by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
If we surveyed churches that declined in attendance because of COVID, we may find an alarming number of brethren who fell or are in process of drifting further away. I remember thinking a long time ago that should persecution arise in our country, and it was viewed as a crime to be a Christian and assemble with Christians, this would test us to the core of our faith, and many would not look for a way to assemble but would find their excuse not to assemble.<\/p>\n
Two kinds of brethren would emerge in such a picture:<\/p>\n
Persecution was not the only test that could do this. It turned out that fear of a virus could do the same thing. Fear ruled over faith and love in many cases and showed us what we really were deep down. The love of many waxed cold. Some could go to every public event, restaurant, ballgame, and grocery store but not to the church. They could find a way for every event but the church assemblies. Fear can justify very unreasonable decisions and becomes very inconsistent. It tested our faith and fear won in many cases. The church is more dangerous than other places? Other places are worth the risks? Did fear isolate us from our own families? Or just our spiritual family? Did we cut off family members who did not share our fear or just spiritual family members who did not seem willing to comply with the rules of our fear?<\/p>\n
We need to evaluate how the test of fear either exposed a weakness of faith and love in us or provided the opportunity to prove how genuine our faith and love are. If we did not do too well in this test, how would we do under persecution?\u00a0Fear comes in various forms and tests us. How well we do in smaller tests may very well expose a lack of faith for bigger tests of faith to come. The trying of our faith exposes “genuineness” (I Peter 1:6-7) or exposes the lack of it. Did the test prove your faith genuine, making it shine brighter? Or did the light of Christ in you grow dimmer? Did you get stronger, or did you start drifting away from the faith in Jesus?<\/p>\n
What would you have done if it was a crime to be a Christian? Would there be enough evidence to convict you? Let us each “examine yourselves whether you be in the faith<\/em>” (II Corinthians 13:5) or whether we let fear rule and cause us to drift away!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton If we surveyed churches that declined in attendance because of COVID, we may find an alarming number of brethren who fell or are in process of drifting further away. I remember thinking a long time ago that should persecution arise in our country, and it was viewed as a crime to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,256,1308,352,547],"class_list":["post-45711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-faith","tag-faithful","tag-falling-away","tag-fear","tag-unfaithful"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20941,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-present-distress\/","url_meta":{"origin":45711,"position":0},"title":"A Present Distress","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \u201cI think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is\u201d (I Corinthians 7:26). Christians faced struggles and persecutions peculiar to their profession as Christians. Paul was dealing with a situation in which there was a \u201cpresent distress.\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Folding_-_buckling_and_bending-300x158.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33955,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-it-became-a-crime-to-assemble\/","url_meta":{"origin":45711,"position":1},"title":"What If It Became a Crime to Assemble?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton In China, it is reported that if you do not renounce your faith in Jesus you will be tortured till you do. 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In parts of Nigeria, you will be killed for believing in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-your-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":45711,"position":2},"title":"Is it Your Faith?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton It is one thing to try to fit in a circle of friends who profess faith, and so you jump on the bandwagon with them, but it is another thing to get to know Jesus and put your trust in Him when it may cost you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18352,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-poor-attendance-actually-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":45711,"position":3},"title":"Is poor attendance actually a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother, I was edified by what I read in this article:\u00a0Telling Members They are Sinning in Deliberately Missing Church. Bob does a good job listing some of the excuses some brethren use to justify missing church assemblies. He shows that those who rely on these excuses reveal carnality and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86231,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/drifting-away-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":45711,"position":4},"title":"Drifting Away (Ellison)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kyle Ellison The Bible warns Christians that there is a reality of drifting away from the Lord if we are not careful. Have you ever been enjoying a day in the ocean only to look up and realize you are far past where you entered the water? 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