February 6.
Autopsy Of A Dead Church

Revelation 3:1

Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead.

There was a pastor of a certain western church that called for the members to come to a Wednesday night prayer meeting, but no one showed up. He knew that there was a major problem in his church and so he went and rang the bell, indicating that someone had died. The neighborhood became disturbed because they had not heard the news of the passing of one of the neighbors. So they started inquiring who had died. No one knew. Finally they rushed to the church to ask the pastor. After the church had filled to its seating capacity, he said, I want to announce to you that this church has died.”

The members decided to have an autopsy done to determine the cause of death. They cut the church open and looked on the inside to discover the church was suffering from low blood, heart trouble, and venereal disease. The low blood was causing blackouts when it came time to have Bible Class. Blackouts also interfered with mission work. The heart trouble made the members hard-hearted, with no feeling or compassion for anybody else. Don’t you know God sends blessings to us so he can channel blessings through us? We may be all right at sixty, but God remembers us when we were sixteen and needed help. And the church had venereal disease resulting from sin. The gambling industry had many customers in the church. The dope dealers conducted business with the members and the prostitutes had many patrons from the congregation. These conditions were bringing about the demise of the church.

This church was living in the past. They used to have a good program; they used to pay tithes. I used to sing in the choir. I used to teach Sunday school. Always used to. God told the church to hold fast and repent and join with those that had not defiled their garments.