The Church has Always Been Wireless
It was only a little over 50 years ago, in 1966, when Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek first came on the scene. And oh what fantastic and incredible, ‘unthinkable’ and ‘impossible’ science fiction advancements and ideas it featured! Doors that slid open automatically as people approached them; machines that delivered fully cooked, hot and ready meals in mere moments and without the benefit of fire; and then, there were those wireless ‘communicators!’ Surely such fantasy equipment as imagined in the mind and supposedly pictured on the screen could never actually come to pass…could it? Today, just 50 short years after such ‘unthinkable’ ‘sci-fi’ fantasies appeared on our television screens, many millions of people cannot even imagine or remember a world where automatic doors and microwave ovens were not the norm. And today’s ‘pocket computers’ already far surpass the communicator-like ‘flip-phones’ capabilities of but a mere decade or so ago…
When “The Running Man” was released in 1987, its plot-line was developed from a video, wherein the hero in the film was framed for a crime he didn’t commit, by the insertion of his image, in action, into a crime scene, doing things he didn’t do. The movie’s plot continued to utilize the idea of such things as “digital body doubles,” in the name of seeking to satisfy America’s insatiable appetite for “reality television and televised violence” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Running_Man_(1987_film). Today, just a short 30 years later (and in the very year that the movie supposedly depicted as it started), it is almost impossible to go to a movie that does not feature such computer-generated imagery (CGI) or “special effects.” You can routinely watch human heroes battling forces, facing creatures, and fighting other-worldly creations which you know in your heart, simply do not exist in any form or fashion… But boy that movie star sure looks like they’re locked in a real-life battle to the death against that fierce but fantasized non-existent foe, and in that computer-generated, non-existent environment!
Technology has changed, but the Church does not change.
Today’s technological advances and innovations are able to transform what was only presentable by Hollywood movie-makers just a mere few decades ago, and turn them into today’s realities. We currently have automobiles that can not only park themselves, brake themselves, and even drive themselves in some cases, but we can also – with the right gadgets and gizmos – turn our lights and televisions on and off in our living rooms from half a world away! (You know, with all of today’s technology, perhaps we aren’t too awfully far off from a Terminator-type, world cataclysmic event after all!)
But here’s the thing. No matter how much the world changes; no matter how much showmanship and science fiction Hollywood produces; no matter how many technological advances may be made or made master over humanity; and no matter whether the earth is here for another two milliseconds or two million millennia; some things, will simply never change. God will never change (Mal. 3:6). His Son Jesus Christ will never change (Hebs. 13:8). Their word, the Bible will never change (Psa. 119:89). The one faith (Eph. 4:4), once for all delivered to the saints prior to the end of the first century (Jude 3) will never change. And neither therefore, can Christ’s one, New Testament, first-century-established church, ever change (Eph. 1:21-22, 3:8-12, 4:4-6). Her faithful members can never, must never, dare never then, surrender or compromise for even one millisecond, to any new doctrine or dogma that has come along in the centuries since her divinely-appointed, first-century establishment (Rom. 16:16-20; 1 Cor. 14:33-37; Gal. 1:6-10, 2:4-5; Col. 2:4-10; 2 Tim. 3:12-4:4; Rev. 22:18-19). God’s devoted New Testament people must surely have learned from the history of God’s Old Testament people (1 Cor. 10:1-11), the awful and horrible consequences of not staying in and on the “old paths” of scriptural obedience, which their ancient, eternal, timeless and ever-present God, ever-presently requires (Jer. 6:15-19).
Therefore, the Lord’s people must never seek to change or alter their steps from following His straight and narrow path (Matt. 7:13-14), nor should they even “associate with those given to change” (Prov. 24:21). Hence, they shall always seek to be the kind of worshippers the Father is seeking (Jn. 4:23-24). How? By not forsaking the assembling of themselves together no matter how easy modern technology may make it for them to stay at home and still hear a sermon (Hebs. 10:24-27). By singing without the use of mechanical instruments no matter how popular they may become in the modern-day, man-made, religious denominations and radio and satellite stations all around them (Eph. 5:15-19; Col. 3:16). By having only males serve in certain leadership positions no matter how far the feminist agenda may progress in other religions (1 Tim. 2:9-15). By not straying from God’s plan of salvation (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:37-41; Rom. 6:1-23) no matter how many new, man-made churches, doctrines, religions and belief systems never seen in scripture may spring up over time (Mk. 7:1-13; Gal. 1:6-10; 2 Ptr. 2:1-3:18). And by loving, serving, and sacrificing for one another without regard to personal or ethnic differences (Gal. 3:26-29; Eph. 2:11-22; 1 Ptr 1:13-2:3), despite however much hate and savagery might thrive in our world. Whatever changes the future may bring, the Lord’s true church will remain the same.