Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, [2 Thess 2:1-3 NKJV].
Paul is writing to the Thessalonians about the second coming of Christ. He is telling them about the last days of the Church and he tells them that in the last days there will be a falling away from the faith by Christians in the Church. Many today look for a revival, a last reaping before the Rapture but nowhere in the Bible is this indicated. If we take the seven Churches of Revelation as Prophecy and an indication of various stages of the Western Church we see that in Revelation Ch 3 & verse 7 the church in Philadelphia has done quite well and receives the Lord’s commendation. However when we move on to the church at Laodicea [3:14] they are rejected by the Lord because they are neither hot nor cold, but apathetic and lukewarm a regards their witness and lives and they are rejected. The Gospel will still be preached and a way open for people to accept Jesus into their hearts but the Church in general will be dead.
Are we seeing the beginning of this happening today? Someone wrote to me recently saying they had been all over the town where they lived and could not find a church which preached Jesus Christ Crucified and redemption of sin by the Blood of Christ. There seem to be far fewer churches in this day and age, that preach a simple Gospel message and make the Gospel message clear and plain and that the only way into God’s presence is through repentance and being born again. There is a lack of enthusiasm to get involved and commit themselves to the work of God. It seems the mantel has gone to our brothers and sisters in the Far East and in the Middle East and some parts of Africa, where although they are persecuted, they are committed to winning souls for Christ. Our Western wealth and freedom is beginning to breed a group of Christian’s who; Apathetic to the Lords Commission to take the Gospel to the lost, do not wish to commit themselves to the work of the Church. The main line churches are losing many members who are drifting in the world because of the lack of Bible teaching and commitment by the clergy and members of that church, to the Lord’s work.
The faithful teachers with the Bible Exposition of old seem to have been lost, and have been replaced by friendly and comforting words which make the hearer feel good but do not answer questions, or place upon the heart of the listener, the message God wants them to hear. Paul giving advice to Timothy says; I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. [2 Tim 4:2-5 KJV].
We might ask ourselves what is the reason for Church members drifting away and a slackening in the commitment of believers? Lack of Bible teaching, as we have seen, is one basic truth, how will Church members know if they are not told. Morality is slack, many are brought up on television where immoral behaviour is taken as the normal. Men and women sleeping around and sex before marriage are commonplace, even amongst Christians. Where in some places same sex marriage is condoned and deep Bible based teaching is not given. And of course the belief that the Bible is not infallible and people can pick and choose which bits they care to believe and which bits they don’t. How people can believe at all or which bits they can trust when the Scriptures are not taken literately or as infallible I cannot understand. How can someone know what is true if half the Bible is left out? Paul wrote to Timothy “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, [2Tim 3:16]”. More and more churches, apparently in the USA are turning aside from deep Bible teaching and forgetting that the Devil as a roaring lion seeks whom he can devour and can easily tear the lives of teachers, pastors and members apart if they are not ready and armed to defend themselves with Gods Word. We need the full armour of God [Eph 6:10 to 18]. With which to defend ourselves against the Devil and his angels. As his time on the earth gets shorter so he is working harder trying to destroy Christians by immoral behaviour, and trying to break up their marriages. Trying to destroy churches by dissention and argument. You will notice that during the Lords temptation [Luke 4:1 to 13] He battled the Devil with words of Scripture, which shut Satan up completely. If we know the Scriptures by heart we can defeat temptation by quoting Scripture. How can we defeat Satan if we don’t know Gods word or worse still do not believe it? How about loving Him who first loved us, where is our gratitude and love for a Saviour who left the wonder of Heaven, came to this sin stained earth and suffered the weight of the world’s sin and died for us a horrendous death to make us free. He rose again from that death, conquering sin and death and paying the penalty for our sin, and making a way back to God for us. By His sacrifice Jesus also opened the gates of Heaven to give us a glorious eternity to live forever in a sinless glory with Jesus. As Jesus said to Peter by the Sea of Galilee that day many years ago; do you love me more than these? [John 21:15-19] Shall we ask ourselves, do we love Jesus more than the things of this world?
Brian D. Papworth
Representative for the Prophetic Witness Movement International in the South Pacific