The two greatest threats to the church are the two greatest threats to your salvation. Satan destroys the church one person at a time. I Peter 5:8. He is unremitting in his attacks. He marshalls forces and pressures to defeat the work of God by enticing the saints to defect.
The two greatest threats we face are iniquity and idolatry. Iniquity causes saints to stumble into unbelief; idolatry is placing anything on the throne of your heart other than the Lord. God said through His prophet: “Son, of man, these men have set up idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face…” Ezekiel 14:3. Note that idolatry was in their heart; not a statue on a shelf.
The light of the glorious Gospel has shined in our hearts. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost. If we are not careful, the light of God can go out in our lives, and in our churches. See I Samuel 3:3. But like the priests of old, we are to see to it that the fire of God never goes our on the altar. Leviticus 6:13.
There are forces in this world that would extinguish the light. The true church of Jesus Christ does not belong to this world. Romans 12:2. It is a small outpost of heaven, surrounded by hostile forces, deep in enemy territory. It’s only chance of survival is to be protected by “air cover” from heaven – with regular supply drops. There is a war of epic proportions being fought between the forces of good and evil. Ephesians 6:12.