No. Neither did he record an evangelistic campaign by congregants to spread the word of God through their hard work. Throughout the experience Edwards called it "God's work", because that is precisely what it was. The Spirit of God would suddenly seize people's minds with a realization of their depravity and a need of a savior. A tragic death would capture the hearts of unbelievers showing them the need of God. All of them become drawn to the local Church to find answers and redemption of their souls. The Church was a willing and able vessel being filled of the outpouring of the Spirit to show these weary souls who God is. Johnathan Edwards and all the other ministers experiencing this wonderful outpouring respected the sovereignty of God and became one with the will of God. They did not claim credit or attempt to control it. Nor did they fundraise to elevate their ministry with an operation to assist evangelistic endeavors and humanitarian needs. The community was transformed to meet the needs. As Martin Luther so eloquently stated in the Twenty Eighth of The Ninety-Five Theses, "It is certain, that, when the money rattles in the chest, avarice and gain may be increased, but the suffrage of the Church depends on the will of God alone."

Too many of us pray for the conversion of those around us but fail to self-examine why the American Church is in serious decay. If we asked God in humility why this is happening, He may point us to the marvelous accounts of Christians before us, like Johnathan Edwards, to show the contrast of a true Church of vitality looks like. Our approach and mindset are so different than the believers before us. Yet, we wonder why God is not blessing us remaining ignorant to our own history as a Church. The Christians in the academic field who read classical Church literature tend to do so from an intellectual methodology more interested in practicality than the actual broader application and message behind the work.

The movement towards simplifying Christian teachings to make it approachable for broader modern audiences has cut us off from the crucial depth needed to fully open ourselves to God. The Church has whitewashed its sermons, devotionals, and books to a focus on personal growth, life application, and practical theology. The result is a shallow understanding of the Christian faith. Even those with highly intellectual sermons come off remarkably shallow in spiritual meaning. Thus, the Bible has become a self-help book rather than a divine revelation filled with profound theological content. The Church has interjected so much modern secular culture into its worship that it is becoming autonomous from God. We say sanctification comes by God's grace alone, but in practice we do not follow it. The congregation gets confused with the line of what is God's role and what works we need to do when the sermons they often hear focus solely on the details of our behavior. We need to get back into Church history to correct our course.

Genesis 26:17-18 :

So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.

When Isaac departed from the Philistines into the desert, he and his company were in great need of water. Instead of taking the risk of digging new wells for this precious water, Isaac went to the old wells of his father, where Abraham had already toiled and located the living water. However, when Isaac came upon these old wells of his father, they were filled with debris of the Philistines. Despite this obstacle, they removed the debris knowing the location was already true.

We as a Church need to go to the wells of our fathers amid this desert surrounding us. The true living water is there! However, we grumble and become discouraged: these translations and language structures are too difficult to understand; the laity is not smart enough for this and it is too distracting; these theological themes do not resonate with Christians who are more interested in present-day applications of faith. These are the debris of the Philistines. Obstacles created by those who do not wish to access the wells of our fathers. 

"The laity not smart enough to understand" is a ridiculous application of a secular trope the managerial class uses against the public to subjugate them. Additionally, God is the one who enables understanding, not our own intellect. Is it not the knowledge of God that transforms us to fulfill the royal law? Is it not the command of God to have awe and wonder of Him so that we many not sin (Exodus 20:20)? Restricting depth to cater to human intellect is cheating the congregation out of their relationship with God and is functional legalism. Just because we have the internet and quick access to all forms of hedonism does not mean the diagnosis of man has changed. The theological themes of classical Christian literature have always been relevant. Historical Church figures just chose not to get into an idiotic war of attrition against the enemies of God, so their mindset is quite different than ours. Nor were they interested in their personal brand or incessantly trying to crown themselves as the "greatest generational theologian". Their writings are not designed to entertain or comfort in attempts to sell more books. 

