Following Judah's Lion

Flee the Wrath to Come

It is beneficial to communicate the gospel through all sorts of mediums and with all kinds of words that amplify the glory of redemption. But we must be careful not to journey so far away from the Biblical story with our creative and modern terms that in essence we are preaching another gospel and another Jesus. The writer of Hebrews tells us to not to let the things that we have heard slip away.

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.

Apostasy is a gradual process, both in an individual and in a segment of the body of Christ. A faithful believer does not awake one morning and walk in apostasy. It slips in through many portals and by various methods of deception. We live at a time in which deception is rampant and apostasy has found its way into many corners of evangelicalism. And many children are now being born into apostasy who have never known the faith once delivered unto the saints.
The idolization of man is a common thread in apostasy. Some preacher with a gift for communication, or an alluring intellect, or a charismatic personality draws people away from Christ and His gospel. And he or she does this while claiming to believe and be sharing the gospel and the Person of Jesus Christ. Talk about deception! Clever books and packaging designed to appeal to the senses aid in spreading falsehoods. And a positive and hopeful message is consumed by the masses. No one wants to be a “downer”.
Pastors are now referred to a Christian “rock stars”. Many preachers are millionaires and live lifestyles of privilege. It is a sad spectacle when so called Christian leaders refuse to answer direct questions on national television. Preachers like Osteen, Bell, Warren, and many others hold special nights where throngs come to affirm them with their presence and their pocketbooks. It is a sign of spiritual bankruptcy.
The western church is caught in the quagmire of the hedonistic culture and has long since succumbed to the temptations of wealth, entertainment, and national assimilation. And many preachers have pounced upon the opportunity to financially benefit from the situation by presenting clever messages and alluring stories that tickle the ears and harden the heart. And some weave a quilt of shallow Biblical phrases with erudite philosophies and present them as enlightened insights into God and His plan. In fact, they are instruments of spiritual death.
Be not deceived in these last days. As the day of His appearing approaches, so does the apostasy increase. The Evil One has many weapons at his disposal and he is using them all. Angels of light roam all over the world today and are harvesting hell’s crop. So often we are taught about the cults as if they are the only arena in which the devil works. But in reality Satan is doing his finest work among the evangelical churches. The day of reckoning is upon us and who will be counted as a follower of the Most High God?
As believers we must all humbly admit that we have failed our Lord in many ways. Our salvation was a great gift and we did nothing to earn it. We must be broken before the Lord as we seek His face. But we cannot, we must not, align ourselves with those who deny His name and claim souls can be saved either without Him or in some post mortem altar call. In the end the final line will be drawn around the Person of Jesus Christ and His glory. It is one thing to struggle and fall short of our glorious calling. It is quite another to dismantle the Risen Christ and present a false caricature that cannot save and in fact leads souls to hell.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, these are the days about which we were warned. The signs of the times envelope us and yet believers watch the news with no emotion and no discernment. God’s voice is blaring with a call to watch and pray! I suggest that the events in Japan and elsewhere are just a minor foreshadowing of what is to come. We may be on the brink of a worldwide calamity that cannot be envisioned by the human mind. And this will not be the work of some “mother nature”; this will be the work of the Creator God.

Flee the wrath to come and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!