Apostacy

II Thess.2:3 - Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first...
Deception is an awesome stronghold. It is more than just not being in possession of the facts, for we have all seen people who either refuse or are incapable of seeing the truth. I have often observed that when people have set up a pastor as an idol, he could be caught in bed with another man with the church's money under the bed, and the next week he would have people come to hear him preach. But the golden calf that is sweeping the evangelical world, carrying with it an attractive, powerful, and damnable deception, is this new breed of evangelicalism. Here are some of its tenants:

Ask not what you can do for God, ask what God can do for you.
Change the Word of God from the eternal to the temporal.
Accept Jesus to help you prosper in any area of your life.
Jesus already sacrificed for you, you don't have to sacrifice for him.
All messages must have an entertainment value. Cute titles, creative themes, funny stories, movie clips...
Hell is only mentioned in passing so as not to make people feel bad.
No one can be delivered immediately of anything anymore. It takes workshops, support groups, and a host of other processes mirrored after the world's creations.
God has given you money to enjoy and save up for later personal pleasure.
And finally and most egregious of all is the way of salvation. It is here that we must walk a fine line so as not to ever enter into legalism or works based salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith alone, period. But do not ever think that the evil one will not tamper with that truth while not invoking works. We are all familiar with the legions of doctrines that have sprung up through the centuries that add works. Whether it be baptism, tongues, foot washing, sacraments, church membership, or any good or religious works the devil has posted all of these on his blog of deception and millions have visited it and signed up.

But I am referring to the side of the spectrum that is taking the evangelical world by storm, salvation without works. Careful now, I'm not saying works that produce salvation, I'm identifying this new salvation that does not produce works. Now God help us to reject any self righteousness as we expose this awful lie. I believe that this brand of salvation has been perpetrated upon the body by a wrong presentation of what it takes to be a Christian. I think MacArther's book, "The Gospel According to Jesus" is the most complete work on the subject that I have found. And some of the tools that have deceived so many into believing they have been "saved" are the sinner's prayer, church membership, immediate assurance, comparison with others, a wrong use of eternal security, slick sales pitch tactics, and the myriad of unbiblical and confusing phrases that mislead people into a non-efficacious faith. This is eternally serious and the body of Christ should enter into a frank and open discussion of how does a person "get saved" based on strict Biblical guidelines and a view of church history.

Now there should be no argument about the truth that when a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, experiences being born again, and is inhabited by the Holy Spirit there will always be, not just sometimes, a change. There will be a personal recognition that he or she has been changed. They may not understand all the ramifications, they may be theologically illiterate, they may not be able to immediately turn from some of the sins they have practiced, but there will be a change at least of the heart. A new and unfamiliar hunger for God's Word to some degree will be present. Some convert's hunger will be ravenous, some will be mild, but there will be some hunger. It is time for us to admit that when we have to continually drag a "convert" to church who even at the two year mark shows no private interest in God's Word there is something desperately wrong. I realize that this lack of hunger describes most of the church members, but at least some of them should have at some time in their salvation experience had a hunger for God's Word. If they have not then their election is suspect. No change, no salvation. Jesus Himself told the disciples that they would "receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me...". This was not just limited to those 120 followers on the day of Pentecost, no, it is a prophetic promise for everyone that by faith becomes a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is wrong when the average Christian lives like his unsaved neighbor? He saves his money like his neighbor, he is in debt like his neighbor, he spends his money like his neighbor, he watches TV like his neighbor, he prays as much as his neighbor, he reads his Bible as much as his neighbor, he fasts as much as his neighbor, he goes to the gym like his neighbor, he witnesses as much as his neighbor, but somewhere in the past he made a "profession of faith" that has resulted in the lack of change I just described. This is a very serious situation that is not being dealt with seriously. If the Lord draws the salvation line just a hair finer than the church does the majority that live on the line now will be lost. Alarmist? Maybe. But just maybe we need to sound the alarm. On the day of Pentecost 3000 souls left the following week and returned to their home town freshly saved and alive with the raw knowledge of Christ. They were used of God to start churches of new converts all over the Mediterranean and eventually throughout the world. No Bibles, no books, no tapes, no tracts, no buildings, and with the sentence of death hovering over their lives should they ever be discovered. Many of them were martyred. Take your average 3000 member American church and watch them trudge back and forth weekly having little proportionate effect on the community. I do not know exactly what is wrong, but I know something is! And not only are we having little effect on the world, we barely can keep the world out of the church. Divorce, immorality, adultery, pornography, cursing, debt, covetousness, lust, and a boatload of sins fill the church. Not to mention prayerlessness, coldness toward the Word, and a cultural Spirituality that barely resembles the Christianity of our fathers.

Now remember the company called Enron. It was an energy company that dealt in oil and other energy commodities. Slowly but surely it was being mismanaged and became just a shell, but the shareholders were still being told it was healthy, vibrant, and full of energy. It went bankrupt. I know we are building buildings(on the world's dime), I know we have many activities, I know we are politically active, I know we grow quantitatively, I know we have hundreds of thousands of books, I know our music is powerful, I know we are well staffed, I know we have hundreds of Bible versions, I know we have bumper stickers, I know we have Christian bookstores, I know we know the Greek and Hebrew, I know we are pre-trib, I know like Enron the Seeker, Purpose, Health and Wealth, and the Emergent movements are telling us that everything is healthy, vibrant, and growing. But like Enron, these movements have become shells and they are bankrupt no matter what they look like on the outside. And like Enron, the leaders are making a financial killing!

The seeds of apostacy have grown...the harvest is plentiful.