When 'criminals' feel comfortable in the church

And those who heard it went out one by one, beginning with the oldest. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.John 8:10

Child of God, I want to thank God for your life and another opportunity to minister to you through the gospel of Christ Jesus. The fact that you are still alive and have been reached by this sermon means you will NOT die of this coronavirus pandemic but will live and declare the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

But I want you to understand the fact that even though escaping the arrow of death in the hands of this tiny virus is your current most important preoccupation, what should matter most to you is getting eternal salvation for your soul.

Unfortunately, people, men and women of God, who are supposed to preach the gospel of salvation have failed woefully in executing that mandate from God. And the reason is simple, as succinctly captured by Paul in Romans 16:18: "For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of the naive people".

The naive people here are those who are not well-grounded in Scripture. They are subjected to all kinds of manipulations by these people, who have not actually been called by God, to satisfy their worldly pleasures.

Such "Men of God" are not interested in the salvation of the souls they control, and how can they? After all, they are the agents of the anti-Christ who have been given the charge to lead people into eternal destruction.

This should, however, not come as a surprise to you because the Christ himself spoke about what is currently happening in Christiandom, as captured in Matthew 21: 13: "...My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a 'den of robbers'."

That's why the message of the cross is no longer the focus of many preachers. They preach what makes criminals, thieves, fornicators, adulterers, wizards and witchcrafts, scoffers, among others, feel COMFORTABLE in their churches and in their presence.

From our anchor scripture, John 8:10, a group of people had sought to stone a woman who had been caught in adultery, as stipulated by their laws. But after Jesus had told them the bitter truth about their own lifestyle and circumstances they felt so pathetically shameful and uncomfortable that they had to run away, especially because they were not prepared to repent of their sins.

Many of such people now live in the church and feel COMFORTABLE because the right message that will convict them of their evil doings have been sacrificed on the altar of PROSPERITY MESSAGE. Everyone wants to prosper, fair enough, but the word of God enjoins us to seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness first and ALL other things shall be added to it.

Many people in my church, I know, are not COMFORTABLE with my preachings, but I will always thank God for that. I preach the gospel of bitter truth that leads to repentance, conviction and salvation.

If you are a preacher/pastor and you are not doing that and your lead singer is a fornicator; your elder is a corrupt businessman or politician; your choir master is a serial womaniser, among others, yet feel COMFORTABLE in your presence and your church, then you are part of those who have promoted the current inequities of our generation, with their concomitant problems, including the deadly pestilence that has plagued the world.

My dear Christian brothers/sisters, and fellow workers in God's vineyard, the hour of repentance is now. We have no time on our hand. It is NOW or NEVER. Let's REPENT and SAVE our souls. I am a proud Presbyterian, what about you?

Kwabena Amankwah is the Editor of The Daily Statesman Newspaper