Jeremiah 23:28 (NIV)
Let him who has My word speak it faithfully.
In this day and age of televangelism and internet preaching there's no shortage of proclamation of Christ and His mission to save the world. Why is it then that the conversion rates, especially in the western world and Christian nations, so appalling? Is it because of apathy or just a plain distrust of the messenger? Have we grown so inured to the gospel that it falls on deaf ears or do we simply not trust that glitz and glamor that accompanies it? The late Richard Halverson, Chaplain to the United States Senate, summarized this quandary as follows: "In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next it moved to Europe where it became a culture, and, finally, it moved to America where it became an enterprise.". From that perspective it's easy to understand why the pulpits are so full of preachers but very few servants of God and why congregations are so full of devout people but very few disciples. We need to get back to that gospel of Christ who was nailed to the cross, who was hungry and homeless, and who was eulogized and then murdered. We need to proclaim the cross and all that happened at Calvary.