Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! The church is going down!
If you are flying in an airplane the last thing you want to hear your pilot shot on the radio is, "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" When the word mayday is repeated 3 times it becomes an international distress signal. It is most commonly used by pilots and ship captains when their plane or boat is going down. Some local fire departments, police stations and rescue squads use it also when they are in distress or immediate danger. So when ever you hear it you know something isn't going right and danger isn't a possibility but a definite.
In 1923, Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior officer at the Croydon Airport in London, was m'aider which was a shortened version of the phrase venez m'aider meaning "come and "help me." In 1927, the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington voted to make Mayday the official term for distress replacing SOS. It has been used every since.
asked to come up with a word that would be easily understood by all pilots and radio operators to signal distress. Radio communication was growing and the Morse Code communication was fading away so the term SOS needed to be updated. He proposed the word Mayday. It come from the French word
What can cause a plane or boat to go down? A lot of things actually. For planes almost any kind of mechanical failure would send a plane down. Damage to the body of the plan could cause it to go down. Other things like weather, running out of fuel, wind, and etc. could also knock a plane out of the air. Boats can survive some mechanical difficulties but a small hole could send a boat to the bottom of the ocean. Rain and waves can fill the boat with water causing it to sink.
If the church, both local and as a whole, had a distress signal would it be using it right now? Nearly 200 churches a WEEK close their doors. That sounds distressful. Church attendance to most Christians has become an option not a priority. The offering plate has become a place to drop loose change instead of a place to give tithes and offerings. Pastors across the world have decided it is alright to water down God's word in their messages, teachings and writings. They decided to sale their soul to the devil so to speak for numbers and sales. Christians spend more time arguing with one another than spreading the gospel. As the Bible becomes available in more ways it is read less.
Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!!!
Unlike a plane that is falling from the sky because it ran out of gas the fall of the church can be reversed. Unlike a boat that is sinking because of a hole in the bottom of it the fall of the church can be reversed. What does it take? You! Me! We! It begins when God's people realize what we are doing isn't working because it isn't God's way. We have to remove the world and worldly things from the church and go back to concentrating on spiritual things. I am not talking about worship styles or even our choice of Sunday Morning clothing. I am talking about sin. Instead of pointing fingers at each other we should be pointing fingers at ourselves. It is up to us to change ourselves not each other. Once that change is made then we can God do great and mighty things. Don't believe me? Ask Him.
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)
Did you notice who is to change? Not the world, but God's people. We have fussed about the world long enough. We have waited for them to change and demanded that they changed long enough. It is time for God's people to change. Will you?
Paring Thought: Bacon is the duct tape of the kitchen.
In 1923, Frederick Stanley Mockford, a senior officer at the Croydon Airport in London, was m'aider which was a shortened version of the phrase venez m'aider meaning "come and "help me." In 1927, the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington voted to make Mayday the official term for distress replacing SOS. It has been used every since.
What can cause a plane or boat to go down? A lot of things actually. For planes almost any kind of mechanical failure would send a plane down. Damage to the body of the plan could cause it to go down. Other things like weather, running out of fuel, wind, and etc. could also knock a plane out of the air. Boats can survive some mechanical difficulties but a small hole could send a boat to the bottom of the ocean. Rain and waves can fill the boat with water causing it to sink.
If the church, both local and as a whole, had a distress signal would it be using it right now? Nearly 200 churches a WEEK close their doors. That sounds distressful. Church attendance to most Christians has become an option not a priority. The offering plate has become a place to drop loose change instead of a place to give tithes and offerings. Pastors across the world have decided it is alright to water down God's word in their messages, teachings and writings. They decided to sale their soul to the devil so to speak for numbers and sales. Christians spend more time arguing with one another than spreading the gospel. As the Bible becomes available in more ways it is read less.
Unlike a plane that is falling from the sky because it ran out of gas the fall of the church can be reversed. Unlike a boat that is sinking because of a hole in the bottom of it the fall of the church can be reversed. What does it take? You! Me! We! It begins when God's people realize what we are doing isn't working because it isn't God's way. We have to remove the world and worldly things from the church and go back to concentrating on spiritual things. I am not talking about worship styles or even our choice of Sunday Morning clothing. I am talking about sin. Instead of pointing fingers at each other we should be pointing fingers at ourselves. It is up to us to change ourselves not each other. Once that change is made then we can God do great and mighty things. Don't believe me? Ask Him.
If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)
Did you notice who is to change? Not the world, but God's people. We have fussed about the world long enough. We have waited for them to change and demanded that they changed long enough. It is time for God's people to change. Will you?
Paring Thought: Bacon is the duct tape of the kitchen.
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