Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.

For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

Submerging The Gospel For Comfort At The Expense Of Holiness

Here’s an important meditation concerning the person of our Lord, Christ Jesus of Nazareth. You see, we already know that the “other” Jesuses in the Kingdom of the Cults are false; well, at least we used to. These are actually fairly easy to spot—although sadly even this is becoming more clouded with some evangelical leaders e.g. Richard Land already embrace The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) as the so-called “fourth Abrahamic religion”; and but, of course, Living Spiritual Teacher and Emerging Church guru Brian McLaren goes to another level and includes Mormonism as a part of Christianity, which you can see for yourself in The New Christianity Of Brian McLaren And The Emerging Church.

However, in the real world, we really may look at this area of deception as the elementary school level of Satan’s myriad number of tricks. Now we come to the next level of Satan’s deadly deceptions—the liberal churches of the mainline denominations—which have already apostatized long ago. These would e.g. the Episcopal Church, the Congregational Church, the Methodist Church—large sections of the American Baptist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and ever-increasing parts of the Presbyterian communities, just to name a few notables. When we reach this level—essentially the “High School” of Satan’s perverted Kingdom—we are now dealing with apostates in leadership positions as evidenced by the issues I’ve been covering at AM.

There is a bit more difficulty in this area, as these people are also using the same words and terminology that true followers of Christ use; and many of these apostates are doing so from respected platforms within the visible church of our Lord. So this means that one must be more knowledgeable in the Scriptures—in systematic theology—and in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in order to be able to decipher their false teachings and to see through their phony Christian façades. Which now brings us now to a rather startling thought. It has rapidly become apparent that the “middle of the road” churches—what we would even call “evangelical” churches—have also begun to apostatize.

I guess we shouldn’t really be surprised as my opening text does say — Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day — [the Second Advent of Christ Jesus the Lord] — will not come, unless the rebellion comes first (v.3). The King James Version reads — for that Day shall not come, except there come a falling away first. Are you starting to see now that even the “Social Reformer Jesus” of so many of the “postmodern” postevangelical churches supposedly bringing the Kingdom here now is also but a figment of men’s imaginations? It’s here where we come into Satan’s “college level” deceptions, and those who have eyes to see, are now beginning to understand just how far we have drifted away from our “first love.”

A few years ago I covered this apostasy in more depth in The Falling Away of the Evangelical Church. And sadly, this is what the Lord is saying to so many leaders within the evangelical camp — “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (Revelation 2:4-5). This is the sad fact of this characterless generation: God’s message of salvation has been tragically softened, for whatever reason, in recent years. And a new brand of seeker sensitive Christianity has emerged, which Dr. John MacArthur dubbed “Christianity-Lite” in his book Hard To Believe.

If you listen in the Spirit you may hear the Word of the Lord along the lines of, “Men have compromised My message; supposedly in their attempt to make My Gospel more appealing to unbelievers. But what they ended up doing—the real reason why they have done so—was to make life easier and more comfortable for themselves, and in order to justify their own lack of faith and commitment.” And in time, because people weren’t studying to show themselves approved, this user-friendly “easy-believism” became accepted as if it is what the Bible actually teaches. Do you remember this — Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so (Acts 17:11).

Please, do search the Bible to see if what I say is true; for it’s our hope that all of us will be doing what Christ asked each of us to do when He literally comes again to His earth. And Jesus Himself said — Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes (Matthew 24:46). Have you ever stopped to wonder about, and to truly meditate on, the awesome holiness and majesty of Yahweh Elohim—the LORD God Almighty—as He is revealed in the Bible; most particularly in the Old Testament? Do you see how the Holy Scriptures are adorned with praise for the one true and living God? O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens (Psalm 8:1).

Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble (Exodus 15:6-7). Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding (Daniel 2:19-21). And have you ever noticed how the Bible lifts God up—and emphasizes His greatness—even at the expense of mankind? O Lord — Oh grant us help against the foe, for vain is the salvation of man! With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes. (Psalm 108:12-13).

Now, let’s take a moment and think about today’s evangelical churches. Would you notice anything different? Is this what you will hear preached on Sunday? Does your pastor tell you that it is God Who is in control; and you on your own are a mere creature are stained with sin, and absolutely helpless before Him. Jesus says — And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him [God] who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28). O mortal man—purpose driven or not; a supposed “seeker” in the Emerging Church or not, do you fear the living God? Well, you should; for this is what the God says to everyone who does not have a personal relationship with Him, through the Gospel of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the Name of Christ Jesus of Nazareth as their Lord and Savior.

Because, my seeker sensitive so-called seeker friend—whether you acknowledge Him as such or not — Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11). O how much I do hope Satan was listening; for we, the undeserving saints of the Lord will—and sooner than we may even think—watch the defeated Devil himself bow before our great God and Savior Jesus of Nazareth. And if you aren’t sure that you personally know Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you personally, have much to be afraid of yourself.

You won’t hear much today about Almighty God’s absolute holiness and majesty in far too many evangelical churches, who are now busy bowing before the narcissistic so-called postmodern culture of the United States of self-worship. This magnificent truth has been lost in these man-centered self-help centers masquerading as churches; mere hollow shells of lukewarm compromise, where more and more professing Christians are content to seek for God, whatever their subjective concept of Him might be in the The Ecumenical Church Of Deceit. And in many cases you wouldn’t even be able to hear the above truth—even if it was preached—amid the din of what Paul Proctor calls worshiptainment in these sinner-friendly playpens cleverly disguising themselves as churches.

But don’t they know that it’s our glorious and majestic, great and mighty, God Who controls whether they even take their next breath—or—not? And the Bible still sounds a clear and pristine warning:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  (Hebrews 10:26-31)

The truth is that only by being regenerated by—and filled with—the Holy Spirit can you ever even hope to live for Jesus; or what do you think the Bible means when it says — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old sinful nature of the true Christian is dealt a mortal blow through God the Son’s finished work on the Cross and he is born again in his spirit; baptized in, and sealed by, God the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father.

See also:

JUDAH SMITH TURNS PULPIT OVER TO T.D. JAKES DISCIPLE

RICK WARREN, DR. DESTINY LAVERNE ADAMS, AND “APOSTLE” CHUCK PIERCE

FULLER SEMINARY PROMOTING EMERGING CHURCH HERETIC DOUG PAGITT

LET’S DOUBT THAT DOUBT IS GOOD

WHAT IS A “CHRISTIAN UNIVERSALIST?”

IS DALLAS WILLARD A CHRISTIAN?

GIVING LEONARD SWEET A NUDGE