This is what I see happening in the Presbyterian Church (USA) today:
These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction. They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel! (Isaiah 30:9-11)
This is what I fear will be the result:
Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern. (Isaiah 30:12-14)
God offers away out:
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)
And makes this promise:
The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. (Isaiah 30:18-19)
Grace is the answer. But grace requires repentance. and at the moment, I don’t see any movement toward repentance in the PC(USA). I hear call after call for unity, but purity, particularly sexual purity, seems to be treated as an fairly insignificant part of the equation. No wonder we are loosing hundreds and hundreds of congregations every year.
In the meantime, this is a great time for those of us who identify ourselves as evangelical Christians to examine our own hearts, our own lives, and our own congregations. Where are we continuing in idolatry? Where are we stifling God’s voice? It’s easy to point the finger outward, but before we do that, we need to look in the mirror.