Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep…”

  - Ezekiel 34.10

Everything they [the people of Britain] did went against their salvation, just as though the true doctor of us all granted the world no medicine. And this was true not merely of worldly men; the flock of the Lord and His shepherds, who should have been an example to the whole people, lay about...a prey to swelling hatreds, contentious quarrels, the greedy talons of envy, judgement that made no distinction between good and evil...they were seduced by their follies and wandered in the trackless desert.

  - Gildas, The Ruin of Britain, British, 6^th century

Since the 1950s, liberal churches in America and elsewhere have been losing members hand over fist. The reason? They’re not leading people into the knowledge of the Lord. Having turned from the Gospel of the Kingdom and the plain teaching of God’s Word to whatever current fancy or folly filled their imaginations, they’ve left multitudes of people trapped in a religion with no life, while multitudes more have gone elsewhere, seeking a true measure of spiritual experience.

The ruin of mainstream churches and denominations can be laid at the feet of those pastors and shepherds who embraced a higher critical approach to the Bible, a merely subjective understanding of religion, and a universalist view of salvation. They undercut the authority of Scripture, encouraged people to find in Christianity whatever suited their interests or needs, and proclaimed a broad and tolerant view of what it means to follow Jesus.

In our day, evangelical churches are experiencing a decline as well, since, for the past several years, the growth of those churches has not kept pace with the growth of the population in general, and many young people have abandoned the faith altogether. And the reasons are, in many cases, similar: a lowered view of the authority of Scripture, an understanding of Christ and salvation based on personal interests and needs, and a commitment to tolerance of a wide range of views and practices.

Evangelism is becoming the new liberalism, led by pastors who want to appear relevant to all people, at the expense of being loyal to God. And such pastors are leading their congregations to spiritual ruin and social and cultural irrelevance.

There’s just nothing new under the sun.

Early in the 6^th century, Gildas lamented the foolish ways of British pastors in his day. The judgment of God had fallen on them and their churches, as God Himself stood in the way to bring a stop to their compromises with the world. These were the successors of those pastors who had tried to interfere with and subvert the ministry of Patrick. Jealous, self-absorbed and turf-protecting, out of touch with the Gospel of the Kingdom, and unconcerned for the wellbeing of the Lord’s flocks, they led the churches and people of Britain to ruin.

What of the shepherds of our day? Are they holding firm to and teaching all the counsel of God in Scripture? Are they examples of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit to the people they serve? Are they preaching the true Gospel of the Kingdom, or have they yielded to the temptations of prosperity, relevance, and moral inclusiveness, to proclaim another gospel to their flocks?

Are they shepherdingthe flocks of God entrusted to their care, or allowingand even encouragingthe sheep to find their own best way to whatever they want of or from God?

Our churches are in need of renewal, but they will not come to renewal without shepherds who know where the Lord wants His churches to be, and who are committed to leading them there by prayer, preaching, and personal example. The work of shepherding – as Jesus explained it in John 10 – is almost nowhere to be seen in the churches in America. We have substituted programs and schemes imported from “successful” worldly ventures in the name of “making disciples.”

However, we have few true disciples to point to as a result of our labors.

When pastors abandon the plain teaching of Scripture to follow whatever course is recommended by the “success” paradigms of the world, they are forsaking their true calling and setting their churches up for ruin.

Meditate deeply on Jesus’ teaching in John 10, where He outlines the work of true shepherds. Then see if such shepherding exists in your church. For if it does not, then your shepherds stand where those did in Ezekiel 34.1-10, and they are tending, if not galloping, toward the place where Britain’s shepherds were in Gildas’ day – leading whole congregations to ruin.

Just like the liberal pastors of the previous generation.

Any such pastors should know that the Lord Who stood against the shepherds then, has not changed His intentions, His methods, or His resolve today.

Psalm 82.1, 2, 8 (Aurelia: The Church’s One Foundation)
God stands amid His people to judge their rulers all:
How long will they oppress those who on His favor call?
How long will they the wicked show partiality,
And treat with scorn the meek who their proper care should be?

Rise up, O God, in splendor according to Your worth!
Rise up in pow’r to judge all the nations of the earth!
Rise up, O God our Savior, and hear our fervent call,
For You possess and rule o’er the nations one and all.    

Lord, stir within the shepherds of our churches, and lead them to make real disciples.

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T. M. Moore
Principal
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All psalms for singing from The Ailbe Psalter. Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.