THE CHURCH: ALIVE AND WELL

 

THE CHURCH: ALIVE AND WELL

‘

. . . I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’
(Matt. 16:18 KJV).

In the late 1800s the Methodist Church was opening one new church a day. one Methodist pastor, Rev. C. C. McCabe, read a newspaper account of a speech delivered in Chicago by the famous infidel, Robert Ingersoll. Ingersoll said the church was dying and in another generation few, if any, churches would be left.

 

McCabe sent a telegram to Ingersoll which said, "In the Methodist Church, we are starting more than one new church a day and propose to make it two." He added a P.S.: "All hail the power of Jesus' name."

 

Word of the telegram spread and someone wrote a song about it:

 

The infidels, a motley band, in counsel met and said,/"Churches are dying across the land, and soon they'll all be dead./When suddenly a message came and caught them with dismay/All hail the power of Jesus' name, we're building two a day.

 

In spite of all its enemies have done, the church has never been destroyed. It has sometimes been driven underground but it has not died. one reason for that is the nature of the church: it is God's church! Another reason is that sinful humanity desperately needs the Savior of the church.

 

Life response: I will praise the Lord for the fellowship and overcoming power of His church.