"Thousands Have Quit Following!" Dream (2015)

[hawkman]

"Thousands Have Quit Following!" Dream (2015)

18 Walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. (Matthew 4:18-20)

The first thing Jesus did in His ministry was call men to follow Him. I received the following dream in 2015, and based on the Spirit recalling it to my memory, I now believe I know what it was about. Many churches are refusing to follow their denomination's leadership, but those who have embraced homosexual inclusion have essentially quit following the Lord, something that is now bringing great dismay to the courts of Heaven.
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Dream .

I am standing in Heaven and there is book that no one can open. I am now crouched down with my face on the firmament and I am crying because there is no one to open the book. I am told they have found some One to open the book, so I stand back up and hear this. A loud booming voice reporting, "10,000* Quit Following!", "8,000* Quit Following!", "12,000* Quit Following!" and on and on the numbers and "quit following" continued. There was a great bitterness and disdain in the booming voice as the numbers were read out.
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The next morning when I awoke I was all happy and felt great, which is very unusual for me. The numbers were always in the thousands, but what the exact numbers are I don't recall that is what the * is about.

So is this what my dream was about? I remembered my dream when I heard about the UMC schism, and many of the conservative Methodist churches now leaving their denomination rather than embrace homosexual inclusion amongst the clergy. Though the conservatives were leaving a very old and established Christian denomination, those staying to embrace homosexuality may be the ones God was speaking of, who have now "quit following" the Lord to stay in their denomination.

1 in 4 UMC congregations have now disaffiliated in the largest US denominational schism since the Civil War. Will African Methodists leave next?

United Methodists Down 7,659 Churches As Exit Window Ends - Christianity Today

1 in 4 UMC congregations have now disaffiliated in the largest US denominational schism since the Civil War. Will African Methodists leave next?

www.christianitytoday.com

The rupture of the United Methodist Church (UMC) is nearly complete. As the window closes on a temporary plan allowing disaffiliations, nearly 1 out of 4 of the denomination’s 30,000 congregations decided to split over issues of sexuality and authority.

This month marked the final push to exit before the December 31 deadline. In that time, another 74 churches in Florida voted to leave, plus 51 more in Illinois, 152 in Mississippi, 8 in New Mexico, and 36 across three regions in Texas... In the South and Midwest, the UMC lost hundreds of churches this year. Nearly 500 exited the denomination in Tennessee, along with 750 in Texas, 672 in North Carolina, 623 in Georgia, 598 in Ohio, 452 in Pennsylvania, and 345 in Virginia. In some conferences, more than half of churches are no longer part of the UMC.

When regional conferences ratified the last batch of disaffiliations, the tally came to 5,642 congregations departing in 2023 and a total of 7,659 over the past four years, according to United Methodist News. The thousands of disaffiliations represent the conclusion of decades of UMC debates, proposals, and gatherings focused on sexuality...
30,000 congregations decided to split over issues of sexuality and authority.

 

[hawkman]

Will African Methodists leave next?

1 million-plus Africans vote to leave UMC after liberal delegates chose rainbow flag over Bible

After more than a million Bible-affirming Africans split from the United Methodist Church this week, a longtime UMC member predicts that number will keep growing on the African continent.

afn.net

 

[Hidden In Him]

1 million-plus Africans vote to leave UMC after liberal delegates chose rainbow flag over Bible

After more than a million Bible-affirming Africans split from the United Methodist Church this week, a longtime UMC member predicts that number will keep growing on the African continent.

afn.net

Another one bites the dust. Most of mainline Christianity has already gone through it. The big domino now waiting to fall is the Catholic Church, and I believe they will within the next 15 years or so.

But here's a brief history, with the UMC included:

The UMC previously voted in 2019 to reaffirm its stances against LGBTQ clergymembers and same-sex marriage, prompting more than one-fifth of the church’s nearly 30,000 congregations to split from the denomination as of August.

The Episcopal Church, which has more than 1.6 million members, angered conservatives when it ordained an openly gay minister in 2003, prompting some dioceses to vote to leave the church and conservatives to form the separatist Anglican Church in North America in 2009, which currently has more than 120,000 membersacross 977 congregations.

More than 600 congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which has more than 3 million members, split following its 2009 decision to welcome gay pastors, leading some conservative congregations to form the North American Lutheran Church, which has more than 140,000 members.

More than 120,000 members comprise ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, which broke from the 1.1 million member Presbyterian Church in 2012 over its decision to allow gay clergy members.

Transformation Ministries, a network of churches in the Pacific Southwest, split from the American Baptist Churches USA in 2006 due to theological differences, including accusations that the parent denomination did not sufficiently enforce church rules against homosexuality.

These Churches Have Split Over LGBTQ Issues—As Hundreds More United Methodist Congregations Leave The Denomination

Conservative members of some of the largest Protestant churches in the United States have formed their own rival denominations over divisions on LGBTQ issues.

www.forbes.com