I recently attended a funeral at a small country church. “Sister” Joyce had gone on to be with the Lord, and incredibly, her husband, “Brother Bill,” preached her funeral.

The family owns a sawmill and as I looked at the rafters, with the wooden planks, my other senses were heightened. I heard shouts and claps as Brother Bill talked lovingly of a woman so godly that she had affected an entire community. Somewhere, the scent of honeysuckle drifted in through open windows.

These people were happy. They knew what they believed, or, to put it more accurately, they knew whom they believed.

I’ve never attended a funeral in which people stood outside because there wasn’t enough seating. There were hundreds of people at this small community church. Grown men were crying.

Brother Bill and Sister Joyce were married in 1969; he was being shipped-out to Vietnam, and they made the decision to become man and wife. They had been happy all these years, even through her struggle with breast cancer.

Now, let me contrast this scene with one I remember from a few years ago. I attended the Crystal Cathedral while on a business trip to Southern California. I am “naming” this ministry in order for people to better understand my point. After all, if Robert Schuller has written that sin is the loss of self-esteem, then he can defend his philosophy as he sees fit, and I can contrast his message and vision with that of Brother Bill and Sister Joyce. Theirs was “that old-time religion,” which featured plenty of talk about sin, holy living, and the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

The atmosphere at CC was extraordinary: lush plants, soft seats, an ocean breeze coming in from the corner of the building, which opened up! Schuller “interviewed” celebrity Kathy Ireland, who plugged her line of clothing.

I found the scene to be surreal. Paul preached. Spurgeon preached. Schuller chats with television personalities.

I sat there and reflected on my grandparents’ church, a country church pastored by Ronald Shoesmith and his wife, Cora. These were old-line, Bible-believing Christians. A similar setup as that of Brother Bill and Sister Joyce. Countryside Bible Church, pastored by Bro. Shoesmith, had a cement floor, hard pews, hymnals, an organ, and gallons of refreshing Bible preaching every Sunday.

I’ve since been to many sophisticated gatherings and chatted with intellectuals and sophisticates, many of whom are leaders in ministries in the United States. Frankly, much of what passes today for ministry reminds me of a rotting, bloated whale washed up on a beach. J. Vernon McGhee thought decades ago that the church in America had lost its power, and may I say, beloved, that the situation is a good deal worse today.

In August, Bill Hybel’s Willow Creek Church, in Chicago, will host a leadership conference. Among the speakers will be Tony Blair, David Gergen, and Bono. I certainly don’t know the spiritual condition of those men, but I do wonder how they view that seminal verse in the Bible, John 14:6. I’m not sure at all what qualifies Bono, the U2 lead singer, to speak at this event.

This of course can be interpreted as a mean-spirited, fundamentalist attack on well-meaning Christians. I’m not responsible for that characterization; I’m simply explaining that the simplicity and freedom found in preaching Christ crucified and risen is missing from American pulpits today, in general.

These country, “non-sophisticated” folks were free, I must tell you. In those places, in those times, people who attended were free in a way that our culture today is not. For we live in an age of Tony Robbins motivational seminars, seeker-friendly Bibles (pastel covers, metal covers, textured covers, interior text doctored by relativistic translators, etc.), and “life coaches” who were formerly known as pastors.

Our spiritual forefathers knew this day was coming. They pointed to it. Paul predicted it, and so did Peter. Spurgeon knew it was coming and in fact saw the first stages of apostasy. He railed against it and one could speculate that the rigors of the fight took his life, at 58, in 1892.

I thought about all these things as Brother Bill finished his emotional farewell to his wife. It was like my thoughts were sucked back into a wormhole and I was back in the present.

This was one of those home-goings, for even though Brother Bill ended his day hugging an emotional group of friends and family, he already knew that he will be reunited with Joyce one day, and one day soon, in my opinion.

This is because God has promised us that He will bring history to its conclusion — man will not save himself, as is preached today — and He alone will welcome home His children.

That wisdom has nothing at all in common with the wisdom of our world today.

Originally published in One News Now, Prophecy Matters.  July 2009

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