The Church And The Social Media.

On my way home recently, I saw a banner of a church for a program tagged "UNWIND" with comedians and musicians on it. I was really alarmed by it and it dawned on me at that point in time that the present state of the church can be compared to "the social media".                       

The social media has made globalization very easy. People from far countries and continents can chat, speak with and see each other easily by means of the telecommunication and the social media like facebook , twitter, linkein, google + and so on . People hardly post letters because of it and many people have become so popular through it. They have many followers, friends and acquaintances worldwide. This related to the present state of the church.

The church today can be compared to the social media because of the various activities going on in many churches. Christ has been regulated to the background and pastors have become the focus. In the course of becoming popular and competitive in the area of memberships, many churches invite unbelievers to sing and make people laugh. The altar of many churches has been defiled by unbelievers because of the self-interest and greed of pastors.  No wonder the gay movement has become so strong because Pastors have not been preaching the truth and they have not been doing what God has called them to do. Instead, they have been entertaining their congregations with comedians and singers (both saved and unsaved), amassing members, becoming more popular and competing to show who has the largest church and congregation in the world. What a shame!!! They try as much as possible to perfect each service with songs, activities and so on. It is called packaging. Services are being packaged to attract people to it.       

Having a church building and members is not a bad thing but what is your motive of beautifying your church and what do you feed the congregation with when?   This is the reason many people are running away from and others are giving up on the church because they are not well fed. It has become so worldly that you can see churches having the mindset of  and doing activities meant for the world in the church. We are supposed to be different, unique and reflect Christ but HE is being choked up in the church and the ways and principles of the world are becoming the order of the day. This is a pathetic state.                         

Holiness, righteousness, and the ways of God are not being preached because it makes pastors "unpopular". They preach what the congregation wants to hear because they want to remain popular. Isaiah 30:10 says,

“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. ".             

The nature of God (HOLINESS) of which no man can see God has become unpopular. In social media, people brag about the number of followers and the popularity of their status. You can see this trait in the church. You can also hear junks being preached by pastors and people flock after them. Whereas the people who speak the truth don't have or have a few followership. This is an attribute of the social media. People who say and post rubbish have massive followership. Everyone wants to identify and follow a person because he is popular, crazy, sexy, diabolical, immoral, a celebrity though he or she may not be sound upstairs. The person may also be addicted to drugs, alcohol, and sex and also have a questionable character. It is so painful that people post nude pictures and stupid things and the world celebrates it. But the ones who tell the truth and post things that can change their lives and make us wise, they ignore, unfollow and castigate because they don’t want to hear the truth and being holy, righteous, hardworking, and prayerful and God minded is no longer popular.                                        

John 10:10 says’

 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”.
 The social media steals your soul, relationships, honesty, innocence and godliness. It can pollute and defile you as well. The devil that comes to steal, kill and destroy uses it to destroy this generation. He has succeeded in stealing the heart of this generation with the social media.  This is what is happening in the church. Christ came to give us life and he has been doing it through the called out ones (The Church). However, many churches no longer give life instead they steal the life (strength, resources, wisdom, holiness, zeal, decency) of their members. They steal the "little" zeal for God in the church with entertainment and greed. Luke 19:36 says:

“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Entertainment is not a bad thing but that is not the purpose of the church. If you want to get entertained, the church can give it but not in the way you understand entertainment. If your intention of coming to church is to be entertained, then you have missed it.

Ephesians 3:10-11 says:
¹⁰ His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
¹¹ according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.People should come to the church and get saved, delivered, instructed, rebuked when wronged (by God's spirit) and so on. But the reverse has become the case. The church has become a den of thieves instead of a Place of prayer and the word. The purpose of the social media is socializing, while the church is to manifest the manifold wisdom of God to principalities, rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Although, you can social in the church, the purpose of it is not for socializing. Wilson Ileogben