The Last Days Of The Church XLI

 What is happening in the modern-day church didn't happen overnight. It didn’t happen instantly, but it required decades of incremental decline and a pattern of the young having fewer and fewer noble examples to look up to and take cues from. Rather than model themselves after Jesus, they picked men they deemed successful, men they wanted to be like one day, and emulated them rather than the Christ.

I don’t want to be hated, rejected, persecuted, or martyred. Therefore, I will emulate the characteristics, mannerisms, doctrine, and teachings of those whom the world seems to accept, love, and embrace. The reason so many came to this conclusion was that the desire of their heart was never righteousness or sanctification but rather success and, more importantly, success as defined by the world.

Paul offered his life and ministry as an example for Timothy to follow. He was able to do this because He, in turn, imitated Christ. His desire was never for Timothy to imitate him in lieu of Christ. It was that Timothy looked upon his life and ministry, knowing that he himself had been faithful to the calling to which he’d been called and walked in obedience to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 11:1, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

How many pastors, preachers, evangelists, and teachers can say that and mean it? How many can say that and know it to be true in our day and age? We are where we are because, with each new iteration of leaders and spiritual luminaries, we’ve strayed further and further from the truth and have now come to the point that, in most cases, there is no discernable difference between those of the world and those of the church.

The rot begins at the head and spreads to the rest of the body. It’s always been the case, but even so, those who continue to sit under the teachings of such individuals are not exempted from accountability because it is the duty of each of us as individuals to study the Word and conclude whether what we are hearing from the mouths of men is in harmony with Scripture.

1 Timothy 4:1-3, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”

A warning is only effective if those being warned heed it. Its function is to make you aware that a specific action will have inherent consequences or that there is danger afoot, such as touching a live wire, which will likely kill you, or pouring a scalding cup of coffee on yourself, which will likely burn.

If the Spirit expressly warns that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, it is a warning we must take to heart and acknowledge. We should be beyond debating whether someone can depart from the faith, because the Bible says they will. Whether that clashes with your denomination’s doctrine is of no concern to me. The warning was given. Whether we heed it or ignore it is solely up to us as individuals. What is clear is that we will have no excuses or loopholes we can point to when we stand before the Almighty and give account. The consequences of not heeding this warning are grave, and we must be mindful of this as we navigate our journey of faith.

If we believed something contrary to Scripture, it was a choice we made as individuals while ignoring the warnings, teachings, and instructions of the Word of God. Men are not without fault for believing lies. All they had to do was go to the Word of God and defer to it in all manners spiritual, ignoring and rejecting anyone or anything that would sound discordant and be in contrast to what the Bible says.

Can it really be that simple? Can it really be that cut and dry? Most things usually are when you strip away the artifice. Whether they deemed the way too difficult, too mundane, too time-consuming, or too absent the accolades and honorifics of the godless, many a soul chose to believe extra-biblical teachings and wander down paths they were never meant to go down.

Simplicity in all things is not something to be avoided, scoffed at, or looked down upon. It is the ideal and leads to a life of peace, joy, and fellowship with God. I am His, and He is mine. He speaks, and I obey; He directs, and I follow. My duty is not to try and convince Him that His way isn’t optimal or that I should be appointed to a higher station in life; it is to joyfully do as He commands, knowing that obedience is better than sacrifice, and it is the act of obedience that He will reward upon His return. Obedience to God’s commands is not a burden but a source of joy and peace.

The duty of the true believer is to be a lighthouse in the midst of a darkened ocean. We are dutybound to be a beacon of hope in a world of despair, and if we fail in this one area, it doesn’t matter how big our ministries get or how many campuses our church has; we’ve still failed to fulfill our primary task. There’s enough confusion in the world already. The children of God ought not to contribute to it by what they teach or what they pursue in lieu of Christ.

The broader question is whether they are still children of God if the entirety of their pursuit is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, but that’s for God to decide. Our duty as those who know the way of truth is to continue to walk in it and turn away from those who would, by word or deed, attempt to detour us from the path.

In order to be certain we are walking in the truth and the light, we must do as Paul said Timothy had done and carefully follow the example of Jesus in every area of our lives. It’s not something we set about haphazardly or when we have a few minutes to spare on a given day, but a way of life to which we surrender and dedicate the entirety of our existence. Timothy had carefully followed Paul’s doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, and afflictions and so could rightly conclude that his actions and his words were not dissimilar or contradictory. There was no hypocrisy or hidden motive in Paul’s walk and ministry. He lived what he preached and preached what he lived, and to him, Christ was everything.

How many leaders and pastors could pass that acid test today, wherein if their lives were carefully followed, one would conclude that they were, indeed, the person they claimed to be and walked in the truth they claimed to walk? What do men see when they carefully follow your life? What testimony do we present to those who are near? Far more critical questions than who will win the next elections and something within our ability as individuals to affect.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea Jr. 

Posted on 20 August 2024 | 12:03 pm