In general terms, the institutional church system involving seminaries, credentials, denominations, church politics, and the division of members between the laity and the clergy has failed the Lord.

I have no doubt that the corrupt state of our country as it is today with the judgment of God now becoming apparent upon the United States of America lies at the feet of the Christian church, which also now stands before the divine seat of judgment.

† 1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

In our making a left turn away from the Bible, ethics and morality, and an aversion to sinful ways in the 1960s, it was also the clarion call for the members of the church in those early occasions to rise up with contempt and biblically reproach and stop such things—it would have made a difference. But we did not—and our culture continued to deteriorate. Now in our day and this culture, the ways of God have not been watered-down—they have been washed nearly out of existence.

Although there are places where those truly called of God to preach and teach the Word and ways of God exist—I suspect most are small congregations or house churches, and such God-honoring congregations are few and far between. Unfortunately, even in these small Christian outposts, many in them are far too lax in their Christian walk, and that is getting worse by the month now.

And of those that have been genuine believers on Jesus Christ, not just a few have become stale in their beliefs, their discipleship practices, and stale in the delight that he or she has been redeemed from an eternal separation from God. These things will inevitably lead to stale faith—a dangerous place to be with God.

Stale: No longer fresh; hard, dry, musty. Flat (no effervescence, the fizzle has left), sour (not sweet), tasteless, stagnant, lost its originality or newness, gone bad and turned, [relationship or good practices become] “boring”. Crispy and firm becomes soft, the soft becomes hard. The fresh smell begins to turn, the natural smell begins to fade and become musty or worse. These things happen when open to the air for too long, things become dehydrated.

Perhaps you are struggling to understand what I mean by becoming stale toward the things of God and our life as Christians. Perhaps you can relate to something more personal in your life—things that you have grown bored with and stale toward: Enjoyment of things (job, routines, pastimes), love of life, friendships, marriage (precisely why so many men had multiple wives then and why divorce is so rampant today), and more to the point—your good discipleship practices and your relationship with God have maybe become stale.

We can become spiritually stale when we allow compromise to encroach upon our godly practices, when we do not attend to needed personal and corporate fellowship with the Lord, when we permit sin and no longer feel its prick, when we do not consistently read God’s Word and keep what it says fresh on our minds, when someone offends us and we let it sap our spiritual life, when we do not forgive others, and when we fail to repent of our sins.

I used to half-jokingly say that for a believer to miss 2 consecutive meetings is understandable (it can happen) but that when a person misses three consecutive meetings—he or she has become lukewarm (in a fashion stale) and is on the road leading to a backslidden-spiritual-condition (I did say half-jokingly!).

† Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

† Revelation 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write ... 4 ... I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. . . 3: 1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write. . . 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. . . 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write. . . 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. [Also referenced Luke 14:15-24]

Beautiful flowers with their bright and pleasing colors and some with a wonderful fragrance inter-planted with producing fruit and vegetable plants (these things) do not survive without constant attention. It takes regular even daily work to keep things growing and healthy and producing what they were created to do. The garden owner just about daily has to water the garden. Wisdom dictates that the weeds be yanked out while they’re young or they steal water and nutrients from the garden ground and themselves produce more weeds. The ground needs to be regularly cultivated and loosened-up to allow water, warmth and fertilizer to penetrate the soil. Regular pruning of unnecessary growth is a good thing so that water, light and nutrients are not being siphoned away from the needed parts of the good garden plants. And the dead parts or a good plant—they must be removed.

† John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth (cleanse) it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

† Luke 3:17 [John said of Jesus that a] fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge (cleanse perfectly) his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

† Mark 4:18 And these [seeds of the Word] are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

As followers of Jesus, we sometimes unknowingly permit the wild growth of things in our lives that are weeds, which must be removed or they begin to strangle and neutralize the Word of God planted in our lives. We must also understand that chaff can also be a worldly covering of our individual minds and hearts that needs to be knocked off and blown away. If we do not recognize such things and submit to the husbandry of the Lord, we can become dry, hardened and stiff, stagnant, and lose our fizz (the joy of His salvation)—we will become spiritually stale.

Stale Christians in their devotion and practice become stale in their faith. And it is our faith in God and His Word that is required to be saved. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they each recorded Jesus saying, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?” (a people disbelieving, without faith, and corrupt).

† Acts 26:18 [Per Jesus, Paul’s calling in preaching the Gospel] To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

† Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

† Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith [Used 17 times in Hebrews 11.]: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

† Hebrews 11:6 ...without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

† Luke 18:7 [Unjust judge parable:] And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Knowing that faith is the critical first-step in repentance, forgiveness, being washed clean of sins by the blood of Jesus, and promised eternal life—we must also realize it must be the always-present and overriding perpetual state of our mind and heart for the saving of our souls. Without enduring faith, we will not be saved at the end of our human story. Therefore, recalling what the word “stale” means—how can we understand and recognize for ourselves how it would manifest and feel to have stale faith?

No longer fresh, hard, dry, musty [replaced by unspoken cynicism, “it doesn’t work for me”]. Go flat—no effervescence, the fizzle has left [faith’s hope has been derailed but not obviously recognized and the joy of peace with God has been smothered], tasteless [the spiritual saltiness provided by faith has lost its power to express itself to others and more importantly applied to the conditions of one’s life], stagnant [a faith in God and in His Word that has stopped every-day flowing and growing {“green and growing or ripe and rotting”}], a thing has lost its originality or newness [this is having lost the caring to and regular focus on faith’s compass heading and the power that it has to give us guidance through a wilderness situation], gone bad and turned [while many assume they will still go to Heaven, they now make fun of the whole concept of faith and trust in God rely on themselves or look to the world for help on life’s circumstances], “boring” [one’s relationship with God becomes uninteresting and even considered a waste of time]. Crispy and firm becomes soft [where a man or woman would have stood firmly on their faith regarding matters of life they are now waver], the soft becomes hard [where by faith we would have practiced mercy and kindness now we look the other way and keep going]. The fresh smell begins to turn [others notice that as a Christian what you had said and how you used to behave is now more like the old you—including language and attitude and habits]. Staleness generally happens when open to the air for too long, things become dehydrated [the world has sucked dry the believer’s Life and the water of God’s Word and indwelling Holy Spirit, water that has not been regularly replenished but has evaporated leaving the man or woman once again desperately thirsty but blind to what has happened].

† John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. . . 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

† Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

† Ephesians 5:15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

To those that have moved far to the left in their faith (if there even is such a place that you can call faith in God), my good friend and our late brother Jim Searcy would say this, “You need to get born again again!” Go back to the beginning and start over and run a dedicate race—your address in Heaven depends on a daily fresh faith in God.

† Revelation 2:4 ... I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. . . 3: 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

† 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. . .

† 1 Peter 5:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. . . 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.