I sometimes feel like Elijah under the broom tree. \u00a0One of my greatest battles is to resist the sense of hopelessness when I make the mistake of thinking that nothing I do matters. \u00a0The state of Christianity the religion in the past several months has rapidly deteriorated.\u00a0\u00a0 The apostasy is increasing so rapidly that I cannot remain current with the regression unless I spent all my spare time in that endeavor. That would not be spiritually healthy.<\/p>\n
I find it extremely frustrating when I attempt to write about it. I know before I begin that most professing Christians will not read what I write. They are too engaged in the world system and too satisfied with religious nominalism to be interested. It is very rare when someone sends me an email or message declaring that my article(s) alerted him or her to the scope and danger of the apostasy. The great majority of the time I\u2019m merely \u201cpreaching to the choir.\u201d<\/p>\n
I feel like a man pointing to a nuclear waste dump at the edge of town and warning that it needed to be cleaned up. However, the entire populace\u00a0ignores the warnings and replies that it has not affected them adversely. It will be too late to do anything when they contract cancer or give birth to deformed babies. Likewise, ignoring the consequences of unchecked apostasy to continue on with life as usual is a great and eventually costly mistake.<\/p>\n
In fact, we are witnessing the carcinogenesis effects of apostasy in the latest generations. They follow blatant heretics and hirelings such as Rob Bell, Joel Osteen, and Steven Furtuck, and gobble every heresy as if it were essential to their spiritual health. Consequently, those generations are malformed by the laziness, defocus, world-centered, entertainment-minded, religiose, rote and ritualistic, apathy of the older generations. In fact, the older generations opted to accentuate the positive while the negative was destroying them spiritually.\u00a0\u00a0 That is somewhat like remarking about the wonderful serene and lovely weather while ignoring an approaching F5 tornado. Their legacy is biological Christians attempting to be God\u2019s grandchildren.<\/p>\n
Consequently, attempting to convince professing Christians today of the extreme danger of this present time is as fruitless as talking to a drunkard or someone high on crack. They would rather \u201ctext\u201d or watch TV shows such as the \u201cWalking Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pressing conundrum is what to do or say when the results are practically fruitless. Why did the prophets in the Scriptures continue to write and cry out when it was apparent that no one was attentive? Why did they continue even when it was liable to cost them their lives? Their examples of patience and continuance must be understood and emulated.<\/p>\n
They continued because it was all about their calling, not the response to their calling. They remained faithful because faithful is He who called them (1 Thessalonians 5:24; Hebrews 10:23). Our duty is to be faithful in whatever calling God has ordained us with. That is the fruit of our gratefulness for His faithfulness.<\/p>\n
An example is of a dear friend, Robert, that I knew before I was saved. He was living in a cave in California with some other Counterculture hippies. The entire group stayed high on whatever drug was available. Compassionate people came by every day and threw semi-rotten cabbages and other vegetables and fruits into the cave. Robert eventually came to his senses and decided to go home, which was nearly 1500 miles away.<\/p>\n
He set out walking until he reached Interstate 40 and then began hitchhiking. His clothes were so filthy that few people stopped. In fact, he had wrapped duct tape around the legs of his jeans because the seams had rotted out. Somehow he managed to get to Oklahoma and about 30 miles from home.<\/p>\n
It was on Sunday morning and he had been walking for hours through the night when a\u00a0black man in an old Chevy Corvair gave him a ride to within 13 miles from his Mom\u2019s house. During that short ride the man witnessed to him about Christ. Robert was ripe for salvation. He surrendered his life to God in that old car on Sunday morning and praised God as he walked the rest of the way home. When he walked in the door, he was filthy and a terrible sight to behold in his ragged t-shirt and duct-taped jeans, but he was clean inside and brimming with the fullness of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
Robert was passionate about serving God. The pastor of his Mom\u2019s church did not know exactly how to deal with such a zealous young man. He told Robert that he would have to grow as a Christian before he could do any ministry. However, Robert heard that the church was looking for a janitor. He applied for the job and was immediately hired.<\/p>\n
One evening the pastor entered the church building and heard a strange noise. He immediately froze in fear as he strained to identify the noise. It appeared to be a sharp clink followed by whimpering. He tiptoed down the aisle, all of his senses on high alert and the hair standing on his neck. The sound seemed to be coming from the front of the church. When he reached the pew where it was coming from, he eased forward and saw Robert laying on the floor\u00a0with\u00a0a spatula and a coffee can. As he scraped the hardened gum from the bottom of the pew, it fell into the can with a \u201cclink\u201d. Robert was weeping.<\/p>\n
If we do not care more about the millions of people headed for hell and the millions who are being deceived by the apostasy, than Robert cared about gum on the bottom of church pews, I seriously doubt that we have enough passion for God to resist the suffocating apathy of this present age.<\/p>\n
Wake up, beloved! This is not a game! We are in very dangerous times! It is too critical for us to be distracted by entertainment and other froth and bother from the world system! I plead with you to turn to God with all your hearts, souls, minds and strength! When He returns, please don\u2019t let Him find you sleeping without oil!<\/p>\n
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