Historical Church fathers were interested in establishing a moral framework that others can be blessed. Scripture is indeed the sole authority, and the writings of the Church fathers must be subject to it. What their writings can do is help us navigate Scripture and anchor us to sound doctrine. No, these men are not always correct. However, their spiritual journeys and providential experiences can help us recognize how to avoid error. To say the contemporary Church is the most doctrinally sound relative to history is laughable. One could spend a single hour flipping through historical Bible commentaries and expositions and find how egregiously in error a significant portion of the American Church is with hermeneutics and eschatology. Since we do not read or take serious historical Church writings, we unknowingly fall into beliefs created recently severely deviating from 1,800 years of sound practice. The fact of the matter is we are no better than our forefathers in Christianity. We can mock their strange imagery worship and superstitions, while we will be mocked by later Christian generations for mixing a Christian lifestyle and worship with hedonism, secular individualism, and therapeutic moralism.

Enough of this adding debris to the wells of our forefathers. We are to remember and reflect on the full life and faithfulness of prior leaders, who spoke to us the Word of God (Hebrews 13:7). We need to liberate ourselves from the present outlook and presuppositions. Too much goes unquestioned, because we have not been confronted by another time period that exposes our prejudices. As Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, "It seems odd, that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others." We must not turn our noses to the general spirit of enquiry, which sparked the Protestant Reformation. 19th century AD Church historian Philip Schaff pointed out it was the secularization of Church leaders, spiritual decay, and the lack of theological depth that contributed to the apostasy of Roman Catholicism, which the Reformers had to do a theological retrieval to get out of. Tragically, we do a disservice by falling into the same anthropomorphic trap. 

One can often hear questions or point of views that have already been thoroughly explored and answered by theologians in the past. For example, Christians have been getting consumed with the recent highly controversial elections and political events. Many ponder who they should vote for as a Christian and if we should be getting politically aggressive in this perceived dire time. Augustine's City of God, written in 5th century AD, contrasts the "City of Man" with the "City of God," arguing that Christians live as citizens of God's kingdom and thus should not become too attached to earthly power. Augustine also famously stated in Confessions about finding peace in a world filled with turmoil by turning to God, "You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You." Another common question one can hear is why are there so many divisions in the Church? Cyprian of Carthage, 3rd century AD, insisted on unity in the faith teaching divisions are the result of human pride and failure to submit to Christ's authority. Richard Baxter, a 17th century AD Puritan theologian, also advocated for "mere Christianity" focusing on essentials believing too much emphasis on nonessential doctrines lead to unnecessary divisions.

These past Church theologians were not stupid, nor were they drawing water from empty wells. In fact, their wells were full of life. Yet, we skipped past them in disinterest after briefly observing the debris of the Philistines. Instead, we dug our own wells from scratch using tools of secular craft believing, foolishly, the water is shallower and more plentiful underneath our patch of sand. After one experiences God's gracious providence of removing the debris of the Philistines showing what He has revealed to other men, it is utterly frustrating watching fellow believers try to dig their own wells. This has nothing to do with worthiness, it has everything to do with submission and asking God what it is that you should seek. Neither does it have anything to do with intellect and access when these congregants readily have teachers at Church to show them water from the wells of the forefathers. 

We are in desperate need of spiritual nourishment from fruitful wells, and the Church needs to come to an acceptance their current trajectory is only bringing in decay. We need revival and a theological retrieval. The focusing on finer details of responsive behavior outlined in Scripture has turned into a great stumbling block of the secularized Church. This is a well that does not provide a sufficient amount of living water we so desperately need. In the midst of this debris filling and secular approaches to worship; however, it is imperative that we must strive for unity within the Church. Those who see must redirect their frustration in humble supplication and submission to God. Despite the faults in front of us, I assure you there are still many faults within you.

The Case for Unity

John 17:11b :

"Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."

