Religion and Theology

Author David F. Wells

There is a saying and belief that is ever in the hearts and minds of all saints. Every Christian nurture and cherish the belief that the glory of the latter church will be greater than that of the former church. It is true that many Christians and especially Pentecostals belief that the glory is here but the time has changed and the contemporary world has become more and more dynamic. The church is also growing and creating room for more criticism. It is becoming more and more liberal and therefore allowing the world to have an upper hand in both social and religious matters. This leaves one asking, where is Christ There is a need for Christ to come and save the drowning church.

The church is engaged in a tag of war with the ever emerging doctrines. Most of these doctrines are either as a result of failure to read the word or reading it upside down. All in all the church should devise means and or ways of counter attacking culture and the doctrines which come along with traditions. The church should also lead people back to the God of mercy and truth. The gospel of Christ has really been watered at the expense of petty demands. The church needs to define its boundaries and stop taking people back to cross. Jesus died once for all mankind and going back to Calvary is a shame.
 
The book, God in the Wasteland The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams is a follow-up of Wells famous book No Place for Truth. In God in the Wasteland, the author is calling upon the western church to go back to where they left the good way and recollect themselves and start upholding the truth of the gospel. According to the author the church is much in and to the things of the west without much regard to effects of watering the gospel which are long-term. The author says that the church is absolutely entangled by civilization and makes use of data sampled from seminarians to substantiate that there is a likelihood of returning to basics of evangelism.

Wells manages to successfully take the audience of the book on a tour that unfolds with decrease of the church into civilization, a vivid look into whatever the society considers it is after, and closes with a promoting view of church leaders in generations to come. The author asserts that the modern-day church is lame because it has drastically failed in the things of holiness and Gods sovereignty. Wells is quick to mention the fact that God is just an afterthought to the modern saints. He uses the term weightless to describe the state of their faith to God. The author says that the focus and character of the church and its ministries are no longer under the authority of God. Escaping modernity is not a reliable indication that the evangelical world has reformed. The church needs to actually cast modernity out of its boundaries.

The liberal society has undergone transition from civilization to post civilization in a more drastic style. The church has allowed entire truth and faith to be replaced by just mere fleeting times of personal satisfaction and which is characterized by magnificent and enticing marketing exposition. To put the message across, Wells referenced Norman Cantor in highlighting out three primary developments that have induced the feeling that God is no longer necessary. Cantor says that advance in computer technology, biotechnology and the availability of instantaneous communication. The three have had a tremendous influence on the transfer of western traditions away from the God of truth and grace. There is a lot of belief on people and unprofitable things.

According to Wells, postmodernism has impacted the culture and particularly ones feeling to God in a negative way. The author after successfully launching his mission and purpose of the book, he opens an interactive discussion concerning the thoughts people have towards what they want in this life. Wells says that many of the modern-day saints has turned out to be just but Sunday worshipers, availing themselves only on Sundays and when there are special services and occasions. The author goes ahead to highlight instances in which the society is willing to accept only the things that it wants. The society moves on to determine how and when it wants it. This leaves no place for the church in the society and more so in the hearts of people. Even in the church set up, the ministers has been turned to mere objects being tossed here and there by the congregation. He goes deep to say, Malls are monuments of consumption-however so are big churches. The churches have been either knowingly or unknowingly slide in the trap of searching to find what are peoples tastes and preferences and therefore manipulate their gospel and ministry work to basically that.

Similarly, Wells brings about difference between being outside and inside God. Modern-day Christians are absolutely isolating some areas of their personal lives and choose how deeper God will have to go both in their spiritual and physical life.Wells notes that people have believed God so that they can use rather than obey him. They have believed a God so that he may fulfill they needs rather than one before whom they should yield they rights.

The book ends with a promotion to Christians. This is after illustrating the extent into which the church has fallen into civilization and liberalization. The author also shares the domino effect of an investigation that interviewed modern seminarians to make out how imperative religious studies are to them, how they consider the idea and nature of the house of worship, and how religion affect their daily lives. The outcome was very hopeful since a good number of them indicated an immense reverence for religion in all dimensions of their individual lives on top of hurry for the house of worship to repossess its image and nature from the influence of humanity. Wells folds his work by highlighting that the sole way for the house of worship to go back to position where Gods reality is taught boldly is just by the willingness of Christians to embrace the dominion of God and the reality of the gospel.

Wells warn people that abiding to such dwindling trend will ultimately lead to the collapse of supreme truth of God. The book is like a signal to all saints regarding the modern predicament facing evangelicalism. The author notes that the seminarians are geared up to lead churches with no different spirituality of their own. Several of them come from complicated upbringings and therefore are even using the house of worship as a chance to run away from reality.According to wells, trouble is that a lot of believers do allow celebrity Christian speakers and authors to form their view of the world rather than going deep into the word of God, which was inspired directly by the God that formed the world.
The sole way for the church to pick up and regain the truths of the maker is for believers to stand firm forever and proclaim that enough is enough. People are beginning to witness this happening in the community. Church planting has turned out to be very fashionable in the past years. Church leaders are planting churches for a various objectives. Expectantly their ideal goal is to reach majority with the word of God. Though, its known that many people are doing so out of an aggravation from their existing church or just the entire church in general (Erickson, 1998). According to wells, the churches planted are typically identified by the society as places to wear expensive attires and praise God with mere words. In cases the gospel is purposely communicated as flashy videos and sound bites. On the other hand, Wells admits that there is an increasing trend in the number of traditional Bible-believing churches that are being started by pastors who have the zeal to go back to preaching the Word of God rather than just focusing on what one can get from preaching.

Wells ends the book by highlighting that it is not that easy to recover the church from the grip of civilization and the sense of good virtues the house of worship has been peddling for several decades. He is calling those in headships to put into task and decline to find the middle ground any more in the matters of sovereignty and the holiness of God and the absolute truth of his word. In the last chapter of the book, the author again restates his idea for writing the book.

He says that he has written the book since, like the scholars who took part in their survey process, he believes the image of the evangelical church is now misted up, its interior life very much destabilized, its prospect very vague, and he wants something enhanced for the church. All along the book, Wells proved his purpose and therefore leaves no doubt that the house of worship is in grave difficulty if it continues to do and react in the same manner. Wells makes use of both empirical data and theory to prove his purpose. Conversely, the author uses quotes from the bible to show the timelessness of the gospel and the pressing need for the church to go back to the scriptures. The plan of God is for the church to be the source of truth and at the same time be a chance for Christians to be educated so that they may live, act and react to situations within the confines of the bible.