His Future Bride

The church embraced me, when to her I crept,
After long years of absence and neglect;
No one asked me the reason I had left,
Nor evil deeds done, if they did suspect.
Her arms circled me, as if I'd ne'er gone;
Her tender acceptance soothed my soul's ache;
Peace returned; my heart overflowed with song,
When fellowship did my loneliness slake.
Who, you ask, is this paragon of love;
How did one so unfaithful deserve her?
Ah, but she sought me, guided from above;
That's what she does---draw folks from everywhere!
You must have guessed: She is the church worldwide;
She is His outpost, and His future bride!

Though imperfect, scarred, weary, and ashamed of parts of her past. the church strands strong worldwide today and lifts high the cross of Jesus. Millions have lived out their lives in congregations whose mission is to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to an ever-changing world population; a large number have died for standing firm when the blind hands of Satanic governments have demanded them to renounce Him or die. Most of the people who have heard the good news have rejected it in favor of the Prince of this world; nevertheless, the world is a much better place because of the presence of the church. Soon Jesus will return to earth and gather His followers, living and dead, and they will be with Him forever.

The one essential that a person must have to be in that group is faith in Jesus Christ. The only way for you to get faith is by hearing the story of Jesus, and that is what churches do---tell the story of Jesus over and over.
A fewer proportion of the people in the world attend church than do not; the last estimate of the number of Christians in the world I saw was 1.9 billion. It is obvious that in America the powers-that-be (the government, media, entertainment, public education, etc.) currently offer resistance to churches' influence in an ever-more stiffening wall of exclusion; and not in an even-handed manner. Yet this attitude is worsening our society in frightening proportions. This world would be a worse place to live without churches.