The Stale State of Modern Ritualism

Journal entry. Early morning. August, 2021.

The spiritual health of a congregation can be seen in three areas:  

1. Zeal in both personal and family devotion. The proclamation of the word is to take root inside the home even before it is taken to the public square. I take into account all of Christendom when I say the modern "Facebook church" is guilty of not being able to discern how it is merely maintaining its program simply to survive - not flourish. It is the fatal act of taking out the reading of the word of God inside the home by professors of religion, and reducing it to a ritual, and the responsibility placed instead on the shoulders of earthly shepherds - once a week. Not long ago, families gathered together around the table in their homes to read the word of God after every dinner, even before the dishes were washed. The modern church is too sophisticated for that. A student of academics will normally devote 8 hours a day for 5 days, even 6, to serious study in his earthly pursuit. Modern religion deems 2 hours once a week is enough to be "growing in the word". To an athlete devoted to a singular goal, training 2 hours a week is utterly ridiculous. In the same sense the word is despised in the homes where it is absent, and in the life of the Christian who is timid in his personal devotion.

2. Zeal in personal prayer. Open corporate prayer is worthless if its participants are not consistently engaged in secret prayer. This does not mean the occasional 15-minute litany of needs people are accustomed to attribute as prayer, (monks do better), but I am referring to the forgotten practice of waiting on the LORD all night for the things that truly matter in eternity. For besetting sins and secret faults. For the moving of God's kingdom in unreached places. For the suffering families of parents who are jailed for making a stand for Christ. For the deepening of the saints in the word. And for so, so much more. You may learn a thing or two from books and seminaries, but it is only wading neck deep in the word and prayer that a man will proportionately reap according to what he has sown. A man learns more on his knees than from anyone else. The more you do, the less you care about people's opinion, and the more you are shunned by those who are aliens to this practice.

3. Zeal for missions, and a tangible, consistent, and engaging evidence for it. It is said that the church is measured not in its seating capacity, but in its sending capacity. The comforts of corporate efforts in evangelism, if there is one, is a dangerous sedative for those hiding inside the confines of a walled building. A stagnant gathering is where there are a few willing sufferers, a few willing givers, a few willing to hold the rope for those who go down. An infantry that is not singular in its mission is useless. Having a few good soldiers within the infantry who have a mind for the mission does little good. The elder brother syndrome thrives in such a church. The elder brother refuses to reach out to the lost brother, and is disinterested in the passion and joy of the father - the returning of the lost. He is better than the one who went out because he remained IN the family. He did not leave. He rendered due service all his life. But he refuses to engage in reaching out to his brother, despite knowing that that is what will bring joy to his father. He applauds when a sinner comes to God, he just does not see the issue significant enough and bother himself to make it possible. He may at times participate in such activities, but he will not go out alone in a matter of urgency, unless somebody asks him. "Let others do it instead. I have other talents to offer."

Most Christians will agree. The reading of the word of God in the home is good. Prayer is good. Evangelism is good. But the most crippling blows against the modern church have been from those within it. Agreeing means nothing. One may nod his head to doctrine all his life and still remain barren. But among those who are hearers, a few handfuls are actual doers. And in the modern church it is the hearers who are thriving. 

Countless people are in churches simply for what it already is, not for who it is meant for - God. For these, gathering on a Sunday is what a Christian does. It is the accepted norm. They are in it because they have friends there. For some, they have been in it for so long. They have nowhere else to go. For them it is unthinkable to stir the waters. To go along quietly with the program, than earn the frown of the majority. They are in the congregation for company's sake, not for growth's sake. Certainly not for fruitfulness' sake.

It is not wrong to leave any school where your children learn nothing and do not grow. Just as it is not wrong to step outside the theater where the running show is lifeless and monotonous. If you find yourself in such a situation, the simplest thing to do is quietly leave. You do not create a scene by complaining about the program. We have a lot of schools in the city, but running a school is not automatically equivalent to having competent teachers. Teaching diplomas do not guarantee consistency, efficiency, and competence. It most certainly does not take away bias. Therefore it is nowhere near wrong to leave for these reasons. What is wrong is to remain in that school learning nothing, simply for the sake of unity. It is all the more affirming, if the school board will accuse you of pride for taking your children out to seek for them better education. It is utterly stupid to guilt-trip the parents to force them to let their children remain. Only immature leadership will place the blame on the student instead of the teacher, even going as far as saying, "there is no such thing as homeschool. You will not grow if you leave the local school."  It almost sounds like they want you to fail just to embarass you. That's how a cultish person thinks. People do not grow because of the school, they grow because of their love for learning. And learning is always where seriousness of heart is. When faithful students leave, the problem is always with those providing the service. But then again, it is easy to shift the blame, than to admit wrong and change for the better. The school can in no wise accuse the parents of any wrongdoing, except for the fact that they refused to adhere to its dead programs. Earthly schools cannot compare to God's eternal purpose for His Son's pure and spotless bride, free from the clutches of worldly ritualism. How much more infinitely precious is the deepening of one's soul, than the programs and opinions of men?

I have been in the corporate world for more than 21 years. Companies that move millions in business each month. Its very life rests solely on the firm and calculated decisions of its leader. I can confidently compare with grave sadness that if the modern shepherds of God's flock will handle such companies the way they handle their flocks, that company will definitely fall apart.. And fall miserably. One may argue, "But their churches are still continuing." Yes. Hence, it is called ritualism. It doesn't need a heart to continue. All it needs is an established routine. A sanitized version of Rome's dead traditions. 

Faithful followers who disengage from timid leaders are not the enemy of Christ's true church as they are often portrayed to be: apathy born from ritualism is. 

Strong words? Yes. And true.

A coward drove by and shouted, "you will die of COVID!" In the Spirit, Neil answered, "you will die in your sins if you do not turn to Christ."  How many men die unwarned because of the apathy of those who profess to have the light? It is not the good news if you do not even believe it is worth proclaiming to all. Cowards receive no honor.