Is the Dead Church Killing America? (Is the One You Attend One of Them?)
Number 3 on my newsletter goal list addresses the need for vital and spiritually awake churches.
Thank you, subscribers, for being a wonderful addition to my writing life. I’m in week three of sharing my newsletter goals with you.
#3. Inspire believers to find a church that follows biblical principles, educates its parishioners about civic responsibilities, and actively affects its community.
COVID-19 did serious harm to many, not just those who caught the disease. It did a real number on the Church. So many churches folded up completely, and many were happy to remain online, making things much easier for them. This is an unbiblical practice, as Hebrews 25:10 states.
We still lived in California when COVID hit, and Governor Newscum, I will never call him by any other name, was the first to order his state into a mandatory lockdown. It was truly the worst state to be in during COVID. Finding an open church was impossible long past the original three-week order issued. I won’t get started on how awful I believe the response to COVID was. Steam may start coming out of my ears. 😤
We were blessed to have a motorhome and escaped to Florida, where we could attend church, eat in restaurants, and gather with friends and family without restrictions. It was wonderful! We found a fantastic Spirit-filled church in Florida. In our travels to the Sunshine State, we visited many churches. Depending on the state, it was difficult. I firmly believe that all churches should have taken a stand against the tyranny and kept their doors open. We needed our churches during those troubling times more than ever.
After the COVID lockdown ended, we were still traveling and resorted to Google for our church search. I lost count of the times we found ourselves standing outside a church with closed doors that didn’t have the courtesy of mentioning it on their websites and Facebook pages.
They should have pulled down their sites, having no intention of reopening. I have zero respect for those churches and a ton of respect for pastors like Jack Hibbs, who stood up to sleazy Governor Newscum despite facing fines of $50,000.00 every time he opened the doors of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills. California wasn’t the only state with a tyrannical governor.
COVID wound up separating the wheat from the chaff in the church world. Many pastors who initially closed their doors woke up to the hypocrisy after witnessing that liquor stores, pot dispensaries, Walmart, and Lowes were allowed to stay open. Righteous indignation eventually kicked in for many preachers against the unconstitutional mandates and how the Church was being treated. It shook the pastors, happy to stay out of politics out of their unenlightened trees. The separation of church and state was meant to keep the Government out of the church, not the other way around.
America was built on Judeo-Christian values, and its governance was based on Biblical statutes. It’s mind-blowing how many Americans have no idea what the First Amendment to the Constitution says. They certainly aren’t being taught in our schools.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
It’s pretty clear that prohibiting the free exercise of the church, the freedom of speech, and the right of the people to assemble peaceably came under attack. Thousands of churches tolerated these atrocities. Before the epidemic, many pastors did not encourage their parishioners to vote based on Biblical values. They didn’t encourage voting at all. They did a massive disservice to their congregations and our country.
A First Liberty Institute study said that out of 79% of Americans who identify as people of faith, only half bother to vote. That is a sad state of affairs; I blame it on the churches. Reports say 80% of parishioners want their pastors to address politics and current issues; in 2020, only a quarter did. How do the people who should be our spiritual guides refuse to address the issues that speak to what kind of people we should be and what kind of country we want to live in?
Our pastors don’t need to tell us who to vote for. They should, however, tell us what Biblical values our vote should represent. Killing babies in the womb, and in some states, after they have been born, should never be okay with the church. Psalms 139:13-16 firmly says that abortion is wrong.
Allowing doctors to mutilate our children is wrong. If you believe that anyone should change their sex, much less children, please read the scripture above. God knew who we were before we were born. Here’s news that makes the loons on the Left crazy. He only made two sexes. Genesis 1:27- So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God, he created them; male and female, He created them.
Our children have been indoctrinated for decades. The one good thing that came out of COVID-19 is that parents were made aware of the radical teachings our children were being exposed to. It was a rude awakening for us all. Another atrocity committed by the blue Governor of California was making it a sanctuary state for CHILDREN to come to and get a sex change without their parent’s knowledge. The lunatic governor from Minnesota, who was Kamala Harris’s running mate, did the same in his state. Thank God they were not elected!
We can thank the churches that woke up and made their congregations aware of the danger we were all in for that. According to many polls, Christians made up 72% of the electorate and gave Trump 56% of their vote. It should have been 100 %. How any God-fearing Christian could vote for the Biben regime is beyond me.
They had to be the biblically uninformed. This leads me to the main point of this article. If your pastor is not addressing the issues affecting the American people and encouraging you to vote and take a stand against the tyranny that we were subjected to under the Biden administration, I would suggest you find a new church. We did.
I was disturbed to find that the pastor of the church we were attending during the 2024 elections had said nothing about them. I am a cut-to-the-chase kind of gal, so after a Sunday service, I asked him why he wasn’t talking about the election. I was done when he said he didn’t think it was his place to talk politics. My husband looked at him and said, “Now you’ve done it. That’s the last thing you wanted to say to the redhead.”
I emailed their parent church to ask if this was the stance of all their churches and got no response. Disgusted doesn’t begin to describe how I felt. We were searching for another home church in Smithville since we will be here for at least six months of the year. We look for non-denominational churches.
I spotted a church on my walk the following week. I told my husband that I’d seen the church members at the local park hosting an event to prevent breast cancer. I didn’t pay much attention to the name since we were attending somewhere else at the time. I’m thrilled that the Abundant Grace Community Church is now our happy home.
We became official members of this wonderful, Spirit-filled, lively church and couldn’t be happier. My husband plays guitar on the worship team and has been helping them with some building repairs. The people are some of the warmest, most loving we’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. One of the things we missed the most as full-time RV travelers was having a home church. I can’t stress enough how important it is to be connected to a local church.
AGCC is active in the community. In December, they collected funds and shopped for some low-income families so that they would have a nice Christmas. We are collecting diapers next week for parents who need help. Our church is making a difference in the town we live in. Every church should be.
A home church is where you can ask for prayer for yourself or someone you know who needs it. I asked for prayer for my cousin, who is battling cancer, last week, and a group of ladies circled me and joined hands and prayed. The power of the Holy Spirit almost knocked me over.
If you don’t have a home church or are attending a dead one because it’s the church your family has always attended, please find one that checks the boxes below.
It should follow biblical principles, educate its parishioners about civic responsibilities, and actively affect its community.
I’ll be praying for you to find one. Watching church on TV on Sundays doesn’t get it, folks. Find a good church home to get connected to.
Thanks for giving me your time and attention. God bless and have a great Sunday.
Here’s last week’s post addressing goal #2 for my newsletter.
You can find it here if you missed my post with my #1 goal for my newsletter.
Charisse Tyson is a retired biker bar owner, author, blogger, and full-time RVer. You can follow her on Medium, Facebook, Linkedin, X(Twitter)