PASSIONATELY DYING - THE CHURCH: CONGREGATION COMPROMISED
Author: Nehemiah Muhiri Mahulo Sr.
Date: May 2nd, 2026
INTRODUCTION
The 21st Century has been mother to some of the most mind-bending inventions, activities, medicine, relationships, philosophy, and most importantly, theology. “Emancipated” Theology has always been the catalyst for cultural revolution. From medieval times till now, we have seen how changes in the church and its philosophy have affected the trajectory of the world. Companies, Conglomerates, schools, universities, and Families are all radically affected when theology changes, even if it is just swayed slightly. These seemingly small changes (“and some which are just blatantly radical”) are not by mistake or accident. The Bible teaches us that once we become Christians, we join a battle with the flesh, the devil, and the world. We have been made aware of the days when the Holy Spirit was under attack, where things were being attributed to Him that are contrary to scripture. We have seen the assault on Jesus Christ and His character. The most grievous of all is the assault on the character of God and his sovereignty, which is usually the first thing to go when the church does not have a firm stance on its Theology. In this article series, we are going to be looking at 8 things that are still going on today, especially in contemporary non-denominational churches, things fatal to the Christian, and when subconsciously embraced, they become death to the church, yet seemingly invisible to the church. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 7:5 that a day is coming when wolves will be in sheep's clothing. These wolves are fake pastors and elders in the church, inflicting small but critical errors. You might ask what day Jesus is talking about. Well, that day is here. In this article, we will be looking at the role of the congregation in this pandemonium.
CONGREGATION COMPROMISED
Before we get to how the congregation is to live under such times, we must first answer this question: What is the purpose of a congregation? Ultimately, what is the purpose of the church? This is a fairly simple question, and I will go right to the point. The role of the church can be categorized under three things: function as the body of Christ, edify & educate believers, and Magnify God. With this in mind, we know what the congregation is supposed to do. In most cases, we as believers are very conscious of these three major things, where the rain starts beating us is in the application in totality, more so on educating and edifying believers. It is surprising that over the past decades, the IQ level across the curve has been questionable, safe to say we have a global pandemic of mental laziness. Now, why do I say this?
In contemporary churches, congregations have become accustomed to laziness when it comes to thinking and learning about God for themselves; there seems to be no more individual zeal, care, or hunger for God. These congregations have handed over the “Powers of Intellect" to the pastors and elders of the church. Could this be driven by laziness? Probably so, but I suspect the hand of the devil in this seemingly innocent act of mental laziness. Why do I say that? The answer is clear; we are living in it. There are so many biblical errors being released from pulpits without callouts or repudiation, or rejection from the congregation, yet these errors affect the life of the believer. Essentially, we have given unbiblical human beings green cards to preach whatever they want, the only rule being that the preacher has to preach their heresy passionately, then, regardless of whatever heresy it is, it gets a pass.
The wolves in sheep's clothing are truly here, and we, the church, should not be caught unaware in cognitive slumber; instead, we ought to obey Jesus just as he said in Matthew 6:33, that we should seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto us. God is pleased when His children seek him and want to know more of Him. He is also pleased when His children act out and live according to His word; edifying and educating each other just as we are called to as the church. This entails knowing and studying the word so that you will not become a victim of leaders spouting heresy on pulpits. May we not close our eyes to this manipulation of cognitive dumbness by the devil? This is as dangerous as giving your house title to your 7-year-old and watching him play with it over an open fire.
There are several reasons the congregation has grown mute and no longer desires to call their leaders to a higher standard of biblical truth and knowledge, especially when they preach contrary to the Bible. Here are some of them and scripture references to help in overcoming them.
Fear of persecution (John 15:20)
No knowledge to cross-reference the heresy with (Acts 17:11)
Lack of accountability in the church
Fear of being left alone or secluded
No Avenue for voicing opinions discreetly
Lack of care for personal spiritual life
Absence of the reverence of the Holiness, Purity, and Righteousness of God (2nd Timothy 3:5)
Looking at the list above, we can tell what we once fell prey to, or what we are currently falling prey to.
No matter your current spiritual level or length of pursuit of the things of God, we should never be ignorant, cognitively dead, or careless when it comes to the things of God. Let us be like the Bereans, who would not only hear the Word of God, but would read it for themselves, just as Paul reminds us in Acts 17:11.
