In ancient Israel, watchmen were posted in towers on the walls of the city. The watchman reported what he saw from his special vantage point - the approach of a messenger, the progress of a battle, the advance of an enemy.
The Lord appointed his prophets as spiritual watchmen in Israel. Today, pastors and elders fulfil a similar role in the life of the church. I want to point to three trends which I believe threaten the health and vitality of Christianity and Christ's church.
Entertainment
You know what we do with babies to keep them from getting bored and irritable? We entertain them. We make sounds and faces; we shake rattles; we bounce them up and down. With a baby, no particular form of entertainment has an effect for very long, so we have to keep moving and changing to keep them entertained. Increasingly, that's happening with adults as well.
