Wednesday 24 June 2020

What Will It Take to Wake Us Up?

So far this year we have been sent to our rooms like naughty children and have obediently complied. Then we have been told that our country is not ours anymore and expected to accept that on pain of being regarded as hateful extremists. This on top of the already existing demands that we acknowledge men to be women and women men if that's what they want. Our history which, though not without black spots, is largely the history of humanity's greatest successes, has been traduced and vilified.  And we are not yet halfway through the year. What could be next?

I'll tell you what. The Christian religion will be completely reframed. Already it has been hollowed out and its proper spiritual function reduced to a secondary concern. Soon it will be made completely secular, a system of belief whose sole function is to promote equality among the people of the world. An anti-sexist, anti-racist arm of the mainstream political ideology with which it will agree in all important respects. Christ will become what he often is already, a social worker of 'good will' whose teaching was only about humanity as it is in this world. The rest was just an unfortunate consequence of his living in an antiquated superstitious society. The religious aspect of Christianity will not be directly denied but it will be reduced to almost complete insignificance. 

Real Christians will have to leave their churches. I realise this is not a nice thing to say and might even make some people think of me as some kind of devilish tempter so let me be clear. I am not saying this because I think people should leave their churches. I am saying it because the churches have left Christ so if you want to follow Christ you will need to follow him directly. I know people will say this church may have done that but mine hasn't and I am not so foolish as to think that the spiritual apostasy has affected everywhere equally. But it is everywhere and getting worse. "My kingdom is not of this world". If you want to enter Christ's kingdom you will soon, if you have not done so already, have to look beyond this world.

But this is a decision for each individual and I make the point only to offer assistance to those who already feel like that but have a sense of guilt or fear. Do not worry. If you love Christ then you may assume it is him guiding you on this path. He still loves his churches but if those churches no longer serve him in the way they should then he will, as he promised, speak to us directly through the Holy Spirit. Now is the time when that Spirit is starting to speak more openly to more people, even if it is still relatively few. Many will miss the communal aspect of the churches but the real spiritual work is always done on a solitary level and an individual basis. We are saved one by one and today that is truer than ever. We have to take the spiritual bull by the horns and rely on ourselves. All institutions and that includes religious ones will now let us down at best and may corrupt us if we follow them in the way they have themselves become corrupted.

I do not wish the churches to disappear. After all, they have preserved Christianity for centuries. Through them millions of souls have come to God. But they have fallen far from their proper place and it may be that they have to retract dramatically so they can be purged of their secular accretions and become real islands of sanctity again. Be that as it may,  they are certainly not what they were and they will fall still further as described above under relentless attack from both outside and within. Those serious about seeking God will have to look beyond the churches now.

4 comments:

Francis Berger said...

Spot on. Churches have morphed into Social Jesus Warrior organizations. Very little of what they currently do or promulgate follows the true path of Christ.

William Wildblood said...

It does seem like that , Francis. I'm sure there are many true followers of Christ within the churches but the institutions themselves are close to running on empty in my view.

ted said...

I do still support the Catholic and Orthodox churches. They have held their traditional ground, and some of them are quite beautiful as sacred spaces. But as we see with the New Age movements of the last several decades, very few of them last because they don't have some institutional and traditional foundation in place. I am cynical that we can create anything new that can truly be lasting.

William Wildblood said...

I would agree that the Catholic and Orthodox churches still deserve support. They have held out better than any others because they have deeper roots. But still even they are in trouble I think.

I'm not saying anything else can replace the churches and certainly not any modern concoction. I believe we are on our own to a large extent (though can support each other) and are meant to be.