Data Points

 The entire purpose of a consumer-driven society is to make it as easy as possible for the individual consumer to willingly part with his hard-earned money in exchange for things he doesn’t need, will never use, and will end up either in a landfill somewhere or donated to a thrift store upon their death, where another less affluent consumer will repurchase it for pennies on the dollar.

Buy one box of toothpicks from someone, and for the rest of your life, every other day, you’ll get invited to participate in a survey to tell them how to better serve you, how to make your buying experience better, and what they can do to keep your business.

Taco Bell is worse. They offer you a free burrito for participating in their survey. Like anyone wants to be reminded about the near-death experience from the last time they dared to chase the refried burrito dragon or repeat the experience. For most, the ruination of their bowels and a perfectly good pair of pants doesn’t need a sequel.

The customer is always right is not just a slogan anymore; it is gospel, and if you challenge the customer in any way, shape, or form, he’ll just go somewhere else. Do you want to return half-used deodorant a year after purchasing it because you just didn’t like it? By all means, we’ll even send you a prepaid label. All you need to do is put it in a box, slap the label on it, and we’ll process your refund as soon as we get it back.

The moment the modern-day church began implementing consumer-driven principles to increase attendance was the moment it began its inevitable decline. Not at first. Not in the beginning. When it all started, it was a novel idea. The sheep finally got a say as to what they were fed, and if the shepherd didn’t comply, they’d just go somewhere else.

Their opinion finally mattered. Their elevated view of themselves was finally validated. Every week, they’d get a card in the seat pocket in front of them asking what they’d like to hear being preached from the pulpit, and the answer was rarely, if ever, more Jesus, more holiness, more righteousness, and more obedience.

If they were going to spend a couple of hours each week sitting in a pew, they might as well get something practical out of it. The shepherds acquiesced. The customer, after all, is always right, so rather than preach Jesus, they began doing series on how to budget your household income, how to keep the spark alive in your marriage, and even those couldn’t be wholly biblical because telling people divorce and remarriage was a sin upset too many customers.

The sheep ate it up. Everything was about the here and now. Everything revolved around the flesh. Everything was about having more, getting more, and being more, but not of the spiritual because getting more of the spiritual requires sacrifice and mortifying the flesh, which was a deal breaker.

They were no longer convicted of their sin when they walked into the church; they no longer had to contend with things such as repentance or faithfulness; they got everything they ever wanted, and it turned out that what they wanted was poison for their soul.

A new survey done by Gallup shows that belief in God is at an all-time low in America. It’s no surprise, not when you keep giving people everything they want and nothing of what they need. The novelty has worn off, and the sheep have come to realize that they can get everything they want on YouTube without leaving their home or ponying up ten percent of their income to do it.

The church stopped providing the one thing exclusive to the church: spiritual succor. We stopped preaching the gospel and rightly dividing the word; we stopped feeding men’s souls, and it shows.

A starving man will only show up to get fed so many times, with nothing to show for it, before he stops showing up. It’s not worth the effort if he leaves in the same state he arrived week after week.

It’s easy to try and blame the world, but it’s not the world who failed the church; it’s the church who failed the church. Our goal became something other than men’s souls, and everything turned into a numbers game. How big a sanctuary can we build? How many people can we get to come? Was the offering this week more than last week’s? 

The questions all along should have been, are we preaching the gospel? Are we preaching a risen Christ? Are we preaching repentance? Are we feeding men’s souls? But the data points told us we shouldn’t. The sheep wanted a departure from green pastures and living waters. We had to give them what they wanted.

A backlash of biblical proportions is just around the corner. It is inevitable. The same sheep that demanded that the gospel stop being preached are those who will look for someone to blame for feeling hopeless, empty, and unmoored.

And that’s not the worst of it. Not by a country mile. Imagine being responsible for shipwrecking thousands upon thousands of souls. Imagine not having the constitution and fear of God necessary to disregard what the sheep wanted and giving them when they needed. Imagine putting profits before people, sheckles before souls, and the world’s validation before God’s approval. Imagine standing before God with blood on your hands. Just imagine.

Matthew 18:6, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” – Jesus

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.