Owing to my husband’s line of work, we’ve been forced to re-locate on several occasions. One of my prominent worries always is, if I will find a good church and fellowship in our new locale. And on many accounts, although I am able to find a church, I am often disappointed with what I discover. Sometimes I’ve felt myself a tad bit too demanding maybe, however, I feel as a child of God, I am allowed to demand any level of satisfaction upon the parish or denomination I am to join. For in this place of worship, I feel the need to be complete and at home, even more so than my own house perhaps.

My main disconcertion is the lack of anointing, that I have so grown accustomed to in my many years of church going. Can a church, where tens, maybe even hundreds come to worship and praise the Lord be dead? From my very own personal experience, I can most certainly affirm to you that they can. I once attended a service at a renowned church in my city in which I was battling constantly to stay awake. The worship seemed dead, there was no joy in anyone’s voices, faces or eyes! The message to me was equivalent to a nice warm glass of milk that slowly lulled me to sleep. At the end of the service, I was keen to observe the members of this church. I was curious as to their final disposition after so ‘moving’ a service. To my astonishment, they all looked so content and satisfied. However I was able to observe that their satisfaction looked very much like that which we gain from accomplishing our duty, and not the kind we get when we are lost in God’s presence for over two hours.

I was constantly dogged by this incident as I just could not contemplate how anyone could be satisfied with such a mediocre experience of such a magnificent God they were supposedly worshipping!

On recently reading the word, I came across a few verses that suddenly brought all of it to light! I began to understand why certain churches were dead!

Amos 4: 6 I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
7And also I withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest. I caused it to rain upon another city; one piece of ground was rained upon, and the piece upon which it did not rain withered.

So as an onset to the course of action that God seems to be taking here, in the hopes of having His people return to Him, He brings about a famine, cleanness of teeth and lack of bread refers to a deprivation that the Lord first sends. I am lead to believe that this famine is that which relates to the bread of life, the word of God.

John:6:35: Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

When a church begins to wander from the Lord, He appears to stop the delivery of the Word.
Romans: 10: 17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Without being fed of the Word, the church grows mal-nourished and starts dwindling in faith. The faith of that church eventually dies as well. Without faith, it is not possible to expect great things from God. And a church that no longer expects great things from God, is most certainly dead.

John: 14: 26: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
We rely on the Father to send us the Holy Ghost to teach us and make the Word alive to us. We must be aware that when God speaks of depriving the church of His word, it does not mean that there will no longer be preachers available. There might still be many who will be more than willing to stand on the pulpits and preach. However, unless the revelation of the Word comes from the Lord, those who hear will remain hungry.
Now moving on to Amos : 4: 7, it is quite a widespread connotation in the Word where the Holy Spirit anointing is depicted as rain. We find this in many illustrations in the Bible, for instance in,
James : 5 : 7: Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
We observe here that the Lord has blocked the anointing from coming forth. And although he says that he withheld the rain from falling on one city, He sent rain to another city. This clearly explains why certain churches appear ‘dead’ while others appear to be ‘on fire’. He also plainly reveals the eventual fate of a church that continues in the absence of the anointing, it withers and dies!
Now I would like to examine the reason that compels the Lord to these drastic measures. The Lord seems to be explaining his punishment, but we haven not yet explored the basis of this reprimand. We have understood that a church appears dead as a result of the anointing and the Word being withheld from it. But why is this done?
Amos : 4: 4: Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years.
In this context, Bethel, also known as the House of God, was at one point used to worship the Golden Calf. We are all aware of the story of the Golden Calf that the Israelites created to worship when Moses went up to the mountain to commune with the Lord. The Golden Calf was chosen as their god of that moment since it was representative of an Egyptian god named Apis. Their worshipping the Golden Calf represents their hesitation to leave their past behind them as they were still clinging on to their former masters’ god.
This is not an alien situation in churches either. Although we have been delivered from the bondage of sin and we are no longer required to serve that master, we are compelled to return to that captivity. And even though we are to now serve the living God who delivered us, we still live captive to the sin that He delivered us from. Sin is often used as a general term that covers a multitude of transgressions, this includes greed, avarice, pride, deceit and the list goes on. Does not the love of money and political power play in many of our churches prove to us that they are still very much worshipping the Golden Calf in Bethel, the House of God, even today?
Gilgal was a place of worship to the god Tammuz. Now Tammuz was supposed to be the god responsible for the abundance and prosperity of the earth, the fruitfulness of the soil even. Today, Gilgal represents the love of the world, the drive for prosperity and carnal success. Truly the Lord has promised prosperity and success to His church.
Jeremiah: 29: 11: For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

However this prosperity comes from focusing on the Lord.
Matthew: 6: 33: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
And yet, many of us are driven by our need for success and acceptance in the world. Many even seek God just to facilitate their financial breakthroughs. So at the end of the day, the question to ask is, do they worship Jehovah Jireh or Tammuz? Is the focus on Jehovah, who provides for our needs or on the things themselves that we so covet?
We also find in verse 4 that the rightful sacrifices are duly made to the Lord and the tithing also faithfully carried out. This only goes to prove that praise and worship, or tithing does not guarantee the anointing on a church. The Lord truly demands our undivided loyalty and devotion.
I guess the simple answer to why we find dead churches can be found in Exodus: 20: 3-5: Thou shalt have no other gods before me……… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God……….
A God jealously in love with His church, cannot accept the worship of other gods in His house, but is ever willing to recant his judgment on a repenting church.
2 Chronicles: 7: 14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
He will indeed send bread and rain to heal the land once again…..

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Sindu Mary is a strong and commited partner to this ministry right from the beginning stages. She has a deep understanding of the word and has a heart passionate to see the Lord move in local churches. She currently based in Sydney, Australia and has been a huge amount of blessing to me personally – Alwyn MATT

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