The Last Days Of The Church XXXI

 There is a difference between being watchful and suspicious. The Word tells us we ought to be sober and vigilant, but it says nothing about being suspicious or thinking the worst of someone because of appearance or mannerisms. What we ought to be watchful for are the things Paul enumerates in the body text of this study, and in order to watch for them, we must acknowledge the sad reality that such individuals are among us.

Given what Paul says later in the chapter, we can readily intuit that the spiritual condition of the Last Days’ church will only go in one direction. The only unknown factor is the speed with which it will race toward greater rebellion and rejection of truth. That it will continue to deteriorate is a tragic but foregone conclusion. It may not be what we want to hear; it may even be something we refuse to acknowledge, but the Word remains undefeated in its ability to foreshadow and foretell how the last days will play out.

2 Timothy 3:13, “But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

A good portion of today’s church is hopeful, even expectant, of the moment the household of faith pulls out of the nosedive. Surely, those at the controls are seeing the descent and the unforgiving cliffs racing toward us. Surely, they’ll pull up on the throttle and reverse course any day now. Paul tells us this will not be the case because evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, continuing to deceive and to be deceived.

Those who’ve been warning of the coming catastrophe and who have enough discernment to see where the church is headed have either been ignored or demonized for being unloving and unwilling to make concessions when it comes to Scripture. We are hurtling toward impact, spiraling ever faster toward the unyielding earth, and all the spiritual leaders of our day can manage is to reassure us that everything is fine, we’re about to have rip-roaring revival, and all you need to do is sit back in your seat, fasten your seatbelt, and wait for the peanut cart to make its way down the aisle.

We are instructed to turn away from such people because neither the Gospel nor God Himself has any effect on them anymore. These are not people who never knew the truth but people who turned from it knowingly because duplicity and compromise were more profitable than righteousness and holiness.

Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”

But that’s not what my denomination teaches! It’s what the Bible teaches, and it is the Word of God we must contend with. This isn’t my attempt at being antagonistic. If it were my desire, you’d know it. This is what the Word says regarding individuals who, having been enlightened and having tasted of the heavenly gift, who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit and tasted the good word of God, fell away for whatever reason.

We can’t just pretend that this passage is not in the Bible. We can’t take a black marker to the scriptures we don’t like or that make us uncomfortable. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, even the parts you don’t like.

We can go back and forth, one side claiming that’s not what the passage means, while the other insisting that’s what it says, but it would be a fruitless endeavor. All I know is that between what the Bible says and what someone says the Bible means when it says what it says, I’ll believe the Bible at face value every time.

Some men live their own version of godliness contingent upon the culture they find themselves in. They allow the culture to dictate what godliness ought to be, and not the Word of God, therefore possessing only a form of it but never really living godly.

There are those who have a form of godliness and those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. They are not the same. In fact, they are very different, for while those with a form of godliness know not the power contained therein, those desiring to live godly in Christ Jesus walk in the authority granted to them by God Himself.

Whatever men love more than God becomes their de facto god. If men love money more than Him, then money is their god. If they love pleasure more than Him, then it is at pleasure’s altar that they serve and worship, not the God of the Bible. Casual Christianity is no Christianity at all; it is just a way for those whose love is tethered in pleasure and the things of this earth to keep from acknowledging the consequences of their rebellion.

Those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus have come to the knowledge that godliness is not found in some ritual, in how good the worship team is, how good a show the preacher can put on, how big of a building the congregation can afford, but in Christ Jesus.

Why is it that those with a form of godliness deny the power thereof? Because their godliness, religiosity, or formulaic worship have nothing of Christ in it. They are neither rooted nor founded in Christ; therefore, no matter how spectacular a show they put on, it’s still just a form. There is no substance, no depth, no life, just a shallow and hollow imitation of the real.

Ephesians 2:19-22, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

Jesus is everything. This truth cannot be emphasized and reiterated enough. Not only is He the chief cornerstone, but He is the One in whom the whole building grows into a holy temple in the Lord. When a church strays from Christ, its collapse is predictable and inevitable. We are witnessing that very reality in real time, and it’s only the beginning.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Posted on 9 August 2024 | 10:28 am