30 Days of Birth Pangs - Day 26 Are We Seeing 1938 German Lutherans Again?

Jesus writes to the church at Sardis (Revelation 3:1-3) ...I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up!... But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Paul tells the true believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;

The church at Sardis is nearly dead.  At one point, the great reformation churches were the stalwarts of the faith, saving Christianity from the pits of Roman cruelty and apostasy... oh, how the mighty have fallen.  There are a few left, those walking in white robes, going about God's business but half of them are dead.  "They do not preach that you have to repent and be born again, instead they lull their members into a false sense of security that infant baptism and church membership will save them." (Jack Kelley)

Note, in the above Scriptures, the whole church is going to be surprised at the Rapture, because they do not teach it nor are they looking for the Lord's return.  Paul tells the true believers that they will know the time of His coming, they will not be surprised, but the dead church will be shocked.

The Church of Sardis is Asleep

(Disclaimer - I am not picking on the Lutherans in the below.  I was raised, got saved and was married in a Lutheran church, and have many family members and friends who still belong.  Lutheran World Relief is a great organization and I agree with much of the Missouri Synod's doctrine.  I think they do a good job with kids.  Lutheranianism is used to symbolize the reformation main line churches.)

A friend wrote to me this week and thanked me for one of the blog posts that had encouraged him.  He said he'd been confronted by someone his Father would have called a "1938 German Lutheran".  Ouch!  We are living in a day and time when the main line churches are again failing in an epic fashion.  The church at Sardis will be completely shocked at His coming, the sad thing is that half of them will be left behind because they were never truly saved.

The entire Birth Pangs series has been designed to wake up the dead, dying, and apostate church; alas, in their slumber they would not even bother to read these posts. Unlike the Laodicean church, who despises the Philadelphia church, the church at Sardis does not take much notice locked into a false sense of security and relying on past greatness to carry them through.

Rapture Index Scores:

Lovers of Self - Day 1: 10 out of 10
Perplexities of Nations - Day 2:  8 out of 10
Mass Animal Deaths - Day 3:  7 out of 10
Revilers - Day 4:  8 out of 10
Signs in the Heavens - Day 5:  9 out of 10
Commotions - Day 6:  7 out of 10
Scoffers - Day 7:  10 of 10
Vexed Souls - Day 8:  10 of 10
Greed -Day 9:  8 of 10
Famine - Day 10:  8 of 10
Itching Ears- Day 11:  10 of 10
Rushing to and fro - Day 12: 10 of 10
Blind Eyes and Hard Hearts - Day 13:  9 of 10
Brutal Men - Day 14:  8 of 10
Wars and Rumors of Wars - Day 15:  9 of 10
Boasters - Day 16:  9 of 10
Messianic Jews - Day 17:  7 of 10
Demonic Activity - Day 18:  8 of 10
Lawlessness - Day 19: 9 of 10
Hedging Your Bets - Day 20:  9 of 10
You Make Me Want to Vomit  - Day 21:  10 of 10
Earthquakes- Day 22:  10 of 10
Nobody Loves Philadelphia - Day 23:  10 of 10
Antisemitism - Day 24:  9 of 10
False Teachers - Day 25: 10 of 10
Asleep Church - Day 26:  10 of 10

Rapture Index Total to date:  232 out of 260 or 89.23%