JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, lamented more than a hundred years
"Everywhere there is apathy. Nobody cares whether that which is preached is true
or false. A sermon is a sermon whatever the subject; only, the shorter it is the better."3
A fitting description of the church at the beginning of the 21st century!
THE DEMISE OF THEOLOGY
There has been a virtual disappearance of theology from the life of the church, much
less society. There has sometimes been a subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, shift from God to
the self as the central focus of faith.
This shift has been evident in the psychologized preaching with its lack of conviction and
authority and in the church's pragmatic approach to virtually everything sacred. Theology has
taken a back seat to methodology. Utilitarianism (usefulness as a standard of what is good), not
truth, has become the standard of conduct.
Capacity for truth has been sadly diminished and modernity (when what is modern
provides the basis for what to think or do) has established its roots deeply in the soil of the
American mind. As a society we have lost our theological soul. Theological soundbites are all
many can endure as we have increasingly approached that time prophesied long ago:
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control,
brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. . . .
always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth . . . men of depraved
minds . . . evil men will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. . . .
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead
to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers
to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away
from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Ti 3:1-5,7-8,13; 4:3-4).
RELIGIOUS COUNTERFEITS
Into the vacuum of spiritual confusion that characterizes our age has rushed a number of
religious counterfeits known to us as cults. This should not be surprising since the Bible warns us
that in the last days "false Christs and false prophets will arise and mislead many" (Mt 24:5). Our
global community stands in the midst of Matthew 24.