Sounding the Alarm too Late!!

A pastor friend of mine, Ray Cummings sent the following out to his church recently.It speaks to the need for church planting!

The following excerpts are from a March 21, 2007 Associated Press story about a nursing home fire in Russia that killed 62 people: A fire swept through a nursing home in southern Russia on Tuesday, killing 62 people - At the nursing home, a fire alarm system that had not been fully installed signaled three times, but a watchman - at the facility but outside the building - ignored the first two alarms and reported the fire only after he saw flames, Emergency Situations Ministry spokeswoman Veronika Smolskaya said.In addition, nursing home personnel were absent from their posts when the fire broke out, slowing efforts to find keys and open an emergency exit, she said. The staff inside the building when the fire broke out - three orderlies and a nurse - was not enough to quickly evacuate the elderly residents, Smolskaya said; NTV television reported that the nurse was among the dead.

There are two things about this story that stand out to me:

1) The night watchman ignored the first two alarms and reported the fire only after he saw the flames.

2) Nursing home personnel were absent from their posts when the fire broke out.

What a picture of America today. What a picture of the church today. I believe that America is headed toward judgment at warp speed. The alarms are being sounded, but we are ignoring them, or worse, we're only paying attention when we see the flames. And all too often, key personnel such as the voices of conservative Christianity, morality, decency, and common sense are absent from their posts.

It was Pastor Martin Niemoeller who wrote about being silent during the Nazi years and his indifference toward the plight of the Jews, socialists and others. When the Nazis came for Niemoeller in 1937 he wrote:

• First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a socialist.
• Then the came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist.
• Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew.
• Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.
  
  The cartoon character Pogo said: We have met the enemy ... and he is us. And Edmund Burke said: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. The simple truth of the matter is, for the most part, the state of our churches, government, and society as a whole is no more or no less than we conservative Christians allow. If it were not so, we would push back and change things. If we really want to know who is responsible for the state of affairs in our world today, all we need to do is look in the mirror. My friend, it's too late to sound the alarm when we see the flames. I encourage you to engage. Make a difference in your world - today!