God's glory has left the church, says elder

Lancaster, Manchester 

Church attendance, seeming more like routine, has become a common feeling among Christians, though very few, to this day, express it. 

However, elder at the Lancaster Seventh-day Adventist Church, Pastsy Smalling,  says whether people choose to admit their actions or not, it has caused the church to be in a bad place. 

 "The church is at war and they are fighting with the enemy. The enemy is studying us and capturing us, that's why the church is the way it is.

"We will all be tested in our lives, and whenever we are being tested, the Teacher is silent. Our God is a powerful God and even the enemy knows that. Not because you have a different lifestyle in the week then come to church and act holy doesn't mean that God isn't powerful."

She added, "The glory of God has departed from the church and now the glory has been brought into the enemy's camp." 

Taking God for granted

The elder, during a recent sermon, added that for far too long people have been taking God for granted.

"When you have a great responsibility in the church, it is a time to seek God's face more than anybody else’s in the church. Even when the church is not fasting, you have to fast... you have unholy people behaving like holy people and if you can't see it, it's because you are blind. We have in our church, unholy people handling holy things and that is why the presence of God has departed."

She says while some remain blinded to things they do, there are eyes always on the watch. 

"But our sins are written on the walls and the Philistines, our enemies, are studying our behaviour, our character. The presence of God is important in God's church; people need to know that you are a Christian, they need to know who you stand for."

She further mentioned: "When God's presence is in you, it doesn't matter how big the problem is. If His presence is missing in the church, in our lives, in society, then we become most miserable."

Well dressed but spiritually weak

Smalling spoke of some Christians being spiritually weak, yet physically well dressed - a walk on dangerous grounds, she said.

"Worship has become empty and dull and you hear the young people say it, but young people, you need to get connected, too. Worshipping God must be meaningful; it must be a part of your life. Where there is an absence of God we are facing spiritual poverty. Our lives ought to be transformed; things can't be the same when you come into God's presence."

Smalling ended with ways to bettering our lives for the kingdom, citing love, above them all. 

"We talk about a forgiving love: when you can't forgive someone you are in a serious state. If you are husband and wife and you can't forgive each other, you are in a serious state. Love does not behave itself rudely; love is kind, it changes things, when love is in your mind, it changes things."

familyandreligion@gleanerjm.com