From Eliyahu:

Shalom friends, 

According to the statistics for the last decade, we are now observing the end of the organized Christian Church in America, with 10,000 churches a year failing and closing down. Those who were with us ten years ago will remember that we predicted this church decline. What is the latest news on this?

The Atlantic recently published an article entitled: America’s Epidemic of Empty Churches. Quoting the statistics, they say "6,000 to 10,000 churches die each year in America." Here's a further quote:

Any minister can tell you that the two best predictors of a congregation’s survival are “budgets and butts,” and American churches are struggling by both metrics. As donations and attendance decrease, the cost of maintaining large physical structures that are in use only a few hours a week by a handful of worshippers becomes prohibitive. None of these trends shows signs of slowing.

It appears that America is following in the footsteps of Europe. Very few Europeans go to church or actively practice any form of Christianity. Some Churches remain in Europe as leftovers from a bygone era, mostly providing places for weddings and funerals, and the like, if they still remain open at all.  It's true that the Catholic Church is still huge, but it too is declining around the world. Further, for churches to have a future, the people they need most are young people. On this score alone organized church is doomed, since 70% of young church goers leave the church upon graduation from high school, let alone college. As the older generation of churchgoers dies off, the organized church is dying with them. The inescapable truth, if one simply looks at the trend over the course of the modern era, and especially over the last decade, is that the organized church is dying. The death of the organized church is leaving a wake of social chaos, division and conflict throughout western civilization. The upheaval in worldview this spiritual vacuum makes room for cannot end well for civilization, by any measure.

Where did all of these churches go wrong? For starters, while modest buildings are sometimes needed, maybe putting so many resources into giant luxurious buildings, with huge overhead, was a bad idea to start with. It's like a family that wants the status and comfort of a big luxurious house, so commits to a huge mortgage beyond their means, only to see the family fall apart from the resultant financial stress. Besides, shouldn't all those resources go into meeting the spiritual needs of people, rather than supporting oversized luxurious buildings? 

And what about the Truth? Consider this apostolic command and prediction:

I command you therefore before Elohim and Adonai Yeshua the Messiah, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: proclaim the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables. 2 Timothy 4:1-4

And from the prophet Isaiah:

It appears we are living in the time these witnesses are warning us about. When the very survival of the church depends upon “budgets and butts,” how likely is it that the church will risk telling people the hard truths of Scripture? You know, fun stuff, like this:

Think on that message of Messiah for a few minutes. How is that going to strike the pastor with the “budgets and butts” mentality? Messiah is saying "take up YOUR cross!" How does that passage stack up with the "He died on the cross so you don't have to" message? The easy, "free grace" message? The feel-good message? Could that pastor even consider preaching such a hard message to his congregants? If he preaches such an unpopular message how will he pay the bills? How will he pay himself? The financial realities end up dictating the message, rather than the pure Word of God - so the power of the Word is watered down, and millions of churchgoers flocking to luxurious tombs called churches languish and fail, because they have never heard the Truth in all of its unvarnished life-changing power. Churches like that deserve to die, and must die, for the truth-loving Remnant to emerge and take their place in the Great Plan here in these last days.  

Remember this: no matter what happens to the organized church, the Truth can never die. The Truth doesn't need a church building, because it proceeds from Messiah's own heart and it lives in the sanctuary of Spirit-filled hearts throughout the world. The Truth has no home in the hearts of people whose first concern is their own lives and hording the things they want. There is only one route to true discipleship. "Let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me," our Master said.  Following Messiah is a rigorous and demanding choice to put the desires of the world aside - to follow Him. Does this make sense? As Messiah said: "For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits his own self?"

Our commitment here at Tsiyon is to Messiah and His Truth, and let the chips fall where they may. You might not always like everything we say, but you can be sure we are calling it as we see it on the page of Holy Writ. We are convinced that kind of commitment to the Word still means something to truth-seekers and truth-finders, and it always will.

Tonight we are getting to some key words and events of Messiah, in Luke 9. Join us tonight online, for our live Tsiyon Meeting, at 8 PM CST at Tsiyon.Net, for Messiah's no-holds-barred message.