When Jesus Christ had less than 24 hours to live, of all things Jesus did, He prayed for unity no less than three times in The High Priestly Prayer. This should reveal the level of importance unity within the Church is. The obscene focus on methodologies and other secular approaches to Scripture has created an environment of disunity among denominations today that it is easier to gather over politics and moral issues, especially if money is involved, than it is over the gospel. As vile as this is to observe, the last thing this environment needs is more division. While God has used productive schisms to preserve and spread His gospel (Protestant Reformation out of Roman Catholicism, Methodists, Puritans, etc.), defaulting to this strategy is prideful and a projection of your own will.

Observe Christ's ministry and how much against the grain it carved with the deeply set apostasy militantly guarded by a small theocratic-elite class. Yet, Christ did not come to condemn them or the world (John 3:17). He did not go around creating confrontation or division. Christ certainly exposed their sin but did it by invitation and grace utilizing Scripture. When the Pharisees aggressively confronted Jesus in John 8 with the woman caught in adultery with the thoughts of killing her; imagine the commotion, the agitation, the awkwardness of being put on the spot that would make one want to lash out in defense. What did Christ do? He drew in the dirt responding in silence. By doing so, Jesus demonstrates compassion and creates a brief pause in the tension allowing the accusers time to reflect on their own actions and motivations. Such silence or indirect actions to invite self-reflection, rather than immediate confrontation, was often used by Jesus. The effect worked better than anything else Jesus could have said or done in this situation. What He does next with the woman not condoning her sin, but not condemning it either, is an emphasis of mercy over judgement in the call of repentance. 

Despite the story likely not being original to the Gospel of John, it is accepted as an authentic account of Jesus' character and teachings. Should we confront our leaders or fellow believers in judgement? Should we speak harsh words against those who are in error? Should we cease to participate among those who are sadly stagnating in their walk with the Lord? No. The answer is offering an invitation of self-reflection. We cannot change other people and force them to see; only God can do that. We can only control our own hearts and focus to the spiritual depth in which God desires of us. This walk will manifest itself differently to believers around you in your responses and behavior. They will take notice and may even ask why you are approaching the well differently. 

So many men have stopped attending church, because of the current state of Christianity. Their grievances of the feminization of the Church, the lack of awe, the lack of mystery, the lack of wonder, the lack of depth, and the focus on moralism are all valid. You can find them by the thousands in social media circles expressing their frustration and desire to worship God properly. However, their removal has only made the anthropomorphic problem thrive more and created a hopeless state. How much more productive fruit could God have delivered out of the Church if one or a few of those who see the secularization of the Church were placed in more congregations?

Instead of being vexed with your thoughts during the pastor's sermon you struggle to find worship in, when was the last time you prayed in the moment for your pastor to have the Holy Spirit work through him? How can you pray for revival when your heart is in a place that does not even want to associate? We are a part of the problem if we find ourselves in such a negative state. If the pastoral burnout is systemic in the nation, the last thing we need is to add to the noise and upturn the foundational organization we have left. Support in prayer and in worship contribution is what our leaders need, along with the congregation. Align yourselves with the will of God through careful study and prayer to become a vessel of what you are supposed to be. Ask God questions in humility. Do not underestimate the mighty things God can do with small things. Most importantly, do not anthropomorphize the Church in your heart in reaction to the secular drift. 

The call of faith is the call to look to the Lord's timing and provision. Part of our spiritual walk is of patience and creating a deeper reliance on God. Our holy God is not just concerned about the outcome, but the journey as well. What kind of story merely has a beginning and then a quick ending, where everything gets sorted exactly how the protagonist desires? We gain nothing even if the whole outcome is immediately granted. Do not despair, for God hears our spiritual needs and responds in marvelous ways. All we can do is surrender ourselves to God and deepen our faith in Him. Pray always to seek out His will and get to know Him. Take heart, because we are never alone when we are in Christ. Prepare yourselves, for the revival of our souls is at hand.