Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

“As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.
“When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

• Ezekiel 33:30-33

“There are many today who like to hear the word of God spoken straightly and ruggedly; they listen to, and are delighted with, the stern truth about holiness, about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and deliverance from sin; they say to one another, ‘Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.’ They take up a pose of religion, but they are not penitent; they change the truth God requires into a mere attitude. God not only requires us to have a right attitude to Him, He requires us to allow His truth to so react in us that we are actively related to Him. These people flocked to Ezekiel like disciples to a teacher, they looked exactly like God’s children, the difference was not on the outside but on the inside, and it would take the penetration of God to see it; but it was all pose, they were not real. The real attitude of sin in the heart towards God is that of being without God; it is pride, the worship of myself, that is the great atheistic fact in human life.
“I wonder if any of us are among the enchanted but unchanged crowd? We follow any man or woman who speaks the truth of God; in fact, we are so enchanted that we say, ‘If you come and hear this man or woman, you will hear the word of God.’ But has it ever altered us into an active, living relationship with God or is it altogether pose? If any of us have got the pose of the people of God but are not real, may God deal with us until He brings us into a right relationship to Him-self through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

• Oswald Chambers, Daily Thoughts for Disciples (April 1, from God’s Workmanship)

Ezekiel was drawing a crowd, but would any of them realize that he was speaking the inspired Word of God? Did they find God or did they become Ezekiel’s groupies.

The evangelist might put on a good show.  Many people may have an emotional reaction to it.  They might even say that they want more of this experience.  They might walk down front.

But why?  Peer pressure? Their friends did and they did not want to be left out?  The euphoria of the emotional experience?  Then they are asked to say some “magical words.”

A lot of people are still sitting in the pews of a church years later.  They have not felt the spark since that first day, but they will not go down front again.  They tried that, and it did not work.  Why try it again?  They miss the feeling from that “religious experience” or “spiritual experience.”  They know something is missing, but they hang onto that experience hoping that was enough.

I have referred to them in the past as the walking dead who roam the halls of the church, putting on a brave face, but occasionally betraying the anxiety inside.

Now for some, the “spiritual experience” was real.  Maybe they made a lot of changes in their lives at first and then the reality of raising a family and a five-day work week zapped all the joy from them.  That did not mean they were unsaved.  They’d just let the weeds entangle them.

Others never made a commitment.

Whether they are saved or not, that is for God to decide.  As Chambers puts it. They are enchanted but unchanged.

When I grew up, our church had a guest preacher for a weekend of sermons.  It was time for a revival.  In most cases, the preacher focused on those enchanted but unchanged people.  Maybe if the “Spiritual experience” is rekindled, they can make a true commitment this next time.  Right after the revival, everyone in church had a smile on their faces, except my parents who never smiled, but the smiles faded over the following month.  That did not keep the church from trying it again a few years later, with the same results.

The last time I have been in a church that had a revival was when I contracted with the evangelist to come to the church.  And that was over twenty years ago.  I wanted to learn who the evangelism minded people in the church were so that we could start our own evangelism team.  I found none.  The true Christians were the overworked folks in the church or those too old to get involved in such stuff.

The point is that the enchanted but unchanged need to be changed by God.  Man cannot change them.  They cannot change themselves.  And the church definitely cannot change them.

So, what do we do?  We continue to present the Gospel on Christ who lived, died, rose from the dead, and intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand.  And we must explain that the word “believe” means a deep belief, as if your life depends upon it.  Because it does.

And we need to keep praying and never give up on the enchanted but unchanged.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.