The US media has finally picked up on the story of the avian flu, no doubt in part to the fact that in a speech earlier this week the President held it out as a possiblity that the country should prepare for. (Of course the preperation he spoke of was in the context of giving the military increased ability to operate internally for the purpose of crisis management, quarantine, and innoculation.)
It is believed by health officials that this flu has the potential to be even more deadly than the spanish flu of 1918. As Christians you then have to ask yourselves, If the spanish flu was telling us that Jesus' presence had begun in 1914 what will the avian flu be telling us? More importantly we need to ask ourselves what we should be doing in view of the urgency of the times.
As Christians we need to keep in mind that the judgment begins with the house of God. (1 Peter 4:17) Knowing that, we need to constantly keep an eye on ourselves to make sure that we will fair well in that judgment. A good starting point for self examination is a personal study of the letters to the seven congregations in Asia Minor provided in Revelation chapters 2 & 3. Jesus' words in these letters finds direct application to the Christian Congregation. Through these letters Jesus tells us what we are doing good and what we need to work on.
I just began reading these letters again starting with the letter to the congegation of Ephesus. (Rev 2:1-7) That congregation's biggest strength was that it was zealous for the truth; they didn't tolerate liars and false apostles, apostates. However Jesus cautioned them that they had left the love they had at first. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul specifically commended them for the love they showed to the holy ones (Ephesians 1:15 ASV per NA26 text). However over time this love that promoted good works had evidentally eroded. In the Revelation Jesus encouraged them to return to these former deeds.
Because the judgment is soon to be upon us we need to use the time we have to shore up our congregations by promoting love and faith. We owe this to our brothers and sisters - certainly this is the primary reason for our fellowship. The day of Jehovah is drawing ever near therefore we need to encourage each other ALL THE MORE SO. (Hebrews 10:25) If we have faith then our faith should translate in our rendering good works - love and support to our brothers and sisters. We need to care for them in their time of need or our faith is dead. (James 2:14-17)
For those of us in the US we need to understand what the annual report is telling us. We need to comprehend what 0% growth means. It means for every individual that we reach out the ministry, persuade to accept the truth, patiently study with to bring to accurate knowledge, help toward repentance, and finally baptize into the Christian congregation - for every individual that we bring into the congregation through the front door - one of our brothers and sisters is leaving out the back.
Please look around at your congregation and decide who you would care to lose to the world. Hopefully you would wish none that fate. So let us all try our hardest to encourage all toward endurance and rescue those who have left. Is the ministry within the house somehow less important than the ministry in the field?
Your brother in Christ.
