Slouching Toward IchabodBy Paul deParrieThe Covenant News ~ August 25, 2003
It is an open secret that the Church of Jesus Christ does not have the power of the Spirit that it once did. This is most evident in the Western Church (Europe, the U.S).
It is more than powerlessness, though. It is a loss of any meaningful distinction between itself and the world around it. In the vain attempt to be relevant, it has lost holiness (separateness).
The Church has been busy pretending not to notice this and goes on talking (and talking and talking and talking) about the “revival” that is either happening or about to happen.
In 1 Samuel 4, we see Israel in disarray against their enemies. The Ark of God is captured by the Philistines. The chief priest, Eli, cannot even bring himself to rebuke his wicked, fornicating sons, so he dies ignominiously. Finally, the priest’s daughter-in-law goes into premature labor and names the child Ichabod - the glory has departed.
The name was prophetic. While we tend to think of “prophetic” as something where the future is forecast, here we see the prophetic as exposing an already accomplished fact - though one from which Israel doggedly averted its gaze.
Oddly enough, when the Israelites first went up against the Philistines here, they got whipped. So it finally occurred to them that it might be handy to have the Lord on their side - only they were so dull of wit by this time because of being steeped in sin, that they thought bringing “God in a box” was the same as having God on their side. They ordered the Ark to be brought. Eli, himself no sharper than they, okayed the project.
When the Ark arrived, the whole camp of Israel burst into shouts and cheers fully believing that this was sufficient to bring the glory of God to bear for them in the battle.
Don’t we hear that same mantra today? They say “praise and worship” (all securely behind the church walls where it won’t make anyone mad) will win the day and bring great revival. However, most of their “praise and worship” gatherings are just sanctified entertainment and goose-bump sessions.
Certainly the last thing any Christian leader would do would be to call these pampered wusses to actually die to themselves and take up their cross (unless it was one of those cool new ones that are on sale down at Babylonian Religious Supplies - everyone’s got one, don’t you know). Even worse, no one is going to ask these “Jesus died for you ‘cause you’re worth it” church-goers to actually give up their sin.
So Israel shouts the glory song and boldly leads off their battle with the Ark of the Lord -- and they get soundly trounced and the pagans walk away with the Ark. Eli hears about the fiasco and proceeds to fall over and die.
Israel had been slouching toward Ichabod for a long time before this. The “glory” had departed well before Ichabod’s birth.
Following all this, there was a very complicated story in which the Philistines send back the Ark - but the Israelites cannot even return it to its proper place for 20 years.
The Ark of God was out of action for 20 years! It took the coming of the prophet Samuel and his call to repentance before there was even a hope that the Ark would be returned to the Tabernacle.
I fear we are like the Israelites of old in this. There are a lot of people urging us to drag out our “Ark” and do a lot of jumping and shouting, but I wonder if we are headed for another, similar disaster.
We have been “slouching” for decades. Each time the pagans take over a new arena - the arts, media, government - we respond less and less. We find preverse comfort in a pietistic dream while the world dies around us. Billions, having never heard the Gospel, go to Hell so we can maintain our properly religious attitudes in our properly religious buildings. Millions within our walls go to Hell because their sin is never exposed and dealt with in the congregation.
I think we already have Ichabod written over the house. We are just loathe to admit it.
Paul deParrie is a pro-life author and long-time anti-abortion activist in the Portland, Oregon area. You can order Paul deParrie books from his web site The Portland Porcupine.