What is apathy? As described on the Miriam-Webster website apathy is the lack of feeling or emotion (impassiveness) and/or lack of interest or concern (indifference). In Revelation 13:15-16 in the letter to the Laodicean church, the last of the seven churches that span the changing state of Christianity over time from its inception until the 2nd coming, Jesus warns strongly against apathy. The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church generally believes that we are the last church, the Laodicean church in end times.
Our preachers and pastors preach about us being lukewarm in our faith and our work for God but rarely do they talk about the apathy gripping our church members in relation to issues happening within the church itself. There are people who see what is happening and are trying to alert people. When they do stick their head up over the parapet and try to address the issues, they, like Elijah in 1 Kings 18:16-18, are met with accusations of being trouble makers, accusers of the brethren etc by many. There are some within the church who ignore Biblical history and warnings and believe that the issues are not bad or that we should just ignore them and are opposed to anyone speaking out. In my opinion those crying out are hot and those opposing are cold. My focus here is on the many members of the church who are doing nothing and are merely ignoring the situation, hoping it’ll go away or just simply can’t be bothered to look into the issues or don’t want to try to help bring them to light because it’s happening far away or doesn’t affect them directly or are unwilling to try to protect their “flocks” from the effects of these issues because they don’t want to lose their jobs/positions in the church. I have learnt that apathy can be a subconscious state or a conscious choice.
I have witnessed this apathy first hand. When talking to people about the issues that the 2015 immunisation statement, the 2021 re-affirmation statement and the climate change statements, made publicly by the SDA organisation on their website here and here, are going to cause in the future I was met with mainly apathy. Bearing in mind that all the statements made are to appease the United Nations and to ensure that the SDA organisation could gain NGO status with the UN. For more information on this please see my previous post Communion with Darkness. Some people were interested and I sent them information, but nothing happened. Some people agree and argue that we shouldn’t be in cahoots with any worldly organisation, but when it comes to doing anything it all just fizzles out. Most on the other hand just wanted to change the subject or just nodded along until someone came over to change the subject.
A lot of the apathy is caused by the lay members feeling like they have no authority or power. It’s easier to just shrug our shoulders and say “well there’s nothing I can do about it” when we hear of the questionable things happening within the church. But we are charged with calling out error whether it’s outside of the church or within, most noticeably in Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” Here we are charged with calling out the sins of the church! If no one is telling those in leadership who are in error that they’re erring, how will they know? We cannot presume that they know that they’re doing wrong. What if people are lost because we didn’t rebuke them and they ended up continuing down a dark path to destruction. Whose hands will their blood be on? It will be on the hands of those who could’ve warned them but didn’t as per Ezekiel 33:6. Isaiah directly addresses the apathetic, those who think that these things aren’t their problem, their job, that they have no authority or that they don’t want to disrupt their status quo in chapter 56 verse 10 “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.” We are all watchmen. It is our job to stop anyone from venturing off the narrow path whether it be a fellow lay person, an elder, a pastor or anyone else on the leadership chain, even the GC president. We have a responsibility as individuals and corporately to help keep this ship on course. We claim that this is our church, but we treat it like it’s someone else’s responsibility. We are each other’s keepers.
If I have heard “let’s just pray about it/for leadership” and “God will sort it out” once I’ve heard it a million times. Praying helps and we should always pray about everything but we are called to action not just to pray. Also, read the history of Israel through the Old Testament up to the stoning of Stephen in the New Testament. God uses people to warn the church leadership of error. If they listen, then all is well. If they don’t and God has to step in, then there is some serious humbling about to occur. Captivity in Egypt, Babylon etc, scattering of Israel and eventually the passing of the baton to a group of people willing to do God’s will and to listen to His counsel. What if the apathy of the laity causes God to choose others to finish the work. The faithful remnant within His end time church, the remnant of the remnant as it were. Those who are already calling for repentance and reformation within the church. We are called to unity under Gods banner of truth. Do we want to see the entire church under there or do we just want a quiet life for ourselves?
We can help call the organisations leaders to reformation and repentance by taking a stand in our business meetings. By voting to reject the ADCOM statements made on our behalf without us even being consulted and for the separation of the organisation from the UN, again done without consultation with the membership. Satan wants us all to feel powerless and for us to not care about the attacks he is making on our organisation. We must be naïve if we don’t believe that satan will attack those in roles of responsibility within this church that opposes him on all fronts. The higher up the chain the stronger the attacks. Apathy is his best friend because it stops us from acting to stop him. We preach about the separation of church and state whilst our church is in bed with the states of this world via the UN (the clue is in the name United NATIONS)! Now is the time to say “No more covenants with the world. Come out of her my people”.
If you want to shake off the apathy and help to release our church from the enemies grip the go to http://www.sdapearl.com or email sdapearl@yahoo.com. Time is running short. We have the power of Jesus and God with us! “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Let’s get His church back on track before He has no choice but to step in.
Finally, here is a poem about the results of apathy. Let’s learn from it.
