95 Theses to the Modern Evangelical Church

By Justin Edwards

Just as Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the Wittenburg Church Door in 1517 to dispute the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, Sermonindex founder Greg Gordon has posted 95 Theses to the Modern Evangelical Church to the proverbial door of the internet to dispute the corruption in the [post]modern evangelical church.

In a day where the church continues down the road of apostasy with many returning to the religious bondage of Rome; where false teachers are leading God's sheep astray; where people have heaped up teachers for themselves to tickle their itching ears; where God's Word is abused and twisted to fit liberal agendas; where God's love is overemphasized at the expense of His other attributes such as His holiness, righteousness, and justness; where relativism is more popular and accepted than God's absolute truth; where the visible church has conformed to the ways of the world to appease unregenerate people; where sin is tolerated and holiness is mocked; where the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is mutilated and watered down in order to fill CEO-led mega churches; where repentance is lost and easy-believism is hailed; where sanctification and discipleship is an option for the "believer"; where potential false converts are forbidden by "mature" Christians to examine themselves; and where the grace of our Lord is turned into lasciviousness, these 95 Theses to the Modern Evangelical Church could not have been more timely.

As Greg Gordon so gracefully said in opening his theses,

May God in His mercy come and revive North American Christianity for His glory alone. “May the Lamb of God receive the reward of His sufferings in our lives today!”

Indeed, and may these be received in the same humility as they were written, and may there be a remnant in the visible church who boldly rises up as the unashamed and true Body of Christ to flee from these houses of idolatry and zealously return to her first love through repentance. Soli deo Gloria!

1. The “church” at large has forgotten that the chief end of man is to glorify God. (Rom 16:27; 1Cor 6:20; Mt 6:9; 1Cor 10:31)

2. Christians ignore most of the methods, practices and principles found in the book of Acts. (Acts 2:42,44; Acts 2:46; Acts 2:38)

3. Many treat “church” like any other social club or sports event that they might attend. (Acts 2:46; Heb 10:25; Acts 1:14)

4. We’ve made Christianity about the individual rather than the community of believers. (Rom 12:5; 1Cor 12:12; 2Tim 4:16)

5. In most “churches” the priesthood of all believers isn’t acknowledged and the role of pastor is abused. (1Pt 2:9; 1Cor 12:12; Eph 4:11-13)

6. The “church” as a whole has lost the concept of their being grafted into the promises given to Israel. (Rom 11:15, 17-18, 20, 25)

7. There needs to be a recovery of teaching the whole counsel of God, especially in expository form. (Acts 20:27; 1Tim 4:6, 2Tim 2:15)

8. We take it too lightly that we have the blessing and honor of having God’s Scriptures in our possession. (Ps 119:16; Acts 13:44; Neh 8:9)

9. There has never been more access to the Word of God, yet so little reading of it. (1Tim 4:13; Neh 8:1-3; Ps 119:59)

10. Some read the Scriptures to attain knowledge, but do not practice what they read. (Ja 1:22; Mt 7:21; 3Jn 4)

11. Worship has become an idol in many “churches.” The music often resembles that of the world. (Amos 5:23; Phil 4:8; 1Jn 5:21)

12. The world is shaping the views of the “church” more than the “church” shaping the world. (Rom 12:2; Mt 5:13; 1Cor 1:22-23)

Why Don't They Stir Themselves?

By Leonard Ravenhill

America cannot fall - because she is already fallen! This goes for Britain, too. She cannot go into slavery - because her people are fettered at the moment in the chains of self-forged, self-chosen moral anarchy. Here are millions, diseased morally, with no longing for healing. Here are men paying for shadows at the price of their immortal souls.

An unprecedented tidal wave of commandment-breaking, God-defying, soul-destroying iniquity sweeps the ocean of human affairs. Never before have men in the masses sold their souls to the devil at such bargain prices. "There is none. . . that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee" (Isa. 64:7). What hell-born mesmerism holds them? How does the spell bind? Who brainwashed them? Why don't they wake and stir themselves? If the Church had something vital and victorious to offer, these men who choose golf clubs by day and night clubs by night, they might be drawn from these fleshpots.

This is an hour in need of burning hearts, bursting lips and brimming eyes! If we were a tenth as spiritual as we think we are, our streets would be filled each Sunday with throngs of believers marching to Zion - with sacks on their bodies and ashes on their shaking heads, shaking at the calamity that has brought the Church to be the unlovely, unnerved, unproductive thing that she is!

If we wept as much in the prayer closet as devout Jews have done at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, we would now be enjoying a prevailing, purging revival! If we would return to apostolic practice - waiting upon the Lord for apostolic power - we could then go forth to apostolic possibilities! This is the hour when we are asked over and over again, "Is everybody happy?" God's purpose for us is not happiness, but HOLINESS!

Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry?

Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die?

Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand?

Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?

Reference Used: Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill