The Christian conception of God in these current years is so
decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually
to constitute for professed believers something
amounting to a moral calamity.
With the loss of the sense of majesty has come the further
loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost
our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in
adoring silence.
The present position of Christ in the gospel churches may be
likened to that of a king in a limited, constitutional monarchy. The king is in
such a country no more than a traditional rallying point, a pleasant symbol of
unity and loyalty much like a flag or a national anthem. He is lauded, feted
and supported, but his real authority is small. Nominally he is head over all,
but in every crisis someone else makes the decisions.
The doctrine of the Spirit as it relates to the believer has
over these past decades been shrouded in a mist such as lies upon a mountain in
stormy weather. A world of confusion has surrounded this truth. This confusion
has not come by accident. An enemy has done this. Satan knows that Spiritless evangelicalism
is as deadly as heresy, and he has done everything in his power to prevent us
from enjoying our true Christian heritage.
If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not
the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the
bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men; the
new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The
old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.
Almost every day of my life I am praying that “a jubilant
pining and longing for God” might come back on the church. We don’t need to
have our doctrine straightened out; we are as orthodox as the Pharisees of old.
But this longing for God that brings spiritual torrents and whirlwinds of
seeking and self-denial----this is almost gone from our midst.